During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson last week, Republican Senator Ted Cruz used his time at the mic to ask some asinine questions and, improve the book sales for not one, but two books about critical race theory.
Cruz, who’s probably salivating for another presidential run in 2024, lobbied some truly bonkers questions at Judge Jackson including, “Why are you so soft on child porn defendants? What’s a woman?” and the truly strange, “Are babies racist?” Naturally, all of these queries were just an excuse to seem hard-hitting as Cruz pandered to the same MAGA-supporting base that delighted in ridiculing him during Donald Trump’s run for office. It’s all quite sad, which is exactly what Cruz’s hometown paper, The Dallas Morning News, wrote in a scathing editorial dragging the Cancun frequent-flyer for his performative outrage during the hearings.
“Sen. Ted Cruz’s combative examination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson left little doubt that he had 2024 on his mind,” the paper wrote. “During his second crack at questioning Jackson, Cruz harped on the child porn cases, growing increasingly agitated as she accused him of cherry-picking from over a hundred criminal cases she handled. Cruz’s incessant demands for more time and better answers went on for several minutes.”
The piece also referenced a now-infamous photo of Cruz checking his phone after his time was up to see if he had any new mentions on social media before quoting fellow senators like Patrick Leahy and fellow Republican Ben Sasse. While Leahy accused Cruz of simply wanting “to get on television,” Sasse was a bit more direct with his dig.
“We should recognize that the jackassery we often see around here is partly because of people mugging for short-term camera opportunities,” the Nebraska Congressman said.
Still, for a man happy to blame his kids for a poorly-timed vacation, we have to wonder if even bad press is good press in Cruz’s eyes.
(Via The Dallas Morning News)