Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz fires back at Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who told USA Today that he “hate[s]” his Republican counterpart. Cruz responded, "... apparently he’s decided that being obnoxious and insulting me is good for causing liberals to buy his books.” (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz slammed “obnoxious” Sen. Al Franken Wednesday after the Minnesota Democrat said he “hate[s]” him.
Cruz said Franken, who broadcast his disdain for the Republican lawmaker during an interview with USA Today, is dedicating an entire chapter of his forthcoming book — “Al Franken: Giant of the Senate” — to him solely in an effort to boost sales. The anti-Cruz chapter is titled “Sophistry.”
“Al is trying to sell books and apparently he’s decided that being obnoxious and insulting me is good for causing liberals to buy his books,” Cruz told Politico.
Cruz’s comments were in response to Franken telling USA Today’s Susan Page he likes Cruz “probably more than my colleagues like Ted Cruz.” But, Franken panned: “I hate Ted Cruz.”
He went on to describe Cruz as “singularly dishonest” and “extremely smarmy.”
And in an excerpt of Franken’s upcoming book being circulated by the Austin American-Statesman’s Jonathan Tilove, the liberal lawmaker recounts an exchange with fellow Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D), during which he jokes Cruz is “full of s***,” like a Carnival cruise.
Franken said he doesn’t have any qualms about breaking protocol and sharing details from private conversations with Cruz because, in his view, the one-time presidential hopeful did just that in 2015, when he called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) a liar on the Senate floor.
“Because Ted broke that protocol, and called Mitch McConnell a liar on the floor, I felt like, ‘Well, OK, I can [break protocol],’” Franken told Page.
When asked about Franken’s reasoning, Cruz just laughed it off before adding: “Said what I’m going to say.”
According to preliminary reports, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has gone into seclusion and is desperately trying to find reason to go on. It’s understandable given that you just don’t come back from this kind of thing. If you’re curious what has the star Senator from Texas reeling, Huffington Post broke the devastating news yesterday:
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)… has been cracking wise about one of his least favorite colleagues, Ted Cruz (R-Texas), while promoting his sarcastically titled new book, Al Franken: Giant of the Senate.
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“You have to understand that I like Ted Cruz probably more than my colleagues like Ted Cruz,” Franken told USA Today’s Susan Page, repeating a line from his book, “and I hate Ted Cruz.”
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“He’s a special guy,” the senator added. Indeed, Page reports that Franken dedicates an entire chapter of his book to Cruz, titled “Sophistry.”
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Certainly when someone as revered and distinguished as Senator Al Franken unleashes on you, it’s tough to regain any semblance of composure. When someone with the towering intellect and rapier wit of Franken accuses you of “sophistry,” all you can do is try to pick up the pieces.
After all, just compare these two men and their accomplishments to see the distinct advantage Franken has over Cruz in nearly every discernable category.
Ted Cruz has authored over 80 Supreme Court briefs. Al Franken authored skits about poop and sex on Saturday Night Live.
Ted Cruz clerked for the esteemed Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Al Franken performed fake news for laughs until he was replaced by Norm Macdonald and quit in a temper tantrum.
Ted Cruz served as the primary editor of the Harvard Law Review and was hailed by one of the nation’s most well known attorneys, Alan Dershowitz (a liberal) as “off the charts brilliant.” Al Franken served as screenwriter and star in Stuart Saves His Family, a film that bombed at the box office with the San Francisco Chronicle calling the effort, “a mess.”
Ted Cruz famously argued 9 cases before the United States Supreme Court. Al Franken famously grilled Representative Tom Price over owning tobacco stocks – that Franken also owns.
Ted Cruz was once a national and international debate champion. Al Franken used cocaine while working in the television business.
It’s just not a fair fight. When someone with the pedigree of Al Franken speaks, the entire nation listens. And right now they’re hearing the junior Senator from Minnesota, who previously suggestedTed Cruz was, “the lovechild of Joe McCarthy and Dracula,” call Cruz’s character and intellect into question.
Keep these in mind as you contemplate the direction of the American government over the past 50 years and especially since the Obama election.
The Goals of Communism
(as read into the congressional record January 10, 1963, from "The Naked Communist" by Cleon Skousen)
1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.
6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.
7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.
9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.
10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)
12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.
15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.
16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.
17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.
18. Gain control of all student newspapers.
19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.
20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.
21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."
24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.
26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."
27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."
28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."
29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.
34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.
36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.
37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.
38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.
39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.
40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.
42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.
43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.
44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.
45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
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