... with a stiletto up his sleeve.

I answered that person that as a lifelong student of Russian history, I'm deeply embarrassed at not having independently noted that myself. But it's true. Cruz won't start a 3rd party. He will wreck as much destruction of the GOP overall as might be required to take full control of it. Never mind what he's doing and certainly would do worse to the rest of us. Sorry, but I can't think of one redeeming virtue he might possess - he's one of the most dangerous persons in our history, and don't expect any tears from me over whatever comeuppance he receives.

Cum laude from Princeton, magna cum laude from Harvard Law, and this comment from Alan Dershowitz:

Referring to Cruz's time as a student at Harvard Law, Professor Alan Dershowitz said, "Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz

Keep an eye on him.

Although he played the rube and did indeed once live in a converted chicken coop, he was Hitler's equal in manipulation and insanity. I did my college thesis on him, with inside information from one of his brothers who actually lived a decent life. They never spoke past childhood. Since both men are gone now, of course, I can tell you that the brother said he always felt guilty being relieved when Huey died because the man was just that dangerous and sociopathic. Huey would've become president if he'd lived, that's for sure.

What I actually know about Huey Long would fill a modestly-sized thimble, sad to say, but I love history and the personalities that inhabit it -- there is so much to learn.

My husband really startled me last week when he compared Cruz to Hitler, because he never does that. Hitler was all-too-real in his family, and he simply does not throw that name around. I shared your observation with him yesterday, and he concurred with the comparison to Long.

The main takeaway for me is that we on the opposition should not indulge too much in the temptation to call Cruz an idiot and a clod -- in other words, to see himself as he wants us to see him, so that while we're feeling all superior he can go about his business of selling himself as (you should pardon the expression) the Great White Populist Hope.

While I won't go to undue lengths here, allow me to rattle on a little further about ol' Huey.

He pulled that populist crap in Louisiana, of course, to get elected. But along the way he'd learned drawing room manners on the surface and could mix with the uppa crust comfortably. His speech in the right circles was elegant. Back home he'd talk to the crowds like one of them: "I'm gonna go to Washington and make them damned fat cats give back that grub they ain't got no business with!" Very quickly no one could hold ANY kind of job in the state w/o his tacit approval.

He was not only a fascist dictator by nature, he had great cunning. At that time the state had few paved roads, and when he first asked the legislature for highway funds, they allowed him only a pittance. So instead of paving one really long stretch as a showpiece, he peppered the entire state with short 1-mile paved stretches. That way everybody got the experience of pavement and then they'd hit back down on the dirty rutted roads again. Made 'em mad. So next time Huey went back for more funds, he got all he wanted (plus plenty to stuff in his pockets).

His skills would've been laudable if he'd used them for the benefit of mankind, but he was power mad, crooked as a dog's hind leg, and his cunning made him dangerous. His brother, whom I knew through my mom, also loved FDR even more since he thought someone from that camp might've had something to do with the assassination. His brother was absolutely terrified of him, telling me (confidentially at the time) "Remember, I grew up with him and I know what he was capable of."

No, anyone who knew Huey or much about him would never be fooled by Cruz. Say hi to your husband for me.

I was thinking about this picture of Mr.Orangeman,I'd seen in another post here, yesterday. What came to my mind was from Abbott and Costello, when he says, "I'm a bad boy............"

Yes, little Johnnie, you have been a very, very bad boy. And you know you've been and that's why you keep crying. Time to man up and put that vote on the floor and end this stupid shit!