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Cruz Control: Junior Senator is smart, so why can’t he resist picking so many losing fights....
Politico Magazine ^ | February 21, 2014 | Erica Grieder, senior editor, Texas Monthly.

Posted on 02/22/2014 2:00:59 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

he last time I interviewed Ted Cruz, the freshman senator from Texas, was in October, about a week after the end of the federal government shutdown. Official Washington was just getting back to business as usual, and a clutch of woolly-looking protesters were chanting outside Cruz’s office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Cruz himself was running a little late that morning, and when I was finally ushered into his office, he warned me that he might be grumpy, because he was sick. It was the day before Halloween, and as I set up my recorder, I tried to make small talk—which was, as always, a thankless exercise..

“Do you have a costume?” I asked.

“No,” Cruz said. “I have in past years,” he added, gamely. “But I don’t...” he trailed off.

“What was your best costume of all time?”

“I’ve done Zorro,” Cruz said, and sighed. “Zorro wasn’t bad. I’ve done Phantom of the Opera.” He paused, apparently looking for something else to say. “They’re certainly similar.”

This was typical of my experience. I had spent hours with Cruz last year, interviewing him for a long profile in Texas Monthly. We talked in Washington in July, when he wasn’t considered much more than a Tea Party pest, newly elected and quoting Ludwig von Mises; in Waco in August, while he was traveling around Texas promoting the effort to defund the Affordable Care Act; in Houston in October, shortly after the end of the shutdown that he had arguably helped start; and several other times. Regardless of the circumstances, each time I tried to make small talk with him, it was boring. I was bored. And he seemed bored too, as he dutifully fielded my questions....

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cruz; gop; tedcruz; texas
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Einstein or Tesla would've probably been bored talking with you, too, especially if they knew you'd do a hit piece on them.

Two page column.

1 posted on 02/22/2014 2:00:59 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I tried to make small talk—which was, as always, a thankless exercise..

maybe you should have been more interested in making time erica....

2 posted on 02/22/2014 2:04:36 PM PST by bigheadfred
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

erica... you are one dumb journolista.


3 posted on 02/22/2014 2:07:04 PM PST by LibLieSlayer (FROM MY COLD, DEAD HANDS! BETTER DEAD THAN RED!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That’s what makes him what he is. He may have a long term strategy. The war of Independence was one loosing battle after another until the tide finally turned.

He’s a brilliant man with scruples(for a politician).


4 posted on 02/22/2014 2:07:27 PM PST by ImJustAnotherOkie (zerogottago)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

he is fighting the proper fights, it doesn’t matter if they are “losing fights”

He often seems to be the only “Republican” standing up and doing the right thing


5 posted on 02/22/2014 2:08:07 PM PST by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It’s a rigged game until we get more Ted Cruz’s in Congress. What would the tipping point be? 10%? 20%?


6 posted on 02/22/2014 2:09:34 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

When I was a city councilman, I often picked fights I knew I would lose, because I could force debate on issues and show up certain other council members (via our live, televised meetings) as either being ignorant or tools or both. As a consequence, I engendered much fear and much respect and often did in fact win on other issues precisely because of that fear and respect.


7 posted on 02/22/2014 2:09:57 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yep. They know their end motive is to discredit them and paint them in a bad light. I don’t know many people I’d like to spend my time with like that either. The MSM is good about hiding their true motives until you a few minutes into the interview after they soften you up to deliver the suckerpunch.


8 posted on 02/22/2014 2:10:34 PM PST by jsanders2001
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Erica Grieder bores me.


9 posted on 02/22/2014 2:10:38 PM PST by mdittmar
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It’s called positional development.

Three blind Rino. Three blind Rino.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after Senator Cruz,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?


10 posted on 02/22/2014 2:11:11 PM PST by Usagi_yo (Standardization is an Evolutionary dead end.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Cruz Control: Junior Senator is smart, so why can’t he resist picking so many losing fights....

George Washington lost twice as many battles as he won during the Revolutionary War. And yet he ultimately won because the British didn't understand what they were fighting.

The same will hold true for the Washington apparatchiks who think Cruz is losing.

11 posted on 02/22/2014 2:11:24 PM PST by vbmoneyspender
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To: jsanders2001

Yep. They know their end motive is to discredit them and paint them in a bad light. I don’t know many people I’d like to spend my time with like that either. The MSM is good about hiding their true motives until you get a few minutes into the interview after they soften you up to deliver the suckerpunch.


12 posted on 02/22/2014 2:11:50 PM PST by jsanders2001
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Sometimes you have to choose between what polls and what's right, Erica.

Didn't think you'd understand.

13 posted on 02/22/2014 2:13:16 PM PST by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

politico.co.uk (1778)

George Washington: The general is smart, so why can’t he resist picking so many losing fights....


14 posted on 02/22/2014 2:13:58 PM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The good Senator from Texas is fighting the fights that the GOPe won’t fight. He’s among the few who are doing the PEOPLE’S work instead of working some ‘line my pockets’ crap like most of DC.

I stand with Ted.


15 posted on 02/22/2014 2:15:08 PM PST by PubliusMM (RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2016; I pray we make it that long.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

When I was a city councilman, I often picked fights I knew I would lose, because I could force debate on issues and show up certain other council members (via our live, televised meetings) as either being ignorant or tools or both. As a consequence, I engendered much fear and much respect and often did in fact win on other issues precisely because of that fear and respect.

If the people writing for this web site were half as smart as they think they are, they would know this. Or maybe they do know this, but want to make people think that Ted losing fights is a bad thing and that Ted is foolish for doing so. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. By picking losing fights, Ted is forcing national debate on issues that the rest of Congress would like to see buried from public view because it impedes their ability to operate the country for their own benefit instead of for the benefit of our citizens.


16 posted on 02/22/2014 2:15:23 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If all of you little coupon clipping journalistas who infest [Politico] are so fricking smart, why can’t you resist putting out such a crappy, stupid blog?


17 posted on 02/22/2014 2:15:31 PM PST by Bedford Forrest (Roger, Contact, Judy, Out. Fox One. Splash one.<I>)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Sometimes you have to choose between what polls and what's right, Erica.

Didn't think you'd understand.

Sounds like Cruz is choosing his words very carefully when he talks to the press. Almost like they're hostile and predatory...

18 posted on 02/22/2014 2:16:01 PM PST by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

When he wins a second term, they’ll call him the “former freshman senator”.


19 posted on 02/22/2014 2:16:42 PM PST by andyk (I have sworn...eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I wish people would learn how to minimize the number of useless sentences when writing articles.


20 posted on 02/22/2014 2:16:52 PM PST by reasonisfaith ("...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thessalonians))
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