Ted Cruz Is n't Crazy -- He 's Much Worse . 
Ted Cruz
Cruz knows exactly what he 's doing . 
In no particular order , Texas senator and Republican presidential aspirant Ted Cruz has : said acts of Christian terrorism stopped centuries ago , forgetting the Ku Klux Klan and the shooting in Colorado last week ; claimed he has never met an anti-abortion activist who advocates violence , despite being endorsed by one just days before ; dismissed the need for Planned Parenthood because there is n't a shortage of "rubbers" in America ; and made an offhand comment that Colorado mass shooter Robert Dear could be a "transgendered leftist activist ." 
It even worked in Houston , a city in a state Ted Cruz is from . 
It 's typical Cruz : both self-aggrandizing and distant from the truth , with a little temporizing statement -LRB- "to some extent" -RRB- that rescues the self-aggrandizing part from being an outright lie . 
It shifts the conversation to candidate Ted Cruz . 
It distracts from conservatism 's violent rhetoric against Planned Parenthood and forces the fact-check process to address Cruz 's accusation . 
Ted Cruz is too smart not to know that replacing all of Planned Parenthood 's services with "rubbers" is objectively stupid . 
Ted Cruz is far from crazy , which is the essential Ted Cruz problem . 
And , sure , this sort of discussion might constitute playing the game of interpretation , but if Cruz would condemn Politifact for not engaging in the practice , he can hardly fault others for taking his exhortation seriously . 
But Ted Cruz knows exactly what he 's doing . 
Cruz is being interpretively nasty in part because of who he is , but also because fictionalizing America 's crisis moments is dramatically successful . 
As the Ted Cruz phenomenon glides on , without a change in tone or a moment of hesitancy , it 's easy to think of an old expression pro-wrestling expression : "Live the gimmick , brother ." 
Ted Cruz does awful things by intelligent design . 
On the other hand , it 's hard to believe that Cruz would seriously consider the breaking-news reporting of someone widely referred to as "The Dumbest Man on the Internet ." 
Ted Cruz is n't any different , and buying his line that he 's uniquely earned "Democrats '" label of crazy not only obscures the work , it 's part of it . 
Ted Cruz knows that , for all his erudition , he 's still an intellectual one-percenter in a party that rejects elites and revels in combative anti-knowledge . 
Reading his book is like watching him put his mask on in the morning : the pages wear on , and the incisive first half gets quieter , as the volume on the demagoguing second half gets louder , until there he is -- Ted Cruz , brother -- and the arena goes nuts . 
Even if he is not always likable , Young Ted Cruz is an interesting person . 
Cruz has mastered the useful gaffe . 
But once you get about halfway through the book -- to national events that were part of your own memory , where you could pen the story yourself , where you are no longer reading memories so far outside the fact checker 's reach that you have to take Cruz 's word for it -- suddenly you realize that what makes Ted Cruz 's book so exceptional is what makes him exceptionally nasty . 
For one thing , there is no plausible excuse for someone who graduated cum laude from Princeton , went to Harvard Law and clerked on the Supreme Court not doing the reading , but the Cruz argument , whatever it is , coasts through an environment in which there is no data to challenge it . 
For instance , despite being a 340-page work , the book possesses only 66 end notes , the plurality of which are dedicated to citing quotes from famous conservatives or noteworthy persons Cruz expects resonate with a right-wing audience . 
But it stands out when someone like Cruz inveighs against Obamacare -- his senatorial career 's Moby-Dick -- and only comes up with ham-handed anecdotes about meeting struggling Americans in the heartland . 
During Tuesday 's primary , candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz had a bitter Twitter exchange . 
Cruz also has a favorite line he likes to use , which appears on the stump and in his book . 
Naturally , Cruz ignores that premiums rose before Obamacare , that insurance companies Chicken Little all the time about rate hikes before rolling them back , and that part of the rise relates to people who are actually sick being able to get medical care that insurance companies actually have to pay for now . 
On that last point , for a litigator , Cruz seems really allergic to using a wonderful legal word like "rescission ," which is too bad , because it explains rate hikes and changing plans . 
But mentioning that would spoil the image of poor insurance companies that Cruz suggests were "lured into bed with Obamacare" via the Leninist thinking that "the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them ." 
She hugs Cruz and says , "I 'm a single mom ... I 've got six kids at home , and I 'm working five jobs . 
Cruz describes the Bush 2000 campaign as reeling from John McCain 's win in New Hampshire and needing to refocus . 
Luckily , Cruz notes , the Bush campaign could run to the right of McCain on tort and campaign finance reform , two issues that get the people to the polls in droves ! 
As it happens , those were two issues that Ted Cruz briefed George W. Bush on , while touring the state with him , which Bush later won . 
But if you want the Ted Cruz experience in a pinch , take his condemnation of biased journalism . 
Ted Cruz 's book , A Time for Truth , is , by comparison , almost delightful . 
Never mind that the rest of the speech , like most Cruz speeches , might have been recycled and already fact checked . 
Never mind that newspapers are limited by space and that Fisking an average Cruz speech requires a ream of paper . 
Given that , please never mind that the fact that has Ted Cruz in high dudgeon was about the game Space Invaders . 
Moreover , Politifact evidently shamelessly editorialized when they fact-checked Cruz -LRB- and every conservative 's -RRB- assertion that Obama kicked off his presidency by going on "a worldwide apology tour ." 
Then , before confronting the issue , Cruz concedes , "It 's true that he did n't explicitly add the words ` And I 'm sorry . '" 
So the new front in the liberal propaganda war is a fact check website that checked facts Cruz admits are not literally true without any poetical ear for interpretation . 
Busting Ted Cruz for selective narrative and hanging massive public policy decisions on anecdotal evidence -LRB- the most reliable kind ! -RRB- 
You have to deal with Ted Cruz differently because he demands it , because his endless invocation of his scholarship and the sharp , nimble way he chooses to tell his own story signals that this is how deftly his brain operates . 
So when a Ted Cruz spokesman later walks back the candidate 's comment that Robert Dear might have been a "transgendered leftist activist" by insisting that the candidate was just commenting on the lack of available information , you have to take it with a huge grain of salt . 
Yes , the full context of Cruz 's statement is more openly speculative : .
[TGT] knows exactly what [TGT] 's doing . 
In no particular order , Texas senator and Republican presidential aspirant [TGT] has : said acts of Christian terrorism stopped centuries ago , forgetting the Ku Klux Klan and the shooting in Colorado last week ; claimed [TGT] has never met an anti-abortion activist who advocates violence , despite being endorsed by one just days before ; dismissed the need for Planned Parenthood because there is n't a shortage of "rubbers" in America ; and made an offhand comment that Colorado mass shooter Robert Dear could be a "transgendered leftist activist ." 
It even worked in Houston , a city in [TGT] is from . 
It 's typical [TGT] : both self-aggrandizing and distant from the truth , with a little temporizing statement -LRB- "to some extent" -RRB- that rescues the self-aggrandizing part from being an outright lie . 
It shifts the conversation to [TGT] . 
It distracts from conservatism 's violent rhetoric against Planned Parenthood and forces the fact-check process to address [TGT] 's accusation . 
[TGT] is too smart not to know that replacing all of Planned Parenthood 's services with "rubbers" is objectively stupid . 
[TGT] is far from crazy , which is the essential [TGT] problem . 
And , sure , this sort of discussion might constitute playing the game of interpretation , but if [TGT] would condemn Politifact for not engaging in the practice , [TGT] can hardly fault others for taking [TGT] exhortation seriously . 
But [TGT] knows exactly what [TGT] 's doing . 
[TGT] is being interpretively nasty in part because of who [TGT] is , but also because fictionalizing America 's crisis moments is dramatically successful . 
As the [TGT] phenomenon glides on , without a change in tone or a moment of hesitancy , it 's easy to think of an old expression pro-wrestling expression : "Live the gimmick , brother ." 
[TGT] does awful things by intelligent design . 
On the other hand , it 's hard to believe that [TGT] would seriously consider the breaking-news reporting of someone widely referred to as "The Dumbest Man on the Internet ." 
[TGT] is n't any different , and buying [TGT] line that [TGT] 's uniquely earned "Democrats '" label of crazy not only obscures the work , it 's part of it . 
[TGT] knows that , for all [TGT] erudition , [TGT] 's still an intellectual one-percenter in a party that rejects elites and revels in combative anti-knowledge . 
Reading [TGT] book is like watching [TGT] put [TGT] mask on in the morning : the pages wear on , and the incisive first half gets quieter , as the volume on the demagoguing second half gets louder , until there [TGT] is -- [TGT] , brother -- and the arena goes nuts . 
Even if [TGT] is not always likable , [TGT] is an interesting person . 
[TGT] has mastered the useful gaffe . 
But once you get about halfway through the book -- to national events that were part of your own memory , where you could pen the story yourself , where you are no longer reading memories so far outside the fact checker 's reach that you have to take [TGT] 's word for it -- suddenly you realize that what makes [TGT] 's book so exceptional is what makes [TGT] exceptionally nasty . 
For one thing , there is no plausible excuse for someone who graduated cum laude from Princeton , went to Harvard Law and clerked on the Supreme Court not doing the reading , but the [TGT] argument , whatever it is , coasts through an environment in which there is no data to challenge it . 
For instance , despite being a 340-page work , the book possesses only 66 end notes , the plurality of which are dedicated to citing quotes from famous conservatives or noteworthy persons [TGT] expects resonate with a right-wing audience . 
But it stands out when someone like [TGT] inveighs against Obamacare -- his senatorial career 's Moby-Dick -- and only comes up with ham-handed anecdotes about meeting struggling Americans in the heartland . 
During Tuesday 's primary , candidates Donald Trump and [TGT] had a bitter Twitter exchange . 
[TGT] also has a favorite line [TGT] likes to use , which appears on the stump and in [TGT] book . 
Naturally , [TGT] ignores that premiums rose before Obamacare , that insurance companies Chicken Little all the time about rate hikes before rolling them back , and that part of the rise relates to people who are actually sick being able to get medical care that insurance companies actually have to pay for now . 
On that last point , for a litigator , [TGT] seems really allergic to using a wonderful legal word like "rescission ," which is too bad , because it explains rate hikes and changing plans . 
But mentioning that would spoil the image of poor insurance companies that [TGT] suggests were "lured into bed with Obamacare" via the Leninist thinking that "the capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them ." 
She hugs [TGT] and says , "I 'm a single mom ... I 've got six kids at home , and I 'm working five jobs . 
[TGT] describes the Bush 2000 campaign as reeling from John McCain 's win in New Hampshire and needing to refocus . 
Luckily , [TGT] notes , the Bush campaign could run to the right of McCain on tort and campaign finance reform , two issues that get the people to the polls in droves ! 
As it happens , those were two issues that [TGT] briefed George W. Bush on , while touring the state with him , which Bush later won . 
But if you want the [TGT] experience in a pinch , take [TGT] condemnation of biased journalism . 
[TGT] 's book , A Time for Truth , is , by comparison , almost delightful . 
Never mind that the rest of the speech , like most [TGT] speeches , might have been recycled and already fact checked . 
Never mind that newspapers are limited by space and that Fisking an average [TGT] speech requires a ream of paper . 
Given that , please never mind that the fact that has [TGT] in high dudgeon was about the game Space Invaders . 
Moreover , Politifact evidently shamelessly editorialized when they fact-checked Cruz -LRB- and every conservative 's -RRB- assertion that Obama kicked off his presidency by going on "a worldwide apology tour ." 
Then , before confronting the issue , [TGT] concedes , "It 's true that [TGT] did n't explicitly add the words ` And I 'm sorry . '" 
So the new front in the liberal propaganda war is a fact check website that checked facts [TGT] admits are not literally true without any poetical ear for interpretation . 
Busting Ted Cruz for selective narrative and hanging massive public policy decisions on anecdotal evidence -LRB- the most reliable kind ! -RRB- 
You have to deal with [TGT] differently because [TGT] demands it , because [TGT] endless invocation of [TGT] scholarship and the sharp , nimble way [TGT] chooses to tell [TGT] own story signals that this is how deftly [TGT] brain operates . 
So when a [TGT] spokesman later walks back the candidate 's comment that Robert Dear might have been a "transgendered leftist activist" by insisting that the candidate was just commenting on the lack of available information , you have to take it with a huge grain of salt . 
Yes , the full context of [TGT] 's statement is more openly speculative : .