What’s crazy is this spineless b**** used the slogan “Tough as Texas”. I don’t know about you @MojoMan , but I find that offensive. Dudes the biggest coward in Washington. Boogieman AOC has done more for Texas during this crisis than our own senator. A state full of derpstate crazies that constantly threaten to kill her.
Rafael sits down with ABC13 https://abc13.com/politics/it-was-a-mistake---ted-cruz-tells-abc13-of-cancun-trip/10351914/ "You question what I was thinking, I was trying to take care of my family," said Cruz. "I was trying to take care of my kids. It's unfortunate the fire storm that came from it. It was not my intention in saying yes to my daughters to somehow diminish all the Texans that were going through real hardship." In hindsight, if I understood how it would be perceived, the reaction people would have, obviously I wouldn’t have done it. It was a mistake. At the same time, I gotta admit I started having second thoughts as I sat down on the plane as I started leaving. I said yes because our kids wanted to do it. This has been a tough year for kids across the state and across the country. School had been cancelled. It was something we could do and we were trying to take care of our family, which is what millions of Texans are doing. At the same time, you’re right. As a leader, you need to be here. And you need to be here when Texans are hurting. That’s why I didn’t feel good about it even as when we were heading out. I knew why we said yes but I was thinking it was a mistake almost from the outset. Then as I saw the firestorm that erupted, that made even it more clear that I needed to be here. One of the things I really regret, I don’t like this being used as a distraction from the real issues which is why was our electrical grid unprepared for this? Why were we not able to provide basic heating and light for the four million Texans that were forced to lose power and not just lose power for ten minutes or half hour but many for two or three days. It wouldn’t be a distraction if you stayed here and said these same things and gotten out in the streets. I agree. How do you make it right with the people of Texas? The angry haters screaming resign, we’re at a very divided place in our country where people are screaming vitriol and hate. I think that’s a sad sign of where we are. I don’t do that to other people. You don’t see me screaming at people I disagree with they need to resign. I’ve been in the Senate eight years representing Texas. During those eight years, we’ve had a lot of disasters. We’ve had really challenging times, from mass shootings to Hurricane Harvey to the explosion in West, Texas. It’s amazing to me over and over again when we face enormous challenges how Texans come together. How we unify. It’s never more inspiring than seeing how Texans unify in the face of hardship. One of the things I’m most dismayed about how the last 24 hours has played out is this thing has dominated the airwaves instead of focusing on let’s solve the problem. Texans want the power back on, the water back on, the problems solved and all of this is distracting from that. It wouldn’t have been a distraction if you were out there as opposed to going to Cancun. [...] Would you advocate Texas joining the rest of the nation in having federal oversight so we can get power from the East part of West part of the United States? Not necessarily. Most days of the year, Texans are very grateful we have our own power grid. Texas energy costs are much, much lower. Texans pay a much lower electricity bill than people do in California. Most days, Texans are happy with that. When you have something catastrophic like this, it doesn’t matter how cheap the electricity was before. When you have no power, people are dying and have no water, my question is, you said you regret going and realized from the firestorm. Do you regret going because of the firestorm or because you left when people are struggling? Both. That message was heard and was not a message I wanted to convey. That was obviously a mistake. Let me go back to the policy question. I think it would be a mistake for people to jump in prematurely and want to federalize the Texas energy market. That would in all likelihood drive up energy costs in Texas dramatically. One of the reason people move to Texas from all over the country is the cost of living is affordable. When I talk to Texans, I hear that they care about an affordable cost of living, providing for their kids, meeting the needs, having a backyard for their kids to play in, being able to send their kids to summer camp and get braces for their daughter. All of those are very real world concerns. Are there hard questions to be asked why the system didn’t work in this instance? Absolutely. And it is maddening Texas couldn’t handle a few cold days. That is really frustrating and the fact the grid didn’t operate is completely unacceptable but I don’t want it to suddenly become an excuse for the Feds to come in and take over everything and drive up the cost of Texans every day of the year in perpetuity. That would be a mistake. I think Governor Abbott was right to call on the Texas Legislature to investigate what caused the problem of the grid not being able to handle this weather shock and what can we do to strengthen the grid so it doesn’t happen again. I think it’s clear. Our infrastructure is failing. Whether it’s the way our energy system is structured or the fact our streets and homes flood every time there’s a significant storm. People won’t keep coming to Texas if what they see on the national news is flooding or freezing and people standing in line to get water from a bayou. Tom, with all respect, if what they saw on the national news factored in to people coming to Texas, apparently no one would be coming to Texas. The national news says we’re all terrible and yet we continue to be driving the nation. People come here because they want low taxes, low regulations and lots of jobs. They want to be safe and protect their families. All of that is real. I recognize all of the haters and critics of Texas are saying ‘Gosh, if Texas could just be like California.’ That’s not the right solution. The right solution is for Texas to examine how can we make the grid more stable, more durable, more able to absorb a weather shock like this without cutting off power to Texas. That’s what we want. I guarantee you Texans also want their electricity bill to be affordable. If the solution was a bunch of folks from Washington doubling the electric bill of every Texan, that would not be a good solution for the people of Texas. So what is a good solution? I think we start with a serious fact based investigation. It’s not based on politics. It’s not based on ‘Where am I on the Green New Deal? Do I like wind? Do I not like wind? That’s my solution!’ and you start with a political outcome. That’s not what we need. We need an evidence based, fact based examination. ... How do we make sure that Texans keep their power in a time of crisis? I want answers to that and I think the people of Texas want answers to that.
How do you earn back the trust of those upset, with at least the optics? The press is obsessed with optics. Many of the people upset with me were upset with me before it started. There are people on the far left who disagree with me politically. That’s fine. You’re allowed to disagree with someone politically. I wish that more of the angry left, the screaming, yelling, filled with hatred, I wish they’d learn to treat people with civility and respect. I disagree with Bernie Sanders on just about everything. I serve in the senate with him. I disagree with AOC on policy after policy after policy. I disagree with Joe Biden. And yet when I serve with them and work with them, I do so in a way where I treat them with respect and civility. I wish the left could do that right now. They’re not there. Right now, whatever happens, they use as an excuse to attack anyone they disagree with. It’s not just me. It’s not just elected officials. It’s every one of the Texas voters who believes in low taxes, low regulations and lots of jobs. I can guarantee you some of those who agree with you didn’t like you left. Would you have come back if there wasn’t outrage on twitter and elsewhere? As I said, I was having second thoughts even as I sat down on the plane. I flew down with my family last night. I talked to Heidi last night before we went to bed and said ‘I think I need to come back tomorrow. I need to be in Texas. It’s not right for me to be here.’ At the outset of the trip, I recognized that yes, I have responsibilities as a dad, that’s what I was trying to take care of but I also have responsibilities as a senator. It was my intention between phone, email, computer and zoom, you can work remotely, that was my intention but even so, I needed to be here. It was a mistake. I changed my flight to come back today and that was the right decision to come back. How do you make it right? The haters who scream, yell, curse at you and by the way, if you pick up twitter, there are any given minute hundreds of lefties screaming expletives at me. The haters will never be solved so I don’t worry about them. If that’s how you interact with your fellow citizens, you’re probably not looking for unity or solving problems together. My responsibility is to represent all 29 million Texans, those that voted for me and those that didn’t and that’s a responsibility I take deadly seriously. To work every day for more jobs. The number one priority I get from Texans is jobs. So why when you were pressing me ‘Wouldn’t it be better to be in the national system and regulated by the feds’, if the outcome of that is to drive up our electricity prices so it doubles the cost of what Texans pay every month, that’s not a good outcome. We can have a system that ensures the grid is strong but doesn’t make energy unaffordable. That’s a better solution for Texans. What I fight for is jobs, the constitutional rights of every Texan, whether you agree with me or not. Whether you’re on the right or on the left, the first amendment protects your right to speech and I will defend your right to attack me because the constitution protects it. I fight for the safety and security of every Texans’ family. That’s something I’ve done every day and will continue doing every day. So will we see you out front in the coming days/weeks on this issue? What issue? The fact no one has power. People didn’t have power. People don’t have water. It is ridiculous and outrageous that 4 million people lost power and lost power for days. Lost power, lost heat, lost light. It’s absurd. It’s because the system failed. We all understand if lightning hits a power transmission line and power goes out for one localized area for a period of time. That’s something people anticipate, that happens and it gets fixed. This was not that. It was state wide and the system could not handle what we faced. A lot of us have lived further north. I live a lot of the area in DC when I’m working there. The weather we had in Texas, I talked to a guy today from Buffalo, New York who was sorta laughing. “I don’t know what you guys are reacting to. We face this all the time.” In Texas, we don’t expect Buffalo, New York. I still remember 2nd grade, we had an inch of snow, they called off school. I remember having snow ball fights in Houston when it snowed in 2nd grade. This doesn’t happen often in Houston. That being said, that the system couldn’t handle this cold in a state as prosperous as the state of Texas, in a state that leads on energy. If there’s one thing we oughta do right, it’s energy. Texas is the energy capital of the world and we couldn’t meet our basic obligations. That is infuriating. I have been calling for accountability on that and absolutely will continue to call for accountability on that for an examination of what it was in the system that led for the grid to not meet the needs of Texans and make sure it never happen again.
cruz really believes that playing the victim card will work? Blames it on how divided the country is? What is one thing cruz can show how he has worked to reduce the political division? Then compare that to the things he has done to increase partisan bickering. cruz is seen as one of the most disliked people in the senate, even among fellow republicans. Toning down the partisan bickering would be a positive result... unfortunately, ted cruz would be the last person to point to as someone that has done this. Rather than naming liberal "boogeymen" in a discussion of partisan divide, cruz should have committed to reducing the rancor and named steps he was taking to do so. But instead, he plays victim, and furthers that divisiveness complains about "lefties" and "haters". And, blames it all on the left. Instead, he used it as an excuse for his own behavior. And, he goes back to the "just trying to make my kids happy in this challenging time"... back to throwing his kids under the bus. I have two daughters, just like cruz. Nether have been to Cancun. Both live in apartments that were without power and water. I am sure both would have loved a trip with their friends to Cancun to spend on the warm beach. I am sure there were many tens of thousands, heck hundreds of thousands of Texans that would prefer a Mexican vacation right now. Ignoring the fact that such travel is ill-advised due to COVID-19, his "gee, we only wanted a beach trip" while so many Texans are freezing... literally to death, shows his selfishness and callousness.
Here are more examples of ted's hypocruzy... https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/18/politics/vacationing-during-crisis-ted-cruz/index.html And when California had its own problems, here is ted cruz jumping in, adding to the political divide... And most recently...
He’s supposed to lead, not run off on a first class flight to Cancun. Plus this is the same piece of **** that tried to block funding to Super storm Sandy victims. He’s a trash human being.
Regarding the argument that Cruz as a US Senator really isn't responsible for addressing this crisis so him going to Cancun isn't that big of a deal. Yes Cruz wouldn't be responsible for the immediate response but as a US Senator he should be be lobbying as hard as he can to get emergency aid to TX. He shouldn't be in Houston, he should be in DC. As US Senator he represents Texas interests and he along with the rest of the TX Congressional delegation should be working closely with both the rest of Congress and the Biden Presidency about how best to help out their constituents. As a public figure with a large soapbox he should be raising awareness and aid for the people of Texas.
Blamed his kids, shat on California for some reason, thinks people should be less political, thinks people should be more civil and as far as I can tell didn't offer a real solution. Hey here's a thought you facken two-timing bozo, if you don't want Californians moving here because it's cheaper to live here connect to their expensive ass power grid. Cost of living going up because the QUALITY OF LIVING WENT UP. Imagine caring more about the price of electricity than your friends, family and fellow Texans suffering. What a bunch of **** grade, crap level poop.
Fack ABC13 for giving him a platform. Should have iced him out. That's why I go for KHOU 11 or KPRC 2.
He did fess up to it originally being a weekend trip "The plan had been to stay through the weekend with the family,” he said, framing the decision as a parent’s attempt to placate his two daughters, ages 10 and 12, after a “tough week.”"
Surprised the usual suspects aren’t in here trying to defend this ass-hat. It is truly amazing that some of these guys literally can’t get out of their own way. Unforced errors everywhere. The opposition doesn’t have to do a damn thing... just keep letting the imbeciles make their own mistakes and stay out of their way while they’re doing so.
As a Federal office holder, Cruz couldn't really do much to help, the Senate is not in session (which is outrageous) But when you dish it out, you better expect to take it. Cruz has been the master of the optics gotcha and sound bite out of context. All vitriol heaped on him may not be deserved here, but I'll take anything that gives us a better chance of replacing him with a Democrat. The Big Freeze may not turn Texas blue because rural Texans only watches Fox but it is going to change the voting dynamics when opposing candidates can campaign on 'accountability'.
lets look at this from a strictly parental POV. ted is claiming that his 12 year old daughter approached him and his wife and said "me and my friends want to go to cancun right now...today". first of all, what kind of 12 year old would make that kind of request. second, im guessing that even if a 12 year old asked for that, 99.9999% of parents would be like "no, were not doing that". but ted and his wife say "OK, we will get right on that". they book flights and hotels for that day and BOOM, they're off. because their 12 year old wanted to go with her friends. that tells me two things...their kid is a spoiled rotten brat of the highest level and ted and heidi are the worst parents ever and the biggest push-overs. theyre also incredibly loaded to be able to arrange all that on a days notice.
That's good parenting, Ted. Kids are karma. Enjoy having Girls Gone Wild stripper daughters in a few years.
