Lyin’ Ted is not having a great press day. First, there’s this:
After calling candidate Donald Trump a “pathological liar” and “narcissist” during the 2016 presidential campaign, one might have thought that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) would have emerged as a critic of the president’s mounting ethical issues. He has not — and in an unusually candid comment on Wednesday, he made it clear why.
Asked about the chaotic Trump presidency on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Cruz said that he simply ignores the chaos and scandal because he cares more about taking away people’s Obamacare.
“The approach that I’ve tried to follow in the Senate is to ignore the chaos,” he explained. “I won’t comment on Tweets. I won’t comment on the random comment of the day. Whatever the scandal du jour is, I’ve got nothing to say about it.”
Cruz’s admission is remarkable considering that a core function of the Congress is oversight of the executive branch.
Then this:
In response, Scarborough cited Cruz’s argument in the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, where Cruz represented 31 states and opposed a ban on handgun possession.
“Heller was about a semi-automatic handgun which the Supreme Court said the Second Amendment protected and the District of Columbia couldn’t ban,” Cruz said.
“But you know, though, that every American doesn’t have a constitutional Second Amendment right to carry an AR-15. Yes or no?” Scarborough replied.
“I’m not going to debate that,” Cruz replied, and then cited his own history of litigation before the Supreme Court, adding of Scarborough: “I recognize that’s not what you do.”
“Wait. I don’t need you to lecture me on what the Supreme Court does and what it doesn’t do,” Scarborough, who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a lawyer before becoming a journalist, fired back.
He accused Cruz of talking down to him, and continued, over Cruz’s interjections, “Even a dumb country lawyer like me understands that an AR-15, today, is not recognized as a Constitutional right of Americans under the Second Amendment.”
And then of course, this:
CNN’s Chris Cuomo confronted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for slamming his Democratic rival for going by a nickname, noting that Cruz also doesn’t go by his given name.
Cruz’s campaign released a jingle Tuesday night mocking Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) for going by Beto instead of Robert. O'Rourke won the Democratic primary Tuesday night and will battle Cruz for his Senate seat.
“You go after Beto for his name. Beto is obviously a nickname — why?” Cuomo asked Cruz.
“First of all, you didn’t like that dirty pool when you were running for president and the president called you ‘Lyin’ Ted,’ you didn’t like that kind of tactic,” Cuomo said.
“And you know what, your name is Rafael, you go by Ted but your middle name is Edward, that’s a more Anglicized version of it,” he continued. “He went the other way and has a more ethnic version of his name — why go after him? You’re both doing the same thing.”
“You’re absolutely right, my name is Rafael Edward Cruz,” Cruz replied.
He said that he was named after his father, also Rafael Cruz, a Cuban immigrant.
“In terms of the jingle, some of it is just have a sense of humor,” the senator said.
By the way, let’s get real about why Cruz is going after Beto’s nickname:
Asked if O’Rourke, who has raised $8.7 million since declaring his candidacy last March and headed into the primary with $4.9 million in cash, can raise what’s needed, Cook said: “Remains to be seen ... but he’s been doing pretty great so far.”
The Democrat has steadily outraised Cruz, who headed into the primary with $6 million in his coffers. But the GOP incumbent hasn’t seriously tapped his extensive donor network for this contest, and on Tuesday, launched a series of attacks against O’Rourke that signal he’s ready for a fight.
Perhaps more notable than the country music song was Cruz referring to the Democrat by his birth name, Robert, which quickly drew rebuke from some who pointed out that Cruz’s name is Rafael Edward.
Asked if Cruz referred to O’Rourke by his birth name in a bid to cut into his potential support from Hispanics, or at least define the Spanish-speaking O'Rourke as squarely Anglo, DeFrancesco Soto scoffed and said Cruz is just employing Trump-esque needling tactics.
“I dont think it’s about wooing Latinos,” she said. “It’s about getting under Beto’s skin.”
And Beto ain’t taking the bait:
Let’s send Cruz packing this year and make his fears of a Big Blue Wave happen. Click here to donate and get involved with Beto’s campaign.