The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Hurrah for Texas! Ted Cruz Wins!

Posted on | August 1, 2012 | 10 Comments

Erik Eckholm of the New York Times reports:

Ted Cruz, an insurgent backed by the Tea Party, easily defeated the candidate favored by Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday in a runoff election for the Republican Senate nomination that revealed a wide rift in Texas between the party establishment and restless anti-incumbent activists on the right.
With the come-from-behind victory over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Mr. Cruz is heavily favored to win the Senate seat being vacated in November by Kay Bailey Hutchison and appears likely to become a star of the national conservative movement. . . .
Mr. Cruz, 41, is the latest conservative rebel to bring down an established party leader, tapping into frustration within the Republican ranks nationwide. These dissident triumphs include, in this year’s primaries, the defeat of Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana by Richard E. Mourdock and Deb Fischer’s win over a veteran Republican for the Senate nomination in Nebraska. They also echo Marco Rubio’s Senate victory in 2010 over a Republican governor, Charlie Crist of Florida.

Remember that I interviewed “the Marco Rubio of Texas” last year. Somebody you may remember sends her regards:

Congratulations to Ted Cruz! This is a victory both for Ted and for the grassroots Tea Party movement. This primary race has always been about the kind of leadership we need in D.C. Our goal is not just about changing the majority in the Senate. It is about the kind of leadership we want. Ted Cruz represents the kind of strong conservative leadership we want in D.C. Go-along to get-along career politicians who hew the path of least resistance are no longer acceptable at a time when our country is drowning in debt and our children’s futures are at stake. The message of this race couldn’t be clearer for the political establishment: the Tea Party is alive and well and we will not settle for business as usual. Now, it’s on to November!
– Sarah Palin

Here’s a press release from someone else you may remember:

Rick Santorum, former Republican Presidential candidate and Chairman of Patriot Voices, congratulated U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) on his victory this evening in the Texas Republican Senate run-off.
Rick Santorum said, “On behalf of Patriot Voices, I am proud to congratulate Ted on his terrific victory this evening. The people of Texas resoundingly responded to Ted’s strong conservative values and his message of limited government, the power of free markets, and the importance of traditional American values.  We look forward to working with Ted in the general election to help elect him the next Senator from the great state of Texas.”
Rick Santorum and Patriot Voices endorsed Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate in May. Since that time, Patriot Voices has operated a national call-from-home program for Cruz, and Santorum has traveled to Texas to campaign on Cruz’s behalf.

Gosh, this whole “Tea Party” thing is so 2009, eh? Didn’t the media tell us it was over? Guess somebody forgot to tell the Tea Party:

Tea Party Express Chairman Amy Kremer said, “We could not be more proud of this historic tea party victory tonight against the Texas establishment. This is probably the most significant upset Texas has seen since Perry defeated Hightower in 1990, and it comes at the hands of the tea party.
“What we saw in Ted Cruz and this Senate race was threefold: we saw an unquestionably strong and bold tea party conservative in Cruz; we saw Dewhurst as the anointed Austin politician that was exactly what we have been working to rid Washington of; and finally we saw the passion in the Texas tea party activists that could set the stage for this historic victory. . . .
“Tonight we sent a message that should shake Obama’s Chicago headquarters: Texas not only is going to be staying a red state, but the tea party is alive and ready to own 2012,” Kremer concluded.

“Hurrah for Texas! Texans always move them!”

Category: Election 2012, Senate, Tea Party, Texas

Comments

10 Responses to “Hurrah for Texas! Ted Cruz Wins!”

  1. smitty
    August 1st, 2012 @ 9:05 am

    @rsmccain Wait. Isn’t “Cruz” a Hispanic name? Are these conservatives so raaaaacist, they’d support Ted to compensate?

  2. McGehee
    August 1st, 2012 @ 9:23 am

    Compensatory raaaaacism is even worse than malicious raaaaacism, you know. Unless it’s being committed by a liberal.

  3. Beto_Ochoa
    August 1st, 2012 @ 9:37 am

    I have long suspected the electronic voting in my county to be corrupt and the early voting results via EV reported in yesterday’s primary is an illustration.
    I am very active in my county and knew the Cruz camp was around 60% of the early voters and a big turnout. The results showed a small turnout and Dewhurst with 52%.
    The final results after Optical Scanner ballots were cast was Cruz 54 to46
    It is very plain to see that several thousand votes were suppressed in the EV.

  4. Red
    August 1st, 2012 @ 11:44 am

    Yes, we’ve had almost four years of dealing with the effects of compensatory raaaaacism. ::SIGH::

  5. Red
    August 1st, 2012 @ 11:47 am

    Husband and I heard Ted Cruz’s stump when Herman Cain came to  Gulf Greyhound park in Texas City. We liked him then and we voted for him this past Wednesday. Take that Douchehurst!

  6. smitty
    August 1st, 2012 @ 11:56 am

    Well, you need a thorough investigation of all that to get to “plain to see”.

  7. Quartermaster
    August 1st, 2012 @ 12:51 pm

    In combo with Chicago Values Grifting, it’s a pretty sad situation.

  8. Adjoran
    August 1st, 2012 @ 4:10 pm

    Cruz may make an excellent Senator, he certainly has the potential to be head and shoulders above the sort of squish Dewhurst almost surely would have quickly become.  And as Sarah Palin mentioned, it is a victory for the “Tea Party grassroots” movement.

    That said, I recall the ancient wisdom that success has a thousand fathers while failure is an orphan.  So I have to wonder about the alleged “TP” groups coming forward to bask in Cruz’ glory and the fruits of his hard work.  How much did they SPEND in Texas to help him?

    Because if these groups just threw up a few internet posts and an email blast or two, they didn’t spend ANY money or do ANYTHING more than conservative bloggers did.  So why are these self-appointed, unelected, private groups who suck on the TP name now celebrating? 

    You can bet they’ve been mentioning Cruz in their fundraising and will do so even more now.  So I think it is a fair question that they each show what they actually SPENT to help him.

  9. DaveO
    August 1st, 2012 @ 7:08 pm

    No news of Cruz receiving a public note of congratulation from Romney.

  10. Davilch
    August 5th, 2012 @ 1:46 pm

    In the time you took to write that you could have found out how silly it is.