We’re on from the Hagel/McCarthy phase of our introduction to Sen. Ted Cruz to a series of articles chronicling how more or less regardless of their politics everybody in Washington is deciding that Cruz is … well, a jerk.
He seems to be embracing that crystallizing reputation as a confirmation of his conservative credentials. His only misgiving appears to be that the focus on his personality has supposedly taken the focus off what he calls the “substance” of the smears he leveled against Sen. Hagel.
But here’s a question that I haven’t seen asked or probed. Has anyone looked at what kind of a reputation Cruz had anywhere else he’s been for the last twenty-five years? Has he usually been well liked? I’ve got a pretty strong sense we’ll find out that this is just who he is and there’s a trail of people going back a couple decades who could have told us this well before he was sworn in.