Map of districts of so-called "suicide caucus"
From GQ's recent profile of the Texas Senator:That may be a problem for Republicans, but not necessarily for Cruz. "We're in a moment when the combination of being hard-core and intelligent is really at a premium," says National Review writer Ramesh Ponnuru, who's been friends with Cruz since they went to Princeton together. "Because the two things that conservatives are tired of are politicians who sell out and politicians who embarrass them by not being able to make an account of themselves." In this arithmetic, Mitt Romney is the sellout and Sarah Palin is the embarrassment—and Cruz is the great new hope who brings the virtues of both without the liabilities of either.This is what really bothers me about these intelligent, but crazily ideological conservatives. They seem to have such simplistic views about an extremely complex society of over 300 million people when their ideas wouldn't hold up in a society of 100 people. How can so many extremely smart people buy into utterly idiotic ideas? How can somebody like John Roberts believe that it is good for giant corporations to be allowed unlimited spending to influence elections? How can somebody like Ted Cruz attack pollution control laws? How can Paul Ryan propose getting rid of all taxes on unearned income? I'd like to believe they are acting in good faith, but I just can't understand how they could be.
And yet when it comes to policy, the man hailed as the "Tea Party intellectual" has deployed that powerful intellect only sparingly since arriving in Washington. Cruz's most ambitious proposal to date has been his call to abolish the IRS—something that, as one Cruz admirer lamented to me, "he's smart enough to know is an entirely cynical thing to do." Meanwhile, his effort to shut down the federal government (remember how well that worked out for the GOP the last time they tried it?) unless Obamacare is defunded prompted North Carolina Republican senator Richard Burr to call it "the dumbest idea I've ever heard." In multiple conversations with people who know Cruz well, I kept hearing the same refrain: "He's smart enough to know better."
Then again, maybe Cruz does know better. For a party in the midst of some serious soul-searching, Cruz offers a simple, reassuring solution: Forget the blather about demographic tidal waves and pleas for modernization; all Republicans need to do is return to their small-government, anti-tax fundamentals.
Then there are what I would call the "true believers," like Jim Jordan and Tim Huelskamp. I keep wondering if they are really that dumb, or if they are pretty intelligent and acting in bad faith. I tend to fall on the side that they are really that dumb.
In other words, I see the Republican party as a combination of really smart folks acting in bad faith, and really dumb folks who just don't know any better. At this point, most of the real bomb throwers are the really dumb folks (most of the suicide caucus), and Ted Cruz is one of the few intelligent bomb throwers. I really, really don't trust that fucker.
As a noted 20th century philosopher once said, "stupid is as stupid does." And as you said, "How can so many extremely smart people buy into utterly idiotic ideas?" When somebody makes stupid statements over and over again, with the apparent idea that they are doing it for a larger, "brilliant" plan, they aren't nearly as smart as they think they are.
ReplyDeleteCruz is a guy who stated that he didn't realize being born in Canada meant he had dual citizenship. Whether a tactical statement, or an honest statement, it showed how dumb the guy really is. And he's supposed to be the smart Tea Party guy? Yikes.
But when all the true believers are stupid, don't you have to play stupid too? Maybe I'm giving Princeton and Harvard Law too much credit, but I just can't imagine this guy is as dumb as he sounds and acts. I just think he is a power hungry, disingenuous conman who is working to build his brand and cash in. There is no way he can parlay being the king of crazy into being President, so my guess is he'll move on to the corporate board, I-bank partner or rubber chicken speech circuit to cash in.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Canadian citizen thing, I think he figured his base is stupid enough to believe anything. But it had to make you proud that he would maybe renounce his Canadian citizenship. If only he would quit the U.S., too. My grandpa was telling me how he might move to Costa Rica and Republican paradise. Maybe Cruz will go with him.
But if your "believer group" is merely a small group within many larger groups, groups whom you will depend on at some point or other (other politicians, business groups, general voters), and your catering to that believer group causes larger groups to see you as idiotic, how smart is that? If one is truly intelligent, they will realize that there are much larger forces out there than simply one's base.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I didn't mind us losing the guy. It wasn't much of a sacrifice. And you might want to tell grandpa that Costa Rica is far from a Republican paradise. They're a left-leaning country that doesn't even have a national army. Tea Partiers would probably go into shock there;)
Well, if he's just in it for the money, the Tea Party folks are where it's at. They are still keeping that idiot half-term governor in meth and snowmobile fuel. As for grandpa, I just listen and roll my eyes. I wish a lot of other Republicans would move down there though. Especially Rush.
ReplyDelete