Ted Cruz made me very happy

[RussBLib]

when he dropped out of the race. It felt like a real repudiation of his blatant Christianity. Supposedly God told Rafael to run for President. I am such a cynic that I suspect that Cruz is not really religious, but used it as a path to the nomination. He knows how weak people are and how susceptible they are to those who wear religion on their sleeve, but then to see all those Republicans vote for the orange marmalade instead of Cruz was great.

But I'm pretty sure we haven't heard the last of Rafael Eduardo Cruz. He joined the Senate in 2014 and won't be up for re-election till 2020. Maybe by then we'll have some strong Democrats in Texas to kick his ass out.

[arcane1]

1. Huckabee and Santorum too. It's nice to see the fundies lose their power. n/t

[progressoid]

2. My fundy neighbors haz a sad.

There are 5 of voting age in that house and their vehicles have Cruz and Carson bumper stickers. Last time around it was Santorum.

We politely avoid each other most of the time.

[cleanhippie]

3. It's the fundy wingnuts that bring the absurdity of religion to the mainstream.

these people have done more to marginalize religion from policy discussions than anything else.

[Warpy]

4. He'd have won easily in 2000

when millennial fever was at its height and prosperity theology was getting the butts into the theater chairs in all the glitzy megachurches. Now the economy isn't working for 99% of us and Armageddon failed to appear on schedule and all the rah-rah Jebus jumpers are sleeping in on Sunday because their shitty paychecks won't allow them to pay all their bills, much less tithe to some pompadoured fraud who tells them everybody they don't like is going to hell.

Cruz will continue to rise to the level of his corruption, I agree with you about that. He'll parlay his term in the Senate into a corporate career that will afford him fabulous wealth on earth, which his daddy assures him he'll be able to take with him when he dies. Someone out there will always look out for Ted.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. I disagree.

Not with how happy we all should be, but about him not really being religious. I think that he is one of the "true believers", and those are the most dangerous.

[Freelancer]

6. The second coming just isn't happening fast enough for Cruz's ilk

People like Cruz enter public life because they've come to suspect the world isn't going to end -- not without their intervention, anyway -- which belies a nagging optimism on their part, IMO.

Cruz's ilk and other armageddon-seekers have a lot in common. They see people doing things not in accord with their book and yet they go on living without being struck down. The world is "sinful," yet it teeters on without getting smote. Since the idea that God might not act on their watch is too non-egocentric for most to consider, this leaves two possibilities -- that either God is dead/asleep/hiding/nonexistent (road seldom taken) OR that he expects them to step up and do his work for him (A task! A task!). They think a beautiful golden lollypop is waiting for them in heaven for having passed the test and for being such sharp monkeys.

Cruz should just concentrate on raising more money to breed blemish-free red heifers. The manual says Jesus won't be able to return without the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon. AND, since, in order for the magic to work, the men that clear the temple mount in Israel will have to be dowsed with the ashes of sacrificed blemish-free red heifers, they're going to need a LOT of heifers. Cloning will probably be required.

But then... that goes without saying.

[onager]

7. Wonder how Cruz interpreted this event...

A few months ago, I was listening to Cruz campaigning in SC. He told the audience a flat-out lie, which of course is not unusual:

"We are just one Supreme Court vote away from full abortion on demand, right up to the moment of birth!"

Later that day, Justice Scalia croaked.