One of the stupidest bits of conventional wisdom popping out of Washington these days is that, whatever opinion you have about far-right tea party extremist Ted Cruz, you have to concede that he's "smart."
Really? Bull-goose goofiness and reckless self-absorption is smart? After all smart is as smart does, and plenty of hot shots with big IQs have turned out to be seriously stupid -- not to mention narcissistic, ridiculous, delusional, destructive, corrupt, psychopathic, and criminal. Take Joe McCarthy, Al Capone, Richard Nixon, Bernie Madoff, the Koch brothers... and now down to Ted.
Not only has Cruz mounted a maniacal crusade to kill Obamacare at all costs, but he sees himself as monumentally heroic, even asserting that his recent petulant shutdown of our nation's government was the moral equivalent of the people who fought in World War II to stop Hitler. Wow -- that is grandiosely stupid!
Moreover, Cruz splattered his vainglorious stupidity all over his own party. We're now seeing the spectacle of GOP lawmakers bellowing like crazy Cruzites, openly declaring their best idea on healthcare reform -- indeed their only idea -- is to kill reform. I can hardly wait for their 2014 campaign ads: "Hi, I'm Congressman Goober, and I've been fighting ferociously in Washington to keep you and your family from getting the health care you need. Remember, vote for the Goober."
Cruz, of course, can't even see his stupidity, for the tea party fringe has lifted him high atop its national political pedestal, dazzling him with impassioned pleas to run for president. However, it would be smart of Ted to recall that this same wobbly pedestal was most recently occupied by the likes of Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Donnie Trump -- all of whom were also legends in their own minds.
Listen to this commentary: