Cruz gets enthusiastic reception back in Texas

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Ted Cruz glanced at his black cowboy boots, beneath a silver Texas belt buckle, waiting for the admirers to stop clapping.

His arrival had turned a drop-by at a Houston lumber yard into a virtual campaign rally. At an earlier stop near Austin —at a gun manufacturer that churns out AR-15 rifles — cheering fans crowded next to employees, and one held a sign reading "Ted Cruz rocks!"

The new troublemaker of the U.S. Senate was home again, and savoring nothing short of a victory lap.

In just seven weeks on the job, the insurgent Republican elected with the tea party's backing and bankroll has run afoul of GOP mainstays, prompted Democrats to compare his style to McCarthyism and has voted against nearly everything of significance that came before him.

"My view is simple: Washington is a rough-and-tumble place. If folks want to attack me personally, they're welcome to it," Cruz said during a visit this week to a Houston lumber wholesaler. "Texans elected a senator to go to Washington and speak the truth."

His approach was unusual for a freshman in Washington, and its effectiveness long-term far from certain, but the reaction at home so far is effusive.

Other Texas politicians are celebrating him, and supporters have turned his constituent visits during the congressional recess into revivals. On Twitter, Texas' popular attorney general Greg Abbott, a rumored candidate for governor next year, is among those beaming about the "Cruz Missile."

"He's been a terrific partner," declared the state's senior senator, Republican John Cornyn. "What he's finding is there's a lot of critics in Washington when you try to change the status quo."

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The McCarthyism charges is bogus.  Ted was trying to get Hagel to produce documents not claiming he already had them.  That is a major difference that suggest the Democrats making the charge are either ignorant of history are trying to insult and intimidate Cruz into silence.  That will not happen.

The Austin American-Statesman had an even longer piece on Cruz that was more negative, at least in the first part of it, but they did note that he has gotten the attention of the liberal establishment.  As I said before, he is upsetting all the right people.  His questions on the gun debate were brilliant in showing the absurdity of the liberal anti 2nd Amendment agenda.  As for Hagel he is an embarrassment to all non liberals and the liberals do not like that fact being exposed.