Yasser Cruz
Bumptious Texas senator tries to play both ends against the middle and winds up sandwiched left and right.
The guy has scope; you’ve gotta give him that. He’s a hypocrite, a cynic, a demagogue, a troublemaker, a coward. Republican Senator Ted Cruz (Liar–Texas) is a veritable Renaissance Man of Assholery. And now we can add to the list: media illiterate.
This curious blind spot was revealed a couple of days ago when the Oracle of Obstructionism got caught — inevitably — speaking out of both sides of his mouth.
The stage was set on Jan. 5, when, to mark the anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, Cruz described the MAGA assault as “a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage.”
I can’t know what made Cruz tell the truth — it’s not his style — but he had been consistent about it. On Jan. 7, 2021, the day after the insurrection, Cruz said in a statement: “The attack at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism and a shocking assault on our democratic system. The Department of Justice should vigorously prosecute everyone who was involved in these brazen acts of violence.”
And he said as much at least 16 more times in statements, interviews and floor speeches over the ensuing 363 days, culminating in his Jan. 5, 2022 anniversary-eve remarks. Again, it’s a fool’s errand to presume someone else’s motives — clairvoyance, like a stolen 2020 presidential election, doesn’t exist — but I sure know how it seems:
This was the day Ted Cruz became Yasser Arafat.
(Youngsters, I refer here to the terrorist-turned-strongman-turned-statesman who led the Palestine Liberation Organization and eventually the Palestinian Authority in a career that spanned freedom fighting, murdering innocents en masse, resistance profiteering and one Nobel Peace Prize.)
Like Cruz, Arafat was notorious for many things, but high on the list was doublespeak — in his case, saying one thing in English for a mainly western audience, and an altogether different thing in Arabic. The goal: to assure or placate both sets of listeners.