Reprinted from Other Words
Senator Ted Cruz's recent announcement of his presidential candidacy was a real Cruz-a-palooza.
It was part Ronald Reagan, part Elmer Gantry, part John Lennon, and part Jerry Falwell -- yet it was totally Ted Cruz, full of blather and bloat.
Cruz thumped the word "liberty" again and again during his speech, like a televangelist thumping the Bible. "We stand together for liberty," the candidate declared one final time at the conclusion of the show, which was staged at Falwell's Liberty University.
That was more than a little cynical.
While the mass media reported that Cruz drew a packed house of 10,000 Liberty students, few news stories mentioned a pertinent fact about the crowd: The budding scholars were not at liberty to avoid his speech. Their school made attendance mandatory.
Another word reprised throughout the event was "imagine." Cruz uttered it 38 times in a sort of dreamy imitation of the John Lennon song. "Imagine health care reform that keeps government out of the way," warbled the senator.
Imagine, indeed.
Cruz's family once received free, platinum-level coverage from Goldman Sachs, where his wife was a top executive. But when she took leave from the Wall Street giant to join Cruz's anti-government crusade, they were suddenly left with no health coverage.
No problem for a hypocrite like Cruz. The day after his big speech, he said he plans to sign up for Obamacare, the very program he demonized and once shut down the government in an attempt to kill.
But it was in the speech's finale that Cruz reached his crescendo of cynicism: "It is a time for truth," he bellowed.
Truth?
This is a guy who fabricates facts to foment fear among the fringiest right-wingers. The good news is that the more he campaigns, the more obvious it will become that he can't even imagine the truth.
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