When I did this video interview with Ted Cruz on July 30, I also did an audio interview with him at the same time using an iPhone App called Recorder Pro. The video interview was done by Cruz’s staff (who have a much better camera than I do), and the resulting video was editing done to a sort of “Best of” piece emphasizing his campaign themes. I actually think the full interview will be more interesting to conservatives, as he goes into more detail about a number of topics, including border control, the budget deficit, and federal commerce clause overreach and the 10th Amendment, including a discussion of Wickard vs. Filburn.
It’s taken a good bit longer to get it the audio up here than I wanted to, mainly because I’ve been pretty busy, but also because it was something of a pain to edit the interview and get it up here. First, I had Recorder Pro record in CAF format, which isn’t particularly widely used, so I needed one program to convert it into a .WAV file, and then another to edit the file (there was about a minute and a half of extraneous setup noise I wanted to spare you). Then, after all that, I found out the resulting audio file was too large post all at once, so I’ve split it into two chunks. The first half of the interview is below as an MP3. I’ll try to put up the second half in the next day or so, assuming I don’t get distracted by shiny objects.
You may have noticed several fires breaking out in Central Texas due to the prolonged drought and high winds. You may also have noticed liberals crowing about how the latest Texas budget cut wildfire response by 50%. That would indeed seem to be shortsighted, except for one tiny fact:
It isn’t true.
Evidently the myth arises from pieces like this one from earlier in the year, citing unnamed sources in the midst of budget negotiations saying such a cut was proposed. Not passed, mind you, but proposed. And it doesn’t say by who.
But when you look at the actual numbers for the passed budget, they tell a radically different story.
Next let’s look at the 2012-2013 biennium passed by the 82nd Legislature; sorry, I was only able to find a PDF, but the relevant information can be found near the top of page 15, where it states that the legislature allocated $81 million for the Texas Forest Service for wildfires.
So not only did the Texas state legislature and Governor Rick Perry not reduce the amount for wildfire fighting and prevention, they actually doubled the amount spent on it.
So a real natural tragedy is being used by opportunistic liberals to slander politicians (and let’s face it, a state) that they already hated. The original Think Progress etc. pieces were merely half-baked rumor. Repeating them today, however, makes them an actual lie.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts.
Edited to add: The Texas State Fiscal year starts on September 1st, so the state is operating under the 2012-2013 biennium budget now.
I had two separate science fiction conventions to go to (Worldcon in Reno, and Armadillocon here in Austin) back to back, plus some personal upheavals, so it’s taking me some time to get back in the swing of things. So here are some quick Senate race updates for the last two weeks:
Another Senate candidate forum, this time in Waco. Cruz earns points for defense of the Tea Party. Other attendees included Elizabeth Ames Jones, Tom Leppert, and “folksy Magnolia mortician” (to use The Waco Tribune‘s phrase) Glenn Addison. Addison seemed to get off the best line, a shot at Anthony Weiner, when asked if he’d resign if caught in a scandal. “The good lord knows I have my struggles, but I don’t struggle with holding cameras different ways.”
Cruz warmed up the audience before Rick Perry’s announcement at Red State.
Ross Ramsey polls the insiders again. Ramsey also consigns Sean Hubbard and Stanley Garza to the ranks of the invisible men, using the phrase “Ricardo Sanchez, the only declared Democratic candidate.” This is what old school journalists used to call “a factual error.” Do they not teach “Accuracy 101” in The George Soros Academy for Left-Wing Journalism?
Is Rep. Mike McCaul considering getting into the race? I don’t see a lot of running room, but McCaul is frequently ranked as the wealthiest member of congress with a reported fortune for $294 million (his wife, Linda McCaul, is the daughter of the founder of Clear Channel Communications). Given that, his willingness to “spend $4 million to $6 million of his own money” seems pretty penny-ante for a Texas Senate seat, especially with David Dewhurst already in the race. Now, if he were to announce he was spending $25 million of his own money…
There was also evidently a candidate forum put on by Congressman Pete Olsen in Ft. Bend County, but I can’t find any mention of it except on Dewhurst’s site. Also watch Jim Bognet refer to himself as “Manager for Governor David Dewhurst’s senate campaign.” Might want to make sure to slip in that “Lieutenant” before “Governor” next time…
Elizabeth Ames jones endorses Rick Perry for President. I see no indication that Perry has returned the favor for Jones’ Senate race…
And finally, as far as I can, over the last two weeks, Ricardo Sanchez…did absolutely nothing.
Texas Iconoclast: “My early guess is that Perry will breeze through the GOP Primary with little difficulty and will continue to hone his anti-Obama message across the country…Perry is, by far, the strongest candidate with the strongest conservative record. Romney vs. Perry is all that’s left and I expect Romney’s support to start melting away.”
William Murchison: “Rick Perry loves business and the spirit of enterprise even more than Barack Obama seems to look down his nose at same….As a New York Times subscriber of many years’ standing, I can tell you Maureen Dowd, Frank Bruni, and the squinty fanatics of Andrew Rosenthal’s editorial page will come unglued at the idea of Rick Perry approaching unto the seat of Barack Obama. Likewise the Eastern bloggers — the Jacob Weisbergs, the Andrew Sullivans, and so on. Why do the nations so furiously rage together when a Texan comes in view? They just do.”
Ramesh Ponnuru and Rich Lowry over at NRO say that Perry will be a formidable candidate, but list five obstalces he will have to overcome. I don’t necessarily agree with their analysis (such as the necessity of winning Iowa).
Roger Simon: “Rick Perry only just announced his presidential run Saturday, but out here in the blue-blue City of Angels I am already detecting severe signs of PDS — Perry Derangement Syndrome.”
Last, and very possibly least, Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs insinuates that Perry is a secret jihadi sympathizer, or at the very least soft on jihad. To call it weak tea would be to suggest that there’s any tea at all; instead, it appears Geller has taken a picture of a tea bag, and then steeped the picture.
So I’m reading from multiple sources, Perry spokesman Mark Miner evidently having let the cat out of the bag on Fox News. As reported, the official announcement will come Saturday.
This might be a good time for no-hopers like Jon Huntsman, Buddy Roemer, and yes, Newt Gingrich, to find better things to do with their time than waging hopeless campaigns they can’t win…
A few senate race updates for these dog days of summer:
There will be a Clear Lake Tea Party senate candidate forum Thursday, August 11. Expected to attend are Ted Cruz, Glenn Addison, Tom Leppert, Elizabeth Ames Jones, Andrew Castanuela and Lela Pittenger.
Ricardo Sanchez has come out of hibernation to give a speech at UT. The Houston Chronicle story is a bit better, but still long of Democratic party platitudes and short on policy specifics.
There are rumblings that Craig James may jump into the Senate race, but I don’t see it happening; I don’t see him being able to make any headway against Cruz and Dewhurst. (Psssst, Michael O’Brien! Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, Comptroller Susan Combs, and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples aren’t running for the Senate, they’re all eying the Lt. Governor’s and (depending on what happens with Perry and Dewhurst’s respective runs) Governor’s races in 2014.)
I think Perry will jump in, will win the primary, and will beat Obama, primarily because I think he’s sharp enough and mean enough to win. Perry looks as good as Romney, has as much Tea Party support as Bachmann, and has record as Governor that puts both in the shade. He dismantled Kay Baily Hutchison in the 2010 Governor’s race, and then mopped the floor with Bill White. Also, I think there’s a better than 50% chance that Sarah Palin with endorse his candidacy.
Here’s the video edit of my interview with Ted Cruz (click for a larger version on YouTube):
(I think I should have sucked in my gut more.)
After the interview, Cruz said that he reads the blog (which I believe, as I’ve interacted with several members of his campaign who read the blog over the past few months). I said that I started covering the race so closely mainly because the MSM was doing such a poor job of it. He agreed, and said that people wouldn’t start paying attention until the last week. I think he’s right.
Honestly, I have no real issue or ideological concerns with Cruz. If elected, I think he would easily be the best senator Texas has had since Phil Gramm. I do have some small minor concerns with him as a candidate (see this post for some context on the below points). A lot of the things I quibble over is Cruz following standard “How to Campaign 101.” However, I think they may not work as well as in the past for this year, and this particular race.
Frequently Cruz would take the question as asked and segue into one of his talking points, sometimes smoothly, sometimes not. I believe Cruz is right, that the general public is only paying attention to the race in the last week. But this is going to be a long campaign, and I believe Cruz is a bit too “on message” for this stage of the campaign. This part of the campaign, in addition to building a campaign infrastructure and raising money, is to convince Tea Party and Republican Party stalwarts that you’re their guy. Among the Tea Party especially, there’s a certain wariness with politicians being too slick and too programmed. In addition to conservative positions and record (which Cruz has in spades), I think Tea Party patriots are looking for genuine authenticity and sincerity. (“Sincerity – if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” —George Burns). I think that’s a big reason Glenn Addison won the straw poll at the more recent forum. Cruz is a very good off-the-cuff speaker, and I think he needs a bit less scripting and a bit more continuity at this stage of the campaign.
I gave Cruz the opportunity to criticize his rival candidates and he declined, bringing the question around to his Proven Conservative bit. This is also standard practice: Let the candidate take the high road and let proxies and allies handle the attacks. But I’m not sure that wisdom holds anymore, especially in Texas. Rick Perry went negative early, hard and often on Kay Baily Hutchison, and it didn’t hurt his chances at all. I think the Tea Party is looking for a fighter, and don’t think it would hurt Cruz to engage Dewhurst and Leppert on their respective conservative records (or lack thereof) early and often.
Again, keep in mind this is coming from someone who’s observing Cruz more closely than 99.9% of primary voters ever will. I think Cruz is still far and away the candidate that most closely fits William F. Buckley’s definition of who people should vote for, namely “the most conservative viable candidate.”
Thanks again to Ted Cruz (and his campaign) for allowing me the opportunity to interview him.
I have a longer audio version of this interview, covering more topics, I hope to put up later this week
The Cruz campaign emailed to say they’ll be sending me the video file of the interview sometime in the next 24 hours, so here are a few race updates to tide you over until then.
Matt S. Dowling has his interview with Cruz up. I haven’t had a chance to watch all of it yet. Expect the setting to seem eerily familiar when you watch my interview…
And speaking on interviews with Cruz, here’s a snippet he did on a radio interview about the debt limit vote, which he was against.
Yet another high-profile national conservative endorses Cruz, in this case Pennyslvania Senator Pat Toomey. Toomey will always have a place in the hearts of conservative everywhere for pushing the odious Arlen Specter out of the party and taking his Senate seat.
I first encountered Ted Cruz in Laredo in 2003. As the state Senate Democrats’ 46-day Albuquerque quorum break ended, they boarded a plane and went to Laredo to attend a hearing on the matter in Federal court. I accompanied them on the plane, and attended the hearing in the Laredo courtroom. Ted Cruz, then the Solicitor General, was the state’s lawyer in court that day. In other words – ironically – he was Dewhurst’s lawyer in the suit. I have never seen a better courtroom performance, before or since. He was articulate, passionate, and flat-out out-lawyered the Democrats’ legal team. By the end of that hearing, not only was I convinced that Cruz had won the day (which he did), but he was so utterly great that I myself had serious doubts as to the merits of the Democrats’ suit. I’ve been a begrudging admirer of Cruz’ skills ever since.
Polifact says that Tom Leppert calling David Dewhurst a “career politician” is false. Because he’s only been in politics since 1998, not “most of [his] working life.” While I’m not sure I agree with that line of thinking, at least it’s less risible than some of the arguments Polifact has made in the last year…