Sen. Ted Cruz announces his presidential bid

From the Houston Chronicle:

It was like any other Monday convocation on Liberty University's sprawling campus, except the students were handed little American flags to wave on their way in the double-glass doors.

Though attendance was mandatory for the school's resident students, Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz faced a rapt audience as he launched his long-expected bid for the presidency under the Vine Center's vast, 10,000-seat white dome.

"I believe God isn't done with America," Cruz said to a raucous standing ovation. "I believe in you. I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of America. And that's why today I am announcing that I am running for president of the United States."

More here.

This is incredibly pleasing to me!

That might sound counter-intuitive given that I'm obviously more liberal than most of the Democratic Party, but just follow the reasoning here. Given that Cruz is such a far right nut job, given that a lot of Tea Party far right nut jobs really dig his far right bullshit, and given that Tea Party types are probably the most likely group to show up to the Republican primaries, all other Republican candidates are going to have to match his nuttiness so as to appeal to all these Republican nuts. I mean, if they want to win.

That is, he's going to draw the GOP primaries further to the right than I can recall happening in my lifetime. You thought the 2012 Republican primaries were an exercise in lunacy? Just wait until next year. Applauding for the highest death penalty tally or young men without health insurance dying from motorcycle crashes will appear civilized in comparison.

And this will all be entertaining enough, in itself, to watch the Confederate Party wave its private parts around for all to see. But it means a virtual lock on the White House for the Democrats.

Cruz won't win the primary, but his rhetoric will assure that whatever relatively "moderate" establishment candidate who does win will necessarily be tainted by having had to appeal to Cruz Republicans. Same thing happened to Romney, really. He had to be a nut for GOP primary voters, and then turn around in the general election and somehow explain that he didn't really mean all that crazy shit.

Actually, Romney didn't even try. Instead, he just lied about it, pretended he didn't go there. It so took Obama by surprise in that first debate that the President was said to have "lost." But, man, what do you do when your opponent just lies straight to your face, and the nation, on live TV?

In the end, lying didn't work, either. The damage was already done. Romney embraced the psycho-conservative world view, if only for a few months, and he just couldn't shake it. So he lost.

Cruz is going to make this dynamic all the more solid. With him in the race, it will be IMPOSSIBLE for a Republican to win the Oval Office. So congratulations to Hillary, or whoever! Four more years of Democratic rule!

You heard it here.

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