The utter nastiness of Ted Cruz

[flowers]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-nastiness-of-ted-cruz/2016/02/05/2cfbfde0-cc2c-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html

When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) last month mocked Donald Trump’s “New York values,” it wasn’t entirely clear what he was implying.

 This week we got a clue: For Cruz, “New York” is another way of saying “Jewish.”

At an event in New Hampshire, Cruz, the Republican Iowa caucuses winner, was asked about campaign money he and his wife borrowed from Goldman Sachs. Cruz, asserting that Trump had “upward of $480 million of loans from giant Wall Street banks,” said: “For him to make this attack, to use a New York term, it’s the height of chutzpah.” Cruz, pausing for laughter after the phrase “New York term,” exaggerated the guttural “ch” to more laughter and applause.

But “chutzpah,” of course, is not a “New York” term. It’s a Yiddish — a Jewish — one. And using “New York” as a euphemism for “Jewish” has long been an anti-Semitic dog whistle.
De Blasio 'disgusted' by Cruz's 'New York values' insult



I followed both Cruz and Trump this week at multiple campaign events across New Hampshire. It was, in a sense, a pleasure to see them use their prodigious skills of character assassination against each other. It was demagogue against demagogue: lie vs. lie. Both men riled their supporters with fantasies and straw men.



But there were discernible differences. Trump owned anger. Cruz, by contrast, had a lock on nastiness. Trump is belligerent and hyperbolic, with an authoritarian style. But while Trump fires up the masses with his nonstop epithets, Cruz has Joe McCarthy’s knack for false insinuation and underhandedness. What sets Cruz apart is the malice he exudes.

Cruz jokes that “the whole point of the campaign” is that “the Washington elites despise” him. But Cruz’s problem is that going back to his college days at Princeton, those who know him best seem to despise him most. Not a single Senate colleague has endorsed his candidacy, and Iowa’s Republican governor urged Cruz’s defeat, then called his campaign “unethical.”

 

[sinkspur]

Oh for God's sake!

Not a Cruz fan, but there is nothing anti-semitic in using the term "chutzpah."

Silly example to use in describing Cruz's nastiness. That he can't even get an endorsement from Jeff Sessions or Mike Lee ought to tell you how his fellow Senators feel about him.

[Bigun]

[Free Vulcan]

I think it's a bit too tight.

[PzLdr]

Chutzpah, like most Yiddish, is a part of the New York idiom. I'm not a Cruz supporter, but this article is total b*llsh*t.

[aligncare]

Oh for God's sake!

Not a Cruz fan, but there is nothing anti-semitic in using the term "chutzpah."

Silly example to use in describing Cruz's nastiness. That he can't even get an endorsement from Jeff Sessions or Mike Lee ought to tell you how his fellow Senators feel about him.

When the press asked Cruz's campaign manager to explain who Cruz was referring to by "New York values?"

The manager said--he actually said this--he said, you know: pushy people who eat big sandwiches.

As a New Yorker, I know the code used here. "Pushy people" and "big sandwiches" refer to Jews and delicatessens, which Jews have historically been associated with frequenting here in New York.

In the general election Ted Cruz has no chance in New York. Donald Trump on the other hand stands a good chance of turning New York red.

[Right_in_Virginia]

When the press asked Cruz's campaign manager to explain who Cruz was referring to by "New York values?"

The manager said--he actually said this--he said, you know: pushy people who eat big sandwiches.

As a New Yorker, I know the code used here. "Pushy people" and "big sandwiches" refer to Jews and delicatessens, which Jews have historically been associated with frequenting here in New York.

In the election Ted Cruz has no chance in New York. Donald Trump on the other hand stands a good chance of turning New York red.

You're right on all points.

[sinkspur]

When the press asked Cruz's campaign manager to explain who Cruz was referring to by "New York values?"

The manager said--he actually said this--he said, you know: pushy people who eat big sandwiches.

As a New Yorker, I know the code used here. "Pushy people" and "big sandwiches" refer to Jews and delicatessens, which Jews have historically been associated with frequenting here in New York.

In the general election Ted Cruz has no chance in New York. Donald Trump on the other hand stands a good chance of turning New York red.

It's just funny to me that someone could write an article on the nastiness of Ted Cruz with a straight face when Mr. Nasty has been running around insulting the world for the past eight months.

[andy58-in-nh]

Dana Milbank? Really?

A left-wing loon at the Washington ComPost doesn't like Ted Cruz?
Shocking.