August 24, 2015 4:50 AM

Better to be thought a miserable excuse for humanity than to be Ted Cruz

Sen. Ted Cruz, displaying the warmth and basic decency that have made him a legend among near-human beings, chose the day after former President Jimmy Carter announced that he has brain cancer to natter on about how terrible a president Carter was, but at least the man only had a single term before Ronald Reagan Saved America. Less than 24 hours after the former president said, “I just thought I had a few weeks left,” and thanked God for his “exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence,” Cruz mounted the Des Moines Register’s candidate soapbox at the Iowa State Fair on Friday and shared his own take on the significance of the dying former president…. “I think the parallels between this administration and the Carter administration are uncanny: same failed domestic policies, same misery, stagnation and malaise, same feckless and naïve foreign policy,” Cruz said. “In fact, the exact same countries—Russia and Iran — openly laughing and mocking at the president of the United States.”

Politics in this country has historically been a rough and tumble affair; the sensitive and easily bruised need not apply. Even with that in mind, there’s no way for even a politician to justify being a total dick. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took advantage of former President Jimmy Carter (who’s twice the human being Cruz could ever even hope to be) announcing he has cancer in an effort to boost his own political prospects. A truly good and decent man announces he has cancer that’s spread to his brain…and Cruz decides to figuratively $#!% on him. Stay classy, eh??

Depending on your criteria, Jimmy Carter may or may not have been the best President ever…but that’s really not the issue here. Regardless of one’s opinions about his Presidency, Carter has without a doubt turned out to be the best EX-President in our history. He’s one of the few openly public Christians who actually endeavors to live his faith, insisting that his religion demands he do whatever he can to help make the world a better place…which seems as if it should be Christianity 101. His commitment to doing the right things for the right reasons in the name of his faith is as commendable as it is notable for being so seemingly rare these days.

That Cruz would choose to disparage him in the way he did only demonstrates what a truly horrible human being he is, and how little he seems to care that he’s a total dick. Carter had barely announced his cancer diagnosis when Cruz decided it was time to remove any lingering doubt that he’s an asshole’s asshole, a person incapable of compassion and human decency- particularly when it interferes with his political ambitions.

Cruz’s thoughtful insistence that There’s No “Americas’ favorite former President has Cancer” in “Team” is of a piece with other incidents suggesting that while Cruz may have read descriptions of common human decency, he has never actually indulged in such irrelevant trifles himself. In June, three days before Joe Biden’s son Beau had even been buried, Cruz made a side-splitting joke about the grief-stricken vice president:

You know, Vice President Joe Biden. You know the nice thing? You don’t need a punchline. I promise you it works. The next party you’re at, just walk up to someone, say “Vice President Joe Biden,” and just close your mouth. They will crack up laughing!

To be unnecessarily fair to Cruz, his Republican audience, which also consisted entirely of conscience-free ghouls, cracked up laughing.

Cruz managed early on to alienate his Republican colleagues in the Senate; evidently even they can recognize there should be limits on the degree to which one of their own should be allowed to be a self-absorbed asshole. Presidential politics isn’t life, and it certainly doesn’t provide license to leave common decency at the door. Some things should transcend political ambition, regardless of what that might entail. A former President dying of cancer would certainly seem to be someone worthy of being treated with respect and dignity…words clearly not to be found in his vocabulary.

I understand Cruz recognizes his base as that part of the electorate devoid of intelligence, common sense, and compassion. Even with that in mind, there’s no justification for being a classless, mean-spirited dick to a man who’s justed announced he has brain cancer. Rather than waxing indignant over his lack of human kindness and dignity, I’m going to defer to my belief in karma and the conviction that Cruz will eventually be called to account for being such a miserable excuse for humanity. In the meantime, I’m beyond thankful that I don’t have to wake up next to him every morning.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on August 24, 2015 4:50 AM.

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