Patterico's Pontifications

1/18/2016

Wishy-Washy Donald Trump Can’t Make Up His Mind On What He Really Thinks About Ted Cruz

Filed under: General — Dana @ 11:26 am



[guest post by Dana]

During an interview with George Stephanopoulos yesterday, Donald Trump stepped up his attack on Ted Cruz, saying he was a “nasty guy”:

“Look, the truth is, he’s a nasty guy. He was so nice to me. I mean, I knew it. I was watching. I kept saying, ‘Come on Ted. Let’s go, okay.’ But he’s a nasty guy. Nobody likes him. Nobody in Congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him. He’s a very –- he’s got an edge that’s not good. You can’t make deals with people like that and it’s not a good thing. It’s not a good thing for the country. Very nasty guy.”

Effectively demonstrating how Trump is willing to say anything that serves his own best interest at the moment, a Super PAC supporting Ted Cruz responded to Trump’s attack and released this ad in which Trump, in his own words, expresses his admiration and respect for that supposed “nasty guy”:

As one who is not a big fan of political ads, the ads that have come out in support of Cruz have been clever, smart, and effective as they push back against his opponents’ attacks. Use their own words (and actions) against them. Simple and effective.

I don’t know about you, but I always end up smiling when I watch them.

–Dana

69 Responses to “Wishy-Washy Donald Trump Can’t Make Up His Mind On What He Really Thinks About Ted Cruz”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (86e864)

  2. Nobody likes him.

    kim davis likes him a lot she holds him higher than the balls of one of them fancy african gi-raffs

    happyfeet (831175)

  3. I agree regarding Trump’s latest attacks. I consider them every bit as unwise and in poor taste as Cruz’s “New York Values” one. And maybe even worse.

    This sort of thing strikes me as pure political mudslinging of the worst sort.

    Arizona CJ (da673d)

  4. Hi… for all his alleged business prowess – and I think it’s real – Trump sure has a tendency to come off like an 8th grader. As I’ve said, he’s an asshole, but he is entertaining and I would vote for him in a heartbeat if it came down to him or ANY of the Democrats in the running.

    I used to find Cruz a little smarmy, but he’s won my support.

    Colonel Haiku (aacf41)

  5. “a Super PAC supporting Ted Cruz responded to Trump’s attack and released this ad in which Trump, in his own words, expresses his admiration and respect for that supposed “nasty guy”.”

    – Dana

    Pretty sure that Trump’s lie was in expressing admiration and respect for Cruz. Not that I disagree with your point about Trump’s brazen lying, but Trump isn’t the only one saying that “[Cruz is] a nasty guy. Nobody likes [Cruz]. Nobody in Congress likes [Cruz]. Nobody likes [Cruz] anywhere once they get to know him.”

    Lots and lots of people are saying those things.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  6. (Of course, lots and lots of the people who don’t like Cruz are shady politicians that don’t like being called on their shadiness).

    Leviticus (efada1)

  7. 5. Lots and lots of people hate having their azz handed them. Bet you know at least one such.

    DNF (ffe548)

  8. Heh!

    That’ll teach Trump not to say nice things about people he will be running against for President in the future. I wonder what nuggets in praise of Hillary are out there.

    nk (dbc370)

  9. obama was another one-term harvardtrash senator what didn’t have a whole lot of real friends either but he was able to overcome this

    Mr. Cruz can overcome this too i think he just needs to stop alienating entire states at a time with his churlish and snotty observations about their values

    happyfeet (831175)

  10. 3.I agree regarding Trump’s latest attacks. I consider them every bit as unwise and in poor taste as Cruz’s “New York Values” one. And maybe even worse.

    Sorry Arizona CJ, but Trump was attacking Cruz, one of us, a conservative, a Republican. Cruz was attacking leftist New York idiots who are against us, our country and our beliefs. Cruz was attacking the enemy, Trump the allies. Trump’s an idiot. I sure hope I don’t have to vote for that fool to keep Hillary! unemployed.

    Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27)

  11. “[Cruz is] a nasty guy. Nobody likes [Cruz]. Nobody in Congress likes [Cruz]. Nobody likes [Cruz] anywhere once they get to know him.”

    Lots and lots of people are saying those things.

    Leviticus (efada1) — 1/18/2016 @ 11:40 am

    If you REALLY know that for a fact, who are those people?

    If Democrats say those things that’s a positive to me. They like R’s that have no conservative principles and think the important thing is to pass something just to say “We passed something”, and hate R’s that have consistent principles they are willing to stand up for. Immigration “reform” is a classic example of that.

    Gerald A (949d7d)

  12. “If you REALLY know that for a fact, who are those people?”

    – Gerald A

    Type “arrogant jerk Ted Cruz” into any search engine and take your pick. Weed out as many accounts as you want to satisfy your confirmation bias.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  13. I guess I take Leviticus’s point about Cruz as a good thing. I definitely do not want the President to be the kind of guy that comforts the comfortable in DC today. When most of these so-called reformers get behind closed doors, they start compromising everything they ran on. Cruz doesn’t seem to do this, which must be extremely frustrating to those who try to corrupt him. The GOP and Democrats haven’t become so similar on accident. It’s the result of tremendous financial incentives to bloat government and dependency. If all the big-wigs of both parties prevent any legitimate alternatives from emerging, then the gravy train of power and prestige is safe.

    Anyway, so Boehner and Obama and Mccain don’t like Cruz the more they get to know him. For the Trump supporter who sees the Trump campaign as a protest against national decline, I think Cruz should represent a tempting protest alternative.

    In an ideal nation, New York and Texas would be separate to run things according to their dramatically different values, tied by a federal government that doesn’t have much impact on local policies. I wish folks would see how we’d all be happier this way.

    Dustin (2a8be7)

  14. Agreed, Dustin (hence my comment #6). But apparently most of Cruz’s classmates over the years thought he was a d*ck too. For whatever that’s worth.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  15. yo ted

    it’s nice to be important but it’s more important to be nice

    write it down

    then just try making one new friend every week

    it’ll be hard at first and you might have to resort to using baked goods but after that it gets easier

    ok good luck

    happyfeet (831175)

  16. apparently most of Cruz’s classmates over the years thought he was a d*ck

    That’s something. I’d want some specifics, but I like to hear about what people were like before they were politicians.

    Dustin (2a8be7)

  17. The most we can do is decide on what we see.
    Ted Cruz is one of the few people who did in DC what they said they would.
    If I am wrong about that, please point it out.

    MD in Philly (at the moment not in Philly) (deca84)

  18. Yeah, one guy even said that Cruz liked girls when he was in college.

    nk (dbc370)

  19. “Ted Cruz is one of the few people who did in DC what they said they would.”

    – MD in Philly

    Another good point.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  20. It is difficult to overstate the extent to which Evangelicals are looked down on by the elites of both parties. It must be especially galling to Princeton and Harvard Law classmates that a hated Evangelical lapped them intellectually. I can’t imagine that it will bother Cruz that he will not be invited to join their country club.

    Now they get to hate the Asians, too. Charming folks.

    ThOR (a52560)

  21. I don’t care that Cruz is hated by those in Congress. I see that as a good thing. I also see it as a good thing that the GOP political class hates him, too. I’m tired of being represented by elected officials who want to be liked by those who can give them things and make it worth their while more than striving to do the will of the people. It’s a sign of strength and maturity that Cruz doesn’t let the dislike of him stand in the way of his conservative principles and values. I don’t believe he’s in this to be a rock star president like the current one, but rather he is in this to not only save the nation from calamity, but to demonstrate and remind Americans that government was not meant to be a vast money-pit sucking the life blood out of voters, but instead was instead meant to unobtrusively work for the people.

    And that’s the reason Cruz is hated: far too many politicians on the left and right like things the way they are – they get to have their cake, and my cake and your cake, and eat it too. All at the expense of the American taxpayer.

    I think a major difference between Cruz and Trump is that Trump wants people to like him and think he’s a really neat guy; it’s personal because he’s shallow and likes to be liked. Even in a race for the presidency, he can’t resist. He doesn’t like not being popular – not because of his position on the issues, but because he’s that narcissistic and self-serving.

    Cruz wants people to like his position on the issues. Whether he’s liked on a personal level, doesn’t seem to matter much to him. It’s superfluous. The critical part to him is what you think of his policy stands, and that’s why he spends so much time explaining them, and teaching voters about the differences. Trump doesn’t do that so much. Instead, if you watch his rallies, there is the sense that he is continually taking the emotional temperature of the audience, adjusting his words accordingly, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll squeak out a vague policy position.

    Cruz believes in, and relies upon the intellectual capabilities of voters while Trump relies upon – and needs – an emotional validation from supporters. He’s always striving to get that full-stadium wave going. It’s the difference between a teacher and a performer.

    Dana (86e864)

  22. And Trump supported Obama.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  23. Donald Trump recalls with chagrin that he supported Barack Obama for president in 2008, but says he now realizes that those moving hope-and-change speeches were nothing more than rhetoric.

    Donald Trump, Obama, Hannity”I was his biggest cheerleader,” the multibillionaire businessman told Sean Hannity on his Fox TV show Tuesday night. “If you go back three years, I’m saying, ‘Do a great job.’ I wanted him to do a great job. I still want him to do a great job.”
    However, Trump said, “It’s not going to happen because the first thing you’d have to do is end Obamacare. Businesses are going to close down because of Obamacare.”

    The U.S. economy is a disaster, and the White House is to blame, Trump said.

    “I thought he was a positive person, always,” Trump said of candidate Obama. “I thought he’d be like a cheerleader for the country. I think he is creating a class warfare that is a very dangerous thing for the country.”

    And the country “is blowing up” because it’s so deeply divided, he said.

    that’s Mr. The Donald from 2011

    i don’t think he’d rape failmerica like how food stamp did

    I don’t worry about that at all to be honest

    I worry about stuff like germs on the train

    happyfeet (831175)

  24. Donald Trump, Obama, Hannity

    happyfeet (831175)

  25. Dana,

    Your description of Trump also describes our former governor. My fear is that a Trump presidency will crash and burn the same way Arnie’s governorship did and for the same reason: the overarching need to be loved. Haven’t we had enough of needy narcissists?

    ThOR (a52560)

  26. This is a Jacksonian election, which means you don’t attack the other guy unless he attacks you first. Once that happens, and it has, the rules are gone and it’s a fight to the end. I expect both Trump and Cruz to fight hard. I expect Cruz to win but we’ll know in about 6 weeks.

    DRJ (15874d)

  27. Great comment, Dana.

    DRJ (15874d)

  28. Fluff children, fluff.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-18/worse-1860

    Government at all levels is insidious, sociopathic. Trifling over Trump, Cruz, et al., is just a distracted remove from Soylent Green.

    DNF (755a85)

  29. Haven’t we had enough of needy narcissists?

    ThOR (a52560) — 1/18/2016 @ 3:42 pm

    I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you don’t have your finger on the pulse of this nation, Thor. It’s sad and it is as true as the day is long.

    Colonel Haiku (aacf41)

  30. if there’s a needier narcissist than Jeb Bush i’ve yet to meet him

    Mr. The Donald’s ego is but a pale shadow of the bizarrely hypertrophied air of entitlement Jeb brings to the table

    how out of touch can a person be

    happyfeet (831175)

  31. Until the 12 monkeys come, we have to deal with the current system.

    narciso (732bc0)

  32. Type “arrogant jerk Ted Cruz” into any search engine and take your pick. Weed out as many accounts as you want to satisfy your confirmation bias.

    Leviticus (efada1) — 1/18/2016 @ 1:06 pm

    It’s hard to find many specific things. One thing was that at Harvard Law he formed a study group of people who graduated from Harvard, Yale or Princeton with high GPA’s. Whoa.

    Gerald A (949d7d)

  33. And he edited an latino issues journal at harvard, just string him up now.

    narciso (732bc0)

  34. So Cruz is a firmly right-leaning d*ick and Trump is a thin-skinned squishy egotist.

    Take your pick, Republicans. But, for gawd’s sakes, please don’t choose Jeb or any variations of that guy (or shades of Paul Ryan) thereof.

    Mark (f713e4)

  35. 32. By 2043 I’ll be 91. Don’t believe I make the cut.

    DNF (755a85)

  36. “One thing was that at Harvard Law he formed a study group of people who graduated from Harvard, Yale or Princeton with high GPA’s. Whoa.”

    – Gerald A

    “As it turned out, though, almost everyone I knew well in college remembered him really well. Vividly. And I knew a number of his friends. But for whatever reason I just didn’t remember him. When I saw college pictures of him, I thought okay, yeah, I remember that guy but sort of in the way where you’re not 100% sure you’re not manufacturing the recollection.

    I was curious. Was this just my wife who tends to be a get-along and go-along kind of person? So I started getting in touch with a lot of old friends and asking whether they remembered Ted. It was an experience really unlike I’ve ever had. Everybody I talked to – men and women, cool kids and nerds, conservative and liberal – started the conversation pretty much the same.

    “Ted? Oh yeah, immense a*#hole.” Sometimes “total raging a#%hole.” Sometimes other variations on the theme. But you get the idea. Very common reaction.”

    – Josh Marshall, Ted Cruz classmate

    Leviticus (c3e73d)

  37. People are so desensitized, these days. Once upon a time, all you had to do was say “X was not liked by a handful of liberal losers in college” and that would be the end of X’s political career. Now, you have to convince 100 million or so voters why it’s important to them what a handful of loser liberal college students thought about X when they were in college together.

    nk (dbc370)

  38. Josh Marshall, Ted Cruz classmate

    Leviticus (c3e73d) — 1/18/2016 @ 9:03 pm

    Sounds like Josh was the one that really didn’t like Cruz, but didn’t have the balls to say so. Think about it.

    NJRob (a07d2e)

  39. The media couldn’t find anyone who recalls Barack Obama from political science classes at Columbia, but now the media are traveling to Slovenia to hunt down people who might have had an argument with Ted Cruz at a Saturday night kegger in 1991.

    Neurologists should do an authorized study to determine why Columbia students are so forgetful.

    Cruz Supporter (102c9a)

  40. breitbart i can belieber but not Mr. Drudge

    he guides himself by his own stars

    he’s a beneficent pickle and for reals I haven’t seen this putative anti-cruz bias on his page that the lil guy at the link says he sees

    he does have a thing up what say “cocaine can cause the brain to EAT itself,” which is a not-so-veiled swipe at Jeb

    happyfeet (831175)

  41. Speaking of Slovenia, two of Trump’s brides were Middle-European immigrants. Which should prove to him that immigrants do in fact do the jobs Americans don’t want to do.

    nk (dbc370)

  42. “One thing was that at Harvard Law he formed a study group of people who graduated from Harvard, Yale or Princeton with high GPA’s. Whoa.”

    – Gerald A

    “As it turned out, though, almost everyone I knew well in college remembered him really well. Vividly. And I knew a number of his friends. But for whatever reason I just didn’t remember him. When I saw college pictures of him, I thought okay, yeah, I remember that guy but sort of in the way where you’re not 100% sure you’re not manufacturing the recollection.

    I was curious. Was this just my wife who tends to be a get-along and go-along kind of person? So I started getting in touch with a lot of old friends and asking whether they remembered Ted. It was an experience really unlike I’ve ever had. Everybody I talked to – men and women, cool kids and nerds, conservative and liberal – started the conversation pretty much the same.

    “Ted? Oh yeah, immense a*#hole.” Sometimes “total raging a#%hole.” Sometimes other variations on the theme. But you get the idea. Very common reaction.”

    – Josh Marshall, Ted Cruz classmate

    Leviticus (c3e73d) — 1/18/2016 @ 9:03 pm

    That article appears to be the primary source of the “Ted Cruz arrogant jerk” narrative.

    There’s nothing specific in there (and I might add it’s also completely unattributed).

    As I said, “It’s hard to find many specific things”. The study group is the only specific thing in the whole article unless I missed something.

    This is actually an illustration of how liberal media narratives get created – Bush is stupid, Obama’s smart, Romney’s mean and now apparently Cruz is an arrogant jerk will be something we’ll be hearing constantly. Look for it to pop up in Stephen Colbert monologues.

    Gerald A (5dca03)

  43. bravo, nk.

    mg (31009b)

  44. Leviticus,

    Josh Marshall’s leftist pals, and Craig Mazin and his leftist pals, didn’t like Ted Cruz.

    Unsurprising, and so f***ing what?

    Patterico (86c8ed)

  45. As I recall, Craig Mazin’s killer point on Cruz was that he didn’t like his bathrobe, or something.

    Look: people who stand up for things often upset the thin-skinned. And a lot of hard leftists are thin-skinned.

    Patterico (86c8ed)

  46. And, not a few Cruz supporters too.

    ropelight (86edb7)

  47. “So f*cking what?” is a fine response, but I tend to believe the accounts. We’re all victims of confirmation bias, here.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  48. I guess I don’t know the relevance of what folks thought about a person in college or law school to today.

    Didn’t we go through that a whole bunch in 2008?

    I once talked to a person who had a friend in common with me, someone who had been in grad school with me. The person who had been in grad school with me had described me as being a “complete skirt chasing hound” which I can assure you was the farthest thing from the truth.

    The person I was talking to insisted that my “friend” had said “everyone” knew that.

    I was pretty upset about it, so I talked to a bunch of people I went to graduate school with…and guess what? They laughed at the idea.

    I always wonder cui bono about that kind of thing. Especially in politics.

    Just my opinion of course. But it seemed pretty high school “Mean Girls” of Josh Marshall to try that out.

    Simon Jester (2708f4)

  49. At least we can all agree that Donald Trump is an assh*le.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  50. “Didn’t we go through that a whole bunch in 2008?”

    – Simon Jester

    Yeah. Enthusiastically and exhaustively.

    That’s different?

    Leviticus (efada1)

  51. Sigh.

    Simon Jester (2708f4)

  52. #52, Leviticus wrote: At least we can all agree that Donald Trump is an assh*le.

    Maybe not all of us. Some of us, sure. But not all of us. Trump might just be demonstrating the values typical of his local environment. Sort of an asshole by a accident of birth.

    Yet, you Leviticus are a self-made asshole.

    ropelight (86edb7)

  53. Simon… you old hound, you…

    Colonel Haiku (aacf41)

  54. If Sammy is reading maybe he can find it for us.
    There is a verse in Proverbs that says to the effect,
    What one person says sounds good,
    Until you hear the other side.

    My, there is nothing new under the sun,
    The world would be a better place if we would remember that just 1/2 the time we need to.

    MD in Philly (not in Philly) (deca84)

  55. But then Paul of Tarsus and Paul of Simon remind us that most of the time people hear what they want to hear anyway.

    MD in Philly (not in Philly) (deca84)

  56. Clinton is a lying, womanizing jerk, just like JFK. George W Bush is stupid. Obama is an arrogant socialist, and Cruz is an arrogant conservative. Trump is just arrogant.

    People have flaws and getting elected President doesn’t change that, but I’m happy to vote for the one person I know is a conservative.

    DRJ (15874d)

  57. Here’s some great news for a Tuesday: one year from today will be the last day Teh Won “serves” as POTUS.

    (Choking back tears now…)

    Colonel Haiku (aacf41)

  58. “Yet, you Leviticus are a self-made asshole.”

    – ropelight

    At least I’m self-made. Unlike Donald Trump.

    Leviticus (efada1)

  59. We’re all victims of confirmation bias, here.

    Leviticus (efada1) — 1/19/2016 @ 7:23 am

    Actually confirmation bias refers latching on to allegations or information that confirms what one already believes. I see virtually no information in the first place.

    But putting a lot of weight on “Everybody I talked to says he’s a jerk” from a liberal source, with almost no specifics (and the one specific is a huge yawn), is a classic of confirmation bias.

    Gerald A (5dca03)

  60. I’m self-made. Unlike Donald Trump.

    Leviticus (efada1) — 1/19/2016 @ 7:45 am

    Yes, but are you a yuuuuge one?

    Colonel Haiku (aacf41)

  61. For Leviticus, re cocky Ted Cruz:

    INSKEEP: You write in this book about your youth and describe being very unpopular in junior high school, which is surely something that millions of people could say of themselves.

    But you go on to say that you decided to re-make yourself. What did you do?

    CRUZ: Well, it was — it was an interesting background. I was growing up in Houston. In grade school and junior high, I was, I guess you would say, a geek. I was academically very good at school but was not a good athlete and was not popular in junior high. And then I spent a great deal of time thinking about, OK, what do the popular kids do that’s different. And I began modifying my behavior to emulate — to try and be popular. And I enjoyed some modicum of success.

    Now, some of it was nature and puberty, so between eighth and ninth, I grew, I think, six, seven inches. I got my braces off. I got contacts. I went to a dermatologist and my acne cleaned up. You know, things a lot of teenagers can relate to. And indeed, I…

    INSKEEP: But you did more than that.

    CRUZ: I even changed my name, which was an interesting thing. My full name is Rafael Edward Cruz, and in Spanish, the diminutive is ito. And so for a junior, you add ito and so the nickname for Rafael, you put ito and you get Rafaelito. And then typically you drop the Ra. And so my name from when I was — from birth until I was, I think, about 12 was Felito, Felito Cruz.

    Now the problem with that is that it rhymes with every major corn chip on the market — Doritos, Tostitos, burritos, Cheetos, which sadly, young children were fond of pointing out. And my mother — I remember — my mom and I are very close. I remember my mom suggesting to me when I was, I think, 11 or 12, that if I wanted, I could change my name.

    My middle name’s Edward. We went through all the choices I could go by. I could go by Rafael or Ralph or Raff or Edward or Eddie or Ted. And just Ted sounded like me.

    But you mention I also changed behavior. I did things like I hadn’t participated in sports, I went out for all the sports teams, and I played football and basketball and soccer, and I was horrible because I hadn’t played in elementary school or junior high. But I was at a small school, and so they would let anyone who want to play. And frankly, it was some simple things like just treating people nicely, which — some of that’s maturity in life.

    But it was an interesting transformation where, when I got to high school, I was elected class president two years in a row and was a leader in a lot of school activities. And one of the things I talk about in the book is having been, as a grade school kid and junior high kid unpopular and then having changed my behavior to become more popular, it taught me a lesson that popularity isn’t the end-all, be-all. That what matters far more is that you stick to your principles, that you stand up and you live a life of integrity.

    One of the problems in Washington — and this is something I talk about in great length in the book, “A Time for Truth” — is there are far too many politicians in Washington who desperately just want to get re-elected.

    You know, there’s an old joke that politics is Hollywood for ugly people. And that explains why, over and over again, they’re afraid to stand up and lead because they don’t want to lose their election and the money and power in Washington is what gets them re-elected.

    I think we are at a time of crisis, which is why — I mean, the book is entitled “A Time for Truth.” I think our nation faces enormous challenges, and we need leaders who are willing to tell the truth and do the right thing regardless of the consequences.

    INSKEEP: You write that as a grown-up, you unlearned some of those lessons, particularly in the 2000 presidential campaign when you worked for George W. Bush.

    CRUZ: Yes.

    INSKEEP: That you had been hoping for some senior position in the administration, you didn’t get it because you feel that you annoyed a lot of people.

    Have you ended up — have you ended up more like the kid you were at the beginning, when you were unpopular?

    CRUZ: Well Steve, you’re right that I described going to Bush campaign. So when I was in my late 20s, I left my job, packed up everything I owned and moved to Austin to join the 2000 Bush campaign. And I think the best part of the campaign was I met my wife, Heidi, who is my best friend in the world. She is incredible. She is beautiful, she’s brilliant, she’s the daughter of missionaries.

    But I do describe how, on the campaign, I found myself slipping into old habits. And I had been very successful — I’d been very successful at school, I had gone to top schools, which no one in my family ever had. I had clerked on the Supreme Court, I had a successful law practice. And when I was on the Bush campaign, I was very cocky, and I paid a price for that.

    I desperately wanted to have a senior position in the administration. But I had burned a lot of bridges on the campaign, and so that was not in the offing. And one of the things I describe in the book is how I went through a very difficult year the first year of the Bush administration, where I had worked incredibly hard.

    But it’s interesting. Heidi, I mentioned my wife. You know, a lot of times your spouse sees things about you that you don’t necessarily see. Heidi is convinced that my personality changed in a very fundamental way in that period. And one of the things I describe in the book, I needed to get my teeth kicked in. I needed not to be as cocky as I had been on the campaign.

    And I — and I mention in the book, you know, a terrific country song is “Some of God’s Greatest Gifts are Unanswered Prayers.” And I point out if I had gotten what I wanted, if I had gone to a senior White House position in the Bush administration, two things would have happened. Number one, I undoubtedly would have been ensnared in some of the many mistakes of the Bush administration, and I chronicle quite a few of those in the book where the administration deviated from the conservative principles that the president had campaigned on. But number two, if I had gotten that, I never would have been elected to the United States Senate.

    DRJ (15874d)

  62. What he learned:

    You know, one of the great things about our democratic process, the way you get elected, particularly in a grassroots campaign like the one that I ran in Texas and the run — the one that I’m running now nationally is you go to hundreds of IHOPs and Denny’s and VFW halls and you sit down and talk with people. And here’s a real simple rule of thumb. If you’re an arrogant little snot, you ain’t going to win because the people you’re talking to are the salt of the Earth. They’re truck drivers, they’re plumbers, they’re schoolteachers, they’re working men and women.

    And what we saw when I ran for Senate in Texas, what we’re seeing on the ground in Iowa, in New Hampshire and South Carolina is that old Reagan coalition coming together. People — we’re seeing conservatives and libertarians and evangelicals and young people and Hispanics and African-Americans and Jewish voters and women and Reagan Democrats. And I think — as I point out in the book, I think God knew what he was doing when he allowed me to get my teeth kicked in on the Bush campaign and not achieve the success that I so badly wanted because I need to learn some lessons.

    INSKEEP: Do you think you’re less cocky now?

    CRUZ: Absolutely. And it’s interesting, because the attacks that are leveled in Washington, they go through almost an Alice in Wonderland, through the looking glass, inversion.

    INSKEEP: You say you don’t recognize yourself when people describe you as arrogant or whatever they may say?

    CRUZ: Indeed, what they’re doing often, is projecting their own conduct. 

    DRJ (15874d)

  63. he sounds so super-nice like you want him to be your neighbor

    happyfeet (831175)

  64. 57. MD in Philly (not in Philly) (deca84) — 1/19/2016 @ 7:41 am If Sammy is reading maybe he can find it for us.

    There is a verse in Proverbs that says to the effect,
    What one person says sounds good,
    Until you hear the other side.

    A couple of years back, at least 4 but I know longer, maybe seven to ten, someone I know from the synagogue wanted to go over Proverbs.

    We read it, or really he read it, so fast, one verse after another (over a period of days or a few weeks but still fast) that I got nothing out of it. There are so many different thoughts there, you can’t absorb them rapidly, or think about them. I just learned that the start of Proverbs was not a set of proverbs, but a long introduction about the value of wisdom or not rejecting teachings and how it is someone’s ruin to be a bad person. Proverbs 9:10 is something famous, which I had thought had come from Psalms. The proverbs only really begin with chapter 10!

    What I know of Proverbs is basically from “outside” – what’s been quoted elsewhere, and sometimes I look in, could be sometimes maybe even it’s quoted and explanation is given somewhere.

    I knew that that probably not a single word you used was in the English translation. I used a Hebrew concordance.

    I could guess maybe “yashar” (right in the sense used in Deuteronomy 6:18 (good and right) and here it means beyond what is merely legal – or it’s used also at the end of Judges a few times, like Judges 17:6)

    I could guess maybe “yashar” is in that. I used a Hebrew concordance. I didn’t find it.

    Now the thought you expressed didn’t sound like something Solomon would say – it wouldn’t make sense except on the context of judging, where it is very Jewish. In the context of a court, right would maybe use the word “tzaddik” (the person who is wrong in a court being called Rasha, although “rasha” has a quite independent, and worse meaning.)

    So I tried “tzaddik, and there were so many uses of that word in the concordance, which this one didn’t go in scriptural order, that I could nothing with it. But I looked alittle in proverbs, past Chapter 10 somewhere closer to the middle – and then I found it!

    It’s recognizable as what you said, and it is in the context of a judge in a court, although I wouldn’t ex[ect you to pick that up.

    http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt2818.htm

    Proverbs 18:17

    יז צַדִּיק הָרִאשׁוֹן בְּרִיבוֹ; יבא- (וּבָא-) רֵעֵהוּ, וַחֲקָרוֹ. 17 He that pleadeth his cause first seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him out.

    That’s bad transaltion. Mechon-mamre is supposed to be a good one. Searches him out is completely wrong. That’s what a judge tries to do. With the original testimony. I would translate it:

    The first one is (or appears to be) the righteous one in his quarrel – (then) his friend comes and falsifies him.

    Or as the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation has it (based on the King James mostly, but with modifations)

    “He that pleadeth his cause first seemeth just [Just could also be a translation of “tzaddik”) But his neighbor cometh and searcheth his out.

    It is really “falsifies him.” I mean, the root there is “sheker” (falsity, lies)

    That’s one of the (many) places where the 1917 Jewish Publication Society “Holy Scriptures” didn’t correct the King James version.

    Maybe it’s not so bad in Elizabethan or Shakespearean English, but I don’t know.

    You had it:

    What one person says sounds good,
    Until you hear the other side

    …which is pretty good.

    You have to remember this pertains to a judge in a court. It’s a very important Jewish principle. It got into American law too, with ex-parte communications being viewed very, very, unfavorably, witha few notable exceptions.

    My, there is nothing new under the sun,

    That’s King Solomon also, Ecclesiastes 1:10. It’s sometimes, maybe even often, true, because precedents are forgotten, and most often true when it comes to interactions between human beings.

    And the attitude of Pharaoh toward people leaving Egypt (Exodus 1:10 and you also see this at the end of Genesis, where Joseph even has to promise to return] sounds very reminiscent of the old Soviet Union. It was so strange an idea to Rashi (and others) that he thought the words were a euphemism for chase them out.

    Now we’ll see how long it takes for this to get out of moderation.

    Sammy Finkelman (dbec95)

  65. Now the meaning of that proverb isn’t that every time the first witness is lying and the second one is telling the truth! It’s just an example.

    In fact the name of the book is “Mishlei” which doesn’t really mean proverbs, but means parables, allegories, examples.

    So I could see why some people didn’t want to translate the word as “falsifies” because you read it badly as something that happens every time, rather than something that could happen some time.

    Sammy Finkelman (dbec95)

  66. Correction: I made an error.

    It is really “falsifies him.” I mean, the root there is “sheker” (falsity, lies)

    Somehow I “saw” the wrong Hebrew word. It differs from one letter from what is actually in Proverbs.

    This changes the meaning slightly and means the translations are right.

    He that pleadeth his cause first seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him out.

    here we have to picture, not the other person tetsifying, but his neighbor cross-examining him. But I thought only the judgge does that. It still has the meaning of the first person sounding like he was right and then something haoppening when his “friend” – by the way the “friend” or “neighbor” might be a different witness – except that a witness shurely wuld not be cross examing him.

    There are a few other proverbs in Proverbs 18 about courts. At least one, anyway.

    ה שְׂאֵת פְּנֵי-רָשָׁע לֹא-טוֹב– לְהַטּוֹת צַדִּיק, בַּמִּשְׁפָּט. 5

    It is not good to respect the person of the wicked, so as to turn aside the righteous in judgment.

    Sammy Finkelman (643dcd)


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