On the homepage, I write about freshman Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas), who is already making a name for himself, and ruffling a few feathers along the way. Liberals, and many in the media, are thoroughly vexed by his conspicuous presence and aggressive style. But Cruz, who Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell calls “a deadly weapon” for Republicans, didn’t come to Washington to keep quiet:
If anything, the 41-year-old Texan has made clear he does not intend to abide by the conventional playbook for new members: Keep your head down, keep your mouth shut, and learn the ropes before inserting yourself into the national conversation.
That’s not Cruz’s style. More important, it’s not what he campaigned on. “If I go to Washington and just have a good voting record, I will consider myself a failure,” then-candidate Cruz said on the campaign trail in 2012. Last week, in an interview with conservative radio host Mark Levin, Cruz expressed disbelief at “how shocked people are when you actually do what you said you would do.” “In most of America that’s to be expected, and yet oddly enough in Washington, D.C., that seems to be unusual,” he said.
Read the whole thing here.