Sadly, I Don't Think We Will Have A Cruz 2016 Candidacy

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/me-ted

Ted Cruz has a unique ability to piss off people at every stage of his life.  This is not a capability usually associated with successful politicians.  Most pols are extraordinary "people persons".  They "get" all sorts of basic human empathy and stuff.  I heard Chris Murphy on the radio talking about a missing persons law he's sponsoring based on a guy who went missing ten years ago from right down the road in Waterbury.  Murphy spent more time lauding this guy's parents than talking about his own contribution to the bill.  That's what a smart politician does.

The National Review is trying to prove that Cory Booker created a fictional drug dealer in a story he tells.  The story is really about Cory Booker, but technically it's about this guy "T-Bone".  From a rhetorical standpoint, you don't want to give a speed where you say, "I" a lot.

Ted Cruz is the sort of guy who says "I" a lot.

Now, he was catapulted into a Senate seat by the angry ferment, the rabid crazy of the Tea Party.  So it's not out of the question that he can ride that to the GOP nomination.  It would, in fact, be fitting for what the GOP has become.

But Cruz has managed to piss off just about every GOP mandarin in Washington.  I don't see how they let him get the nomination.  They knee-capped McCain in 2000, and they'll do the same to Cruz in 2016 (albeit for different reasons).

Maybe in an age of tarmac campaigning and 30 second ads, Cruz can hide his asshole-ness enough to win the nomination.  But if the entire DC GOP is against him, he's going to wind up deader than Dillinger, politically speaking.

Cruz will be in the mix, but ultimately, I think the GOP nominates a governor this time.  While it's Santorum's "turn", Scott Walker or Jeb Bush would seem to have the inside track.

UPDATE: As if on cue, we have this. This poll finds 71% of Teatards want to shutdown the government over "principles" (principles being loosely defined as screwing over poor colored people).  A plurality of Republicans as a whole would prefer a shutdown. Meanwhile, 57% of all Americans want both sides to compromise.

The Senate should pass a CR that eliminates the sequester.  Then suggest that they will leave the sequester in place in return for a clean CR.  But they should only do this, if they know the House GOP will reject it.

So maybe Cruz does stand a chance in 2016.  Because those Tea Party types are just freaking insane.