A few words about Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" list.

Time magazine revealed its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and according to Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal, it's the "youngest list" they've "ever had." #TIME100 https://t.co/VS6P95DVcj pic.twitter.com/TNSybTPP10

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 19, 2018

This was quite an amazing list.

I of course have not read it all (Who has that kind of time?) but I will share what I thought was the best, followed by the worst.

The best in my opinion was Barack Obama's write up for the Parkland student activists.

In fact it was so good I am going to share the whole thing here:

America’s response to mass shootings has long followed a predictable pattern. We mourn. Offer thoughts and prayers. Speculate about the motives. And then—even as no developed country endures a homicide rate like ours, a difference explained largely by pervasive accessibility to guns; even as the majority of gun owners support commonsense reforms—the political debate spirals into acrimony and paralysis. 

This time, something different is happening. This time, our children are calling us to account. 

The Parkland, Fla., students don’t have the kind of lobbyists or big budgets for attack ads that their opponents do. Most of them can’t even vote yet. 

But they have the power so often inherent in youth: to see the world anew; to reject the old constraints, outdated conventions and cowardice too often dressed up as wisdom. 

The power to insist that America can be better. 

Seared by memories of seeing their friends murdered at a place they believed to be safe, these young leaders don’t intimidate easily. They see the NRA and its allies—whether mealymouthed politicians or mendacious commentators peddling conspiracy theories—as mere shills for those who make money selling weapons of war to whoever can pay. They’re as comfortable speaking truth to power as they are dismissive of platitudes and punditry. And they live to mobilize their peers. 

Already, they’ve had some success persuading statehouses and some of the biggest gun retailers to change. Now it gets harder. A Republican Congress remains unmoved. NRA scare tactics still sway much of the country. Progress will be slow and frustrating. 

But by bearing witness to carnage, by asking tough questions and demanding real answers, the Parkland students are shaking us out of our complacency. The NRA’s favored candidates are starting to fear they might lose. Law-abiding gun owners are starting to speak out. As these young leaders make common cause with African Americans and Latinos—the disproportionate victims of gun violence—and reach voting age, the possibilities of meaningful change will steadily grow. 

Our history is defined by the youthful push to make America more just, more compassionate, more equal under the law. This generation—of Parkland, of Dreamers, of Black Lives Matter—embraces that duty. If they make their elders uncomfortable, that’s how it should be. Our kids now show us what we’ve told them America is all about, even if we haven’t always believed it ourselves: that our future isn’t written for us, but by us.

I almost forgot how the eloquence of this man can literally put a lump in my throat and give me the shivers at the same time.

Damn, do I miss him!

Now for the worst, and this was an easy one.

Superb @TIME magazine digital cover#stormy
pic.twitter.com/eGqFbVB0v9

— Andrew Bloch (@AndrewBloch) April 13, 2018

Ted Cruz's embarrassing homage to the man who once insulted his wife's looks and suggested that his dad killed JFK: 

President Trump is a flash-bang grenade thrown into Washington by the forgotten men and women of America. The fact that his first year as Commander in Chief disoriented and distressed members of the media and political establishment is not a bug but a feature. 

The same cultural safe spaces that blinkered coastal elites to candidate Trump’s popularity have rendered them blind to President Trump’s achievements on behalf of ordinary Americans. While pundits obsessed over tweets, he worked with Congress to cut taxes for struggling families. While wealthy celebrities announced that they would flee the country, he fought to bring back jobs and industries to our shores. While talking heads predicted Armageddon, President Trump’s strong stand against North Korea put Kim Jong Un back on his heels. 

President Trump is doing what he was elected to do: disrupt the status quo. That scares the heck out of those who have controlled Washington for decades, but for millions of Americans, their confusion is great fun to watch.

Well at least it was short and stubby.

However I still prefer this, much more honest, description of Donald Trump from Ted Cruz.

The Ted Cruz humiliation tour continues with his Sonnet to Trump in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People edition.

But history will never forget the only wise words ever spoken by Ted Cruz.

"Trump is a pathological liar" - Ted Cruz

pic.twitter.com/OLcLinhHrr

— ☇RiotWomenn☇ (@riotwomennn) April 19, 2018

Hard to imagine how you go from that to licking Trump's boots, but somehow Ted Cruz made the transition.

Ted Cruz's Democratic opponent raises more than 6 million in first quarter.

Got to meet someone who supposedly represents me today. Not for much longer, though! #BetoForTexas @SenTedCruz @BetoORourke pic.twitter.com/7S4yVR5uAj

— Rebecca (@LazyyMillennial) March 23, 2018

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) reportedly brought in more than $6 million during the first quarter of the year in his bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). 

The Texas Tribune reported that O'Rourke raised $6.7 million in the first three months of 2018. 

O'Rourke's fundraising haul was far higher than the amount he had raised during previous quarters, according to the Tribune, when he raised between $1.7 million and $2.4 million. 

His campaign told the newspaper that his fundraising haul was higher than that of any Democratic Senate candidate across the country. 

"Campaigning in a grassroots fashion while raising more than $6.7 million from 141,000 contributions, we are the story of a campaign powered by people who are standing up to special interests, proving that we are more than a match and making it clear that Texans are willing to do exactly what our state and country need of us at this critical time," O'Rourke said in a statement. 

The Cruz campaign has yet to release its first quarter report, but in past quarters the O'Rourke campaign had consistently out raised the Cruz campaign.

By a lot.

Which does not bode well for the Republican incumbent.

Not all heroes wear a cape.

Got to meet someone who supposedly represents me today. Not for much longer, though! #BetoForTexas @SenTedCruz @BetoORourke pic.twitter.com/7S4yVR5uAj

— Rebecca (@LazyyMillennial) March 23, 2018

Rebecca could be my favorite person on the internet today.

If Beto O'Rourke actually manages to beat this asshole in November I am going to break my champagne fast and polish off a huge bottle all on my own.

Definitely going to have a champagne headache the next day, but worth it.

New Ted Cruz campaign ad mocks his opponent for changing his name. Only one problem.

FIRST LISTEN: our new 60-second statewide radio ad introducing our liberal opponent, Congressman Robert O’Rourke, to Texas voters.

Help #KeepTexasRed: https://t.co/PVsiCtbbyL #CruzCrew #TXSen pic.twitter.com/OxK61gZ0ek

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 7, 2018

Courtesy of CNN: 

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's first shot at his expected Democratic challenger, Rep. Beto O'Rourke? Mocking his name. 

As Tuesday's primaries were closing, Cruz's campaign released a 60-second radio ad that was a country music jingle prodding O'Rourke for going by "Beto" rather than "Robert." 

"Liberal Robert wanted to fit in, so he changed his name to Beto and hid it with a grin," the song says.

O'Rourke said he's gone by "Beto" since he was born. 

"My parents have called me Beto from day one, and it's just -- it's kind of a nickname for Robert in El Paso. It just stuck," he said in a brief phone interview Tuesday night.

And here's proof. 

lol Ted Cruz pic.twitter.com/kr3be1Cv5C

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 7, 2018

By the way, Ted Cruz's real name is Rafael Cruz.

He adopted the name "Ted" to "fit in."

But hey, catchy tune. That should really help in the general election.

Ted Cruz warns that the Republicans are in deep trouble in 2018.

Oh God, we are so screwed.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Traveling the state for GOP events this weekend, Cruz portrayed an uncertain midterm environment that could go down as disastrous for Republicans if they don’t work to counteract Democratic energy throughout the country. Cruz has spent previous election cycles airing similar warnings against GOP complacency in ruby-red Texas, but this time it hits much closer to home for him — he is facing a well-funded re-election challenge from U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso. 

Addressing the Fort Bend County GOP on Friday night, Cruz warned of an “incredible volatility in politics right now,” calling Democrats “stark-raving nuts” in their opposition to Trump. He pointed to Trump’s recent State of the Union address and Democrats’ reluctance to applaud, saying the scene “underscores the political risk in November.” 

“Let me tell you right now: The left is going to show up,” Cruz said, delivering the keynote address at the party’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner. “They will crawl over broken glass in November to vote.” Cruz is feeling the heat in his own bid for a second term. O’Rourke, who has sworn off money from political action committees, outraised 

Cruz in the last three months of 2017, $2.4 million to $1.9 million. It was the second quarter in which O’Rourke’s haul was bigger than that of Cruz, who still maintains a healthy cash-on-hand advantage.

I think Ted Cruz is confusing "stark raving nuts" with  "demonstrably patriotic" in our opposition of Putin's puppet.

Remember that Ted Cruz was carried to his victory by Tea Party anger at an imagined assault on our democracy, and yet he is surprised by the Left's very appropriate response to a very real assault on our democracy?

Methinks that somebody needs to step outside of the Fox News and right wing talk radio bubble.

Ted Cruz defines the word hypocrisy.

FOX NEWS HOST TO @tedcruz: You cool working with alleged child molester Roy Moore if he's elected?

CRUZ: Sure, no problem, that's up to the voters.

FOX NEWS HOST: And what about alleged groper Al Franken?

CRUZ: Now that's a very serious problem. I'm extremely concerned. pic.twitter.com/1QzMq0Hud5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 30, 2017

When it comes to the allegations against Roy Moore Cruz is all "let the voters decide," but when it comes to the far less egregious allegations against Democrat Al Franken it is suddenly "These allegations are serious and they keep coming up everyday."

It is like he has absolutely no irony meter.

The humiliation of Ted Cruz.

What Donald Trump said about Ted Cruz and his family was reprehensible.

If it was anybody but Ted Cruz I would certainly be able to drum up a little sympathy.

But I can't.

Do you want to see that blowhard Ted Cruz cut off in mid speech? You know you do.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to get cut off in the middle of his speech at a popular religious conservative convention in Washington, D.C. 

Cruz, one of the first speakers to kick off the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority" conference, spoke for just nine minutes before an abrupt ending. 

"What I want to say to the men and women here are two things: number one, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your passion, thank you for your time, thank you for your energy, thank you for speaking out and working to retake our nation," Cruz said.

You know I have had a lot of truly rewarding experiences in my life, but few were quite as satisfying as watching this arrogant asshole left stunned right in the middle of shoveling his bullshit into the audience.

I cannot imagine who actually goes to listen to this pompous idiot give a speech without having somebody holding  gun to their heads.

During the primaries I used to mute my TV whenever Cruz was giving a speech, or responding to questions, since just hearing his voice while looking at his smug face would make me want to do him serious bodily injury.

Everything about Cruz irritates me.

In fact this video may be the first one I have seen which I enjoyed even a little. And actually I enjoyed it quite a lot.

What was it that Al Franken said about Ted Cruz?

"I probably like Ted Cruz more than most of my colleagues like Ted Cruz, and I hate Ted Cruz."

Oh yeah, I think that pretty much says it all.

Al Franken has en entire chapter in his new book dedicated to Ted Cruz, and it is certainly not to praise him.

Courtesy of Salon: 

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., has made it quite clear that he is not a fan of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. In fact, in Sen. Franken’s upcoming book, the former comedian devoted an entire chapter to his distaste for the Texas senator, according USA Today. 

In Franken’s upcoming book, titled “Al Franken: Giant of the Senate,” and set to be released May 30, Franken details his experience becoming a comedian-turned-senator, as well as how he feels about his colleagues in Washington. The chapter about Cruz is called “Sophistry,” an SAT word that means to use fallacious arguments, typically with the intention to deceive. In an interview with USA Today, Franken describes Cruz as “singularly dishonest” and “exceptionally smarmy.”

“You have to understand that I like Ted Cruz probably more than my colleagues like Ted Cruz,” Franken said. “And I hate Ted Cruz.”

God that's a great line!

Now as you may know it is a breach of decorum to insult a fellow senator, however Franken feels justified in making an exception when it comes to Cruz.

Courtesy of EW:

But despite calling out Cruz, Franken said his book did not include as much gossip as one might assume. 

“I have to say, he’s an exception to my rule, which is you basically have a rule that if you have a conversation with somebody and it makes them look bad — it’s a private conversation — you don’t repeat it,” Franken said. “But I made an exception with him because he broke that rule, he broke the protocol of the Senate. It wasn’t quite that rule, but he got up to speak and called Mitch McConnell a liar. And that was completely against protocol. So I make him an exception. So I don’t say bad stuff about my other colleagues.” 

Seems fair.

Well I know which book just made it to the top of my must read list.

By the way for those of you hoping that Franken will run for President in 2020, he has a simple response:  

“Yeah, I’m not going to do that.”

Oh well, perhaps he would be up for a VP slot? 

Ted Cruz warns that Democrats will be“obstructionists at a level we’ve never seen.” That's right Ted "Let's close the government down until we get our way" Cruz said that.

Please don't punish us like we punished you.

Courtesy of Salon:  

Ted Cruz warned that Democrats will become “obstructionists at a level we’ve never seen” under a Donald Trump administration. 

In what has to be a giant fit of irony, the Texas lawmaker — who single-handedly shut the government down because Democrats wouldn’t repeal their signature health care law — predicted to Turning Point USA that Democrats will “filibuster absolutely everything they can,” according to Texas Tribune reporter Patrick Svitek. 

Apparently Cruz, whose stunt was described by a Senate aide as “a toddler’s version of legislating,” is now worried that the minority party will resort to what was essentially the only page of the Republican Party playbook from 2010 to now. Since 2010 GOPers have filibustered hundreds of bills passed by the House of Representatives explicitly because they wanted to make Obama “a one-term president.”

You know I often say that conservatives have absolutely not sense of irony. And here is Ted Cruz working hard to prove that point.

Cruz warned that Democrats have been "radicalized" by Trump's election and will attempt to stop him at every turn.

God I hope so.

Only if Democrats do that, it will NOT be due to Trump's skin color (Burnt orange?), or simply as an act of partisan defiance.

It will be in the service of preserving our republic and defending our country from a crazed megalomaniac who appears for all the world to be channeling a certain mustachioed German dictator.

That is not "obstructionism," that's patriotism.

Wikileaks email dump suggests that Hillary Clinton might have had a hand in picking Donald Trump as her 2016 opponent.

Clinton team instructed DNC with strategic goal of "elevating" Trump two months before he declared his candidacy https://t.co/DAmWNq9K0f pic.twitter.com/mrGTyCycSu

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 9, 2016

Courtesy of Inquisitr: 

The email from April 2015 shows exactly how calculated the Clinton campaign was from the very beginning. In fact, Clinton’s campaign strategy was so accurate that a full year before the GOP field would be narrowed to Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, the Clinton campaign had detailed their plans to “elevate” the two candidates, along with Ben Carson, in a bid to split the Republican Party and force the more established candidates to become “more conservative” in speech and discredit themselves with communities of color, women, and millennials. 

The Clinton strategy referred to the 2012 Mitt Romney campaign in which the Democrats note that the party inflicted damage on itself before the election even took place. 

“There are two ways to approach the strategies mentioned above. The first is to use the field as a whole to inflict damage on itself similar to what happened to Mitt Romney in 2012.” 

To ensure the GOP was battling itself, the Clinton campaign identified three key “pied piper candidates” that would help reign in the GOP’s downfall. These candidates were listed as Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Ben Carson. 

“The variety of candidates is a positive here, and many of the lesser known can serve as a cudgel to move the more established candidates further to the right. In this scenario, we don’t want to marginalize the more extreme candidates, but make them more “Pied Piper” candidates who actually represent the mainstream of the Republican Party. Pied Piper candidates include, but aren’t limited to: 

• Ted Cruz 
• Donald Trump 
• Ben Carson 

We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders of the pack and tell the press to [take] them seriously."

Now if these emails are accurate, this is fairly impressive on the part of the Clinton Campaign and the Democrats.

I am not exactly sure how they would have gone about orchestrating this outcome, but if they were actually able to manipulate the Republicans into nominating the most toxic candidate in the history of the country, that is shear genius.

No wonder the Republicans fear this woman so much.

If this is how she plays the game of politics they might just as well give her everything she wants right now and save themselves the humiliation of losing to her over and over again.

And now I am even more impressed than ever that Barack Obama was able to beat her back in 2008. 

Clearly the Democrats on the national level are playing three dimensional chess while the Republicans are apparently playing Tiddlywinks.

Sad Ted Cruz working the phone bank for Donald Trump may be the most pathetic thing you will see all day.

Here's that video of #TedCruz working phone bank at GOP office in Fort Worth. This time with watermark for @dallasnews, the content owner. pic.twitter.com/7D4rTGcXJu

— G.J. McCarthy (@gjmccarthy) October 6, 2016

Courtesy of the Washington Post: 

If you were asked to imagine a portrait of a man swallowing his pride, it might look a lot like this picture of Ted Cruz. 

The Dallas Morning News shot some video of Cruz phone-banking for Republicans on Wednesday.

By Thursday, the video was making the rounds on Twitter, as people poked fun at the idea of Cruz making calls for a man who attacked his wife on multiple occasions and suggested his father might have been involved in the John F. Kennedy assassination.

You might notice that Cruz can't quite bring himself to actually mention Trump's name.

All he can do is urge the person on the other end of the line to come out and vote, for exactly who he will not specify.

Actually now that I think about it I am not at all convinced there was even somebody on the other end of that line, which means that Cruz was really only talking to himself and a making a video of it because he was forced to by Trump and the Republican party.

You know if it were possible for me to feel anything toward Ted Cruz other than a deep seated sense of loathing, I might feel sorry for the Zodiac Killer. (As some people call him.)

Ted Cruz has now endorsed Donald Trump after months of animosity between to two men.

Courtesy of CNN:

Ted Cruz endorsed Donald Trump for the presidency Friday afternoon, a stunning turn of events after a contentious primary filled with nasty personal attacks and a dramatic snub at the Republican National Convention. 

 "After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump," Cruz wrote in a Facebook post. 

"A year ago, I pledged to endorse the Republican nominee, and I am honoring that commitment. And if you don't want to see a Hillary Clinton presidency, I encourage you to vote for him." 

"I am greatly honored by the endorsement of Senator Cruz," Trump said in a statement obtained by CNN. "We have fought the battle and he was a tough and brilliant opponent. I look forward to working with him for many years to come in order to make America great again."

Having a little trouble holding down my lunch here.

After all Ted Cruz is a lying conniving POS, and Donald Trump is the grand poobah of lying conniving pieces of shit.

Besides they always say that Democrats fall in love, while Republicans fall in line.

So it appears that Cruz is simply doing what numerous other GOP politicians have done before him, swallow the mouthful of shit and cower like a beaten dog in the hopes of surviving long enough to run for office again.

So I guess this no longer bothers him.

Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2016

"@Don_Vito_08: "A picture is worth a thousand words" @realDonaldTrump #LyingTed #NeverCruz @MELANIATRUMP pic.twitter.com/5bvVEwMVF8"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2016

So much for standing up for you family, or for your country, or for anything else that requires integrity, courage, or a spine.

Sarah Palin lashes out at those who are late to jump on the "Trump train," and derides Ted Cruz over his "suicide vest."

Okay this is a long one filled with venom so keep your snake bite kits at the ready.

I am only going to pick and choose a few key rants because if I spend too much time in that swirling vapor of acrimony I may end my day picking off local shoppers with a high powered rifle from a clock tower.

Take a deep cleansing breath, and here we go: 

With Donald Trump securing the presidential nomination, the political narrative is shifting rapidly and revealingly. As you watch former haters hop aboard the Trump Train, it’s important to connect dots and understand my concern about a bunch of belated mea culpas with which we’ll now be inundated. 

It’s important because time is short and lessons must be learned to avoid future catastrophic capture by status quo politicos. 

Friends, my concern here is all about the attempted destruction of Trump SUPPORTERS over all these months. I’ve zipped my lips long enough; it’s time to call out those who’ve tried to destroy you.

Wait, her lips were zipped?

When was that, and how did I miss it?

But enough about Trump and his supporters, time to make it all about Sarah.

Personally, since endorsing Trump, my family and I haven’t seen the level of hate and vitriol spewed our way since the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign. It’s been hellish.

From fair-weather friends and “supporters” turning decisively away in the meanest of ways, to me losing jobs – literally – the moment my support for Trump was made public, we sucked it up and hung on to hope that vindication was around the corner. I was told – for the umpteenth time – my career was over for “going rogue” this election cycle.

There are a few more paragraphs of bitching, before we get to this:  

Conveniently, oppressors of this nationalist revolution found a way to save face. The obvious wall-writing told them they’d lose money and influence if they continued fighting AGAINST the majority, so the donor class scattered from their polarizing candidate when Ted Cruz’s suicide vest detonated at the GOP convention.

That's right, Ted Cruz's suicide vest.  Because what could be more hyperbolic and over the top than that?

Oops, time to talk about herself again.

I’ve been asked all year questions like why it seems I’m “relegated” to outsider status of current political machines; why there’s no longer a seat at the talking heads TV table; why’d previous “friends” commence public condemnation of me despite me never changing my values, priorities or loyalties to the right causes. The question is suggested, “Don’t you know if you just go along to get along you’d be in the big shots’ good graces?”

Uh, she does realize that the only reason she was not invited to the Republican convention this year is because Donald Trump did not want her there, right?

Time to go back and attack Ted Cruz again, and while she's at it why not include Glenn Beck?

A significant exposition is the billionaire Mercer family’s financial ties to Cruz, his SuperPACs, think tanks, media outlets, and donor class hanger-oners like Glenn Beck, which will explain why guys (like Mercer-affiliated Beck) did a 180 on me – and you – with inexplicable personal attacks to invalidate us. 

The inconsistencies and random attacks they engaged in have been so, well, RANDOM that was hard not to giggle publicly at their bizarreness. Beck and his ilk showed they don’t oppose politics of personal destruction they used to rail against with lip service. They actually participate in Alinsky-like tactics that make the rest of us gag at typical political shenanigans.

Yep it really sucks that Cruz was funded by some billionaire, after all that is so much worse than being in debt to the Russians and having Vladimir Putin's hand up the back of your shirt controlling you.

That's right Sarah Palin the man who you broke ranks with your conservative homeys to endorse has now been shown to have significant ties to the leader of a country that we were engaged in a cold war with for almost forty years, and who the conservatives have considered their mortal enemies since World War 2.

Not only that but his nomination, and eventual defeat will most likely signal the end of the Republicans party as we know it today.

So WHO is it exactly wearing that suicide vest?

Sarah Palin smells blood in the water, goes after the politically hemorrhaging Ted Cruz.

This is a big day for Palin, she actually gets to make her nasty remarks someplace besides Facebook.

I mean sure it's just that defunct site Breitbart, but hey baby steps.

Courtesy of the aforementioned defunct site: 

Turns out Ted Cruz’s partner, Carly Fiorina, had a more graceful exit from the political stage than he had. 

Cruz’s broken pledge to support the will of the people tonight was one of those career-ending “read my lips” moments. I guarantee American voters took notice and felt more unsettling confirmation as to why we don’t much like typical politicians because they campaign one way, but act out another way. That kind of political status quo has got to go because it got us into the mess we’re in with America’s bankrupt budgets and ramped up security threats. 

It’s commonplace for politicians to disbelieve their word is their bond, as evidenced by Cruz breaking his promise to endorse his party’s nominee, evidently thinking whilst (Whilst?) on the convention stage, “At this point, what difference does it make?” We’ve been burned so horribly by that attitude that voters won’t reward politicians pulling that “what difference does it make” stunt again. Politicians will see — it makes all the difference in the world to us.

So Sarah Palin is criticizing Ted Cruz for not keeping his word?

Seriously does Wasilla not have at least one dictionary which can define "hypocrisy" for these people?

Palin also included this rather nasty video which mocks not only Ted Cruz, but also his former premature running mate Carly Fiorina.

As for Cruz, well dammit he is mad as hell and he is not going to take it anymore.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

“[I’m not going to] come like a servile puppy dog and say, ‘thank you very much for maligning my wife and maligning my father.’”

I don't usually condone violence, but Republican on Republican violence?

I could watch that. 

Ted Cruz gets booed off stage for not endorsing Donald Trump.

Did you see Trump enter the walk into the convention center there at the end, so that he could revel in Cruz's embarrassment?

In fact Trump tweeted that he knew what Cruz was up to right after the speech.

Wow, Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn't honor the pledge! I saw his speech two hours early but let him speak anyway. No big deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 21, 2016

You know pundits always talk about Cruz's intelligence and political acumen but it is pretty clear he got played here.

Courtesy of The Daily Wire:  

According to the source, the entire Cruz speech was cleared by the Trump campaign. Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, expressly approved the speech at 4:30 PM ET. The source, who was standing on the convention floor at the time of the speech, said that Trump operatives were present, urging the crowd to boo. “This was orchestrated by the Trump campaign to make Senator Cruz a pariah within the party,” said the source.

Tex Cruz disgusts me like no other human has for quite some time, so I cannot feel sorry for him, however it is unfortunate that the crowd turned on his wife as well.

Angry Ken Cuccinelli escorting Heidi Cruz out as Trump supporters yell at her pic.twitter.com/G6USuhoSx2

— Graham Moomaw (@gmoomaw) July 21, 2016

Yeah, Cruz's political future looks a little iffy at the moment.

Even if Trump loses (And he will!) he is going to make damn sure that Cruz swims with the fishes politically.

This went up only five minutes away from the Republican convention starting tomorrow.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Republican National Convention-goers are in for a big surprise. 

Planting Peace, the nonprofit organization behind The Equality House, a rainbow-colored house that sits across the street from Westboro Baptist Church, is calling out Donald Trump and the Republican Party in a massive billboard that went up on Thursday in Cleveland, Ohio, where the RNC will take place next week. The billboard, below, shows an illustration of Trump poised to kiss Ted Cruz beside a caption that reads “Love trumps Hate. End homophobia.”

I would pay big money to see Ted Cruz's face the minute that he sees this billboard. 

This whole next week is going to be incredibly entertaining.

The New York Times gets their hands on the speaker list for the GOP convention. Guess whose name is not on it. Update!

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

The roster of speakers obtained by The Times, and confirmed by two people with direct knowledge of the convention planning, reveals a lineup lacking many of the party’s rising stars. Instead, it features some of Mr. Trump’s eclectic collection of friends, celebrities and relatives, from his Slovenian supermodel wife to professional golfer Natalie Gulbis. 

The parade of people seems to have been selected to broaden Mr. Trump’s demographic reach. 

There are several notable women speaking. They include Pam Bondi, the Florida attorney general, who tangled on television with the CNN anchor Anderson Cooper after the Orlando, Fla., nightclub massacre; Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a space shuttle mission; Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma; Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa and Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania. 

There are a few African-Americans, like Jamiel Shaw Sr., who became an outspoken advocate for tougher immigration laws after his son was killed in 2008 by an undocumented immigrant; and Darryl Glenn, who is running for Senate in Colorado. 

From sports there is Mr. Tebow, the former quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner who is known for his conservative views; Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts organization; and Ms. Gulbis.

Though Rudy Giuliani, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Joni Ernts, Marsha Blackburn, Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, Scott Walker, and Mitch McConnell are on the list the bigger more recognizable political names are all missing.

Instead Trump has filled out the roster with members of his own family who each have a prominent speaking slot on each of the four nights.

So you would think that Trump would be scraping the bottom of the barrel to flesh it out a little.

Well apparently there is a bottom that he is unwilling to scrape:

But what is striking, as much as who is on the list, is who is not. Several figures Mr. Trump had said he would invite to speak, like the boxing promoter Don King and Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor, were not included.

(Just take a moment to mull over how delicious it is that Sarah Palin is mentioned in the same paragraph as boxing pimp and known murderer Don King.)

So Sarah Palin did NOT get a ticket to the big show?

Damn I am very surprised to hear that.

I was convinced that not only was she going to be there but that she would have Dakota Meyer on her arm when she arrived.

So what do we think?

Is Sarah being dissed by Trump, is this New York Times list incomplete, or is Palin simply too afraid to show up knowing that the protesters outside will be carrying guns?

Update: Well according to multiple sources it appears that Mike Pence has won the honor of standing side by side with Donald Trump as he loses this election.

Courtesy of Roll Call:

Donald Trump is planning to announce that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is his choice for his vice presidential running mate, according to a Republican with direct knowledge of the decision.

Well arguably Pence is the best choice among the group of losers that Trump had to choose from, but he brings significant baggage with him, and in the end he will provide virtually no benefit whatsoever.

"How American Politics went insane." An article that every American voter needs to read.

Like Trump, Bernie Sanders appealed to the antipolitical idea that the mere act of voting for him would prompt a “revolution” that would somehow clear up such knotty problems as health-care coverage, financial reform, and money in politics. Like Trump, he was a self-sufficient outsider without customary political debts or party loyalty. Like Trump, he neither acknowledged nor cared—because his supporters neither acknowledged nor cared—that his plans for governing were delusional. 

Trump, Sanders, and Ted Cruz have in common that they are political sociopaths—meaning not that they are crazy, but that they don’t care what other politicians think about their behavior and they don’t need to care. That three of the four final presidential contenders in 2016 were political sociopaths is a sign of how far chaos syndrome has gone. The old, mediated system selected such people out. The new, disintermediated system seems to be selecting them in. 

That is only two paragraphs in an exceeding long article which explains how our current anti-establishment ideas about choosing candidates, implementing policies, and reforming government are actually causing long term harm to our country.

Author Jonathon Rauch, dives deep to explain how things such as party leaders, pork barrel spending, and political compromise, which are all widely derided in today's politics, were actually good for the country and helped to keep in running relatively smoothly until recently.

I found the article to be very informative and somewhat empowering as it reinforced many of the points that I have made here on IM about  the problems with political revolutions and uncompromising partisanship.

It also reminded me of a discussion I had with my daughter about Bernie Sanders during which she said that she admired him because he never compromised his values.

My response to her, and I think I wrote about it here as well, is that while it is great to have strong values, a politician who refuses to compromise is a politician who will never get a damn thing accomplished.

I told her that I found the idea of electing ANY President who thinks that they can force through their agenda without considering the obstruction they will face from their opposition, to be very a troubling thought indeed. Even IF I was in agreement with that President on most issues. 

That is also why I was never really on board with the so-called Bernie political "revolution," which seemed for all intents and purposes to be a left leaning version of the Tea Party.

If the Democrats start electing anti-establishment, extremely partisan, candidates to send to Washington, not only will that fire up the right wing fringe even more, but it will simply pour more concrete into the political machinery of DC resulting in an even worse situation than the one we face right now.

If such a thing is even possible.

So definitely take the time to read this article.

Yes it is a little long, but it is also very thought provoking, and probably the shot of reality that a lot of American voters need right now.

New Ted Cruz ad claims that he started a "movement" and hints that he will be back in 2020. How is that not a terrorist threat?

I'll be back.

Courtesy of TPM: 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) credited himself with creating a movement through his failed presidential campaign and flirted with the idea of running again in an long, emotional video titled "No Regrets" posted online Wednesday. 

"What we accomplished is frankly insane," Cruz said, arguing that his campaign "sparked a fire and started a movement." 

"And that's powerful and it doesn't go away with one election," he continued. 

Cruz said he was sad but knew the campaign did "everything we could." 

"It's going to be our task to go forward and continue, fighting for that movement. It has been the greatest honor of my life to be in this foxhole," Cruz said, getting choked up. "Twenty, 30, 40 years from now the people in this room, the people across this country will say I was part of this."

Here is the video which I warn you is over five minutes long and unfortunately features Ted Cruz talking.

At the end of the video you will see the words "To Be Continued" flash across the screen.

Some have taken this to mean that Cruz is looking to run again in 2020, and in interviews he has pointed out that Ronald Reagan also lost his first bid for the GOP nomination.

The first thing that Ted Cruz needs to understand is that HE is no Ronald Reagan.

And the second thing he needs to understand is that as stupid as this country is, it will NEVER be stupid enough to vote his pasty white pear shaped ass into the White House.