Sen. Ted Cruz
has become the first Republican to officially declare his candidacy for president, and already—even though Cruz skipped the official exploration stage—it's been an interesting ride. First came the "hey, big speech coming, wink wink" on Saturday. Then the Sunday evening
teaser tweet promising news "around midnight" (Eastern time, as it turned out). Then, at midnight, the
30-second video of of patriotic stock footage with a platitude-laden voiceover. Monday morning, a
slightly longer video followed. And then, finally, the 10 AM speech at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, where
attendance is mandatory for students. It's an
interesting choice of venue in light of something Cruz said in 2013:
“I think anyone in politics you’ve got a special obligation to avoid being a Pharisee, to avoid ostentatiously wrapping yourself in your faith,” Cruz said. “Because I think in politics, it’s too easy for that to become a crutch, for that to be politically useful.” The Pharisees were a Jewish sect known for strict observance of law.
This guy loves to do the false modesty thing, from the claims he won't ostentatiously wrap himself in his faith while constantly ostentatiously wrapping himself in his faith to the video in which he says he's "worked so hard to lead the fights to defend these cherished values. Like the historic battle to defund Obamacare. Standing up to the leadership from both parties to fight a debt ceiling increase. And putting everything on the line to stop President Obama's illegal and unconstitutional amnesty." But he doesn't do false modesty
well, is the problem. (Psst, Ted: You haven't exactly won the fights you've led.)
There have already been hiccups. Cruz had to locate his campaign website at TedCruz.org because TedCruz.com was taken, and not by fans of his. TedCruzforAmerica.com, too. But on the bright side, he can always go to outlets like Breitbart News' radio show and get questions like this:
"What is it, for a guy that went to Princeton and Harvard—how does a guy that went to these elite institutions become really the voice of the middle class and working class of this country?" asked host Steve Bannon.
Talk about a question tailor-made for Cruz' false modesty specialty. Do you think the Breitbart people just let Cruz' staff write that one?