Ted Cruz Was a Smelly, Terrible Roommate (NY Mag has tweets from his Princeton roommate)

[highplainsdem]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/10/ted-cruz-was-a-smelly-terrible-roommate.html

Proud, pretentious American destroyer Ted Cruz has always been a bit difficult. Since elbowing his way into the national consciousness, the Texas Republican has been outed as a hater of "minor Ivies" like Penn and Brown, and is said to have come to Princeton as a 17-year-old with a book titled Was Karl Marx a Satanist? "I would end up fielding the [girls'] complaints: 'Could you please keep your roommate out of our hallway?'" his undergrad roommate at Princeton Craig Mazin told the Daily Beast over the summer. ("I would rather have anybody else be the president of the United States. Anyone," Mazin added. "I would rather pick somebody from the phone book.&quot

Today, Mazin — who just so happens to be the screenwriter behind Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4, and The Hangover III — took to Twitter to share more stories about his fateful time in a crappy room with Cruz. It's about what you'd expect, but funnier.

-snip-

Link to Mazin's Twitter account:

https://twitter.com/clmazin

The article and his tweets were on October 11, and include these:

https://twitter.com/clmazin/status/388711507413831680

When Ted Cruz was my roommate, he'd endlessly hit the snooze button. I asked him to stop. He wouldn't. So I Krazy-glued it. #learnfromthis

https://twitter.com/clmazin/status/388715992617996288

I begged them for a different room or roommate. Begged. They didn't understand then. They do now.

And in response to someone who asked Mazin if he and Cruz could live together again and film it, and added, " It'll be the ONLY reality TV I'd watch by choice...":

https://twitter.com/clmazin/status/388718011290370048

Two people locked in stony silence? One of whom had SERIOUS body odor issues? Who was the one who was not me? Okay. It's your TV.

[JaneyVee]

1. And now he's a smelly, terrible senator.

[hobbit709]

2. some things don't change-once an ass, always an ass.

[Tippy]

25. I have personaly thought this to be very true...

[Heather MC]

27. He does look like he stinks

[Freddie]

3. Princeton? Not Liberty or Bob Jones Univ.?

How can these people get educated at a "regular" school and come out like that? Like how Rick Santorum went to Penn State and not, say, Notre Dam or another Catholic university. (I love how PSU politely declined the offer of keeping Ricky's "papers" for posterity.)

[Fawke Em]

14. Notre Dame is fairly mainstream when compared to Bob Jones or Liberty

universities.

If my son were offered a scholarship there, I'd have no problem sending him.

[Zorra]

4. Cruz emanates evil. That body odor smell was probably sulphur. nt

[bonniebgood]

43. Zorra, sulphur KILLS odor. when the dog farts, strike a match the odor goes away. when body odor

comes from within its called rot/decay/evil, the cure is isolation from the public or hanging.

[immoderate]

58. Hanging?

--imm

[blkmusclmachine]

63. Cruz Could Force Default All By Himself:

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-14/ted-cruz-could-force-a-debt-default-all-by-himself

[frazzled]

5. Josh Marshall had a long, personal column about it

He was at Princeton at the same time as Cruz, but didn't really remember him--but his wife, who was a classmate of Cruz's at both Princeton and Harvard Law, sure did. Marshall contacted many of their old classmates at both Princeton and Harvard for their memories, and the same picture kept emerging. The prevalent word was "a**hole."

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/me-ted

[northoftheborder]

15. read this, good for background

[Enthusiast]

31. "The prevalent word was "a**hole."

I knew it all along.

[tblue37]

34. Most revealing paragraph from that piece:

<snip>

At each stage, Ted did seem to collect a quite small but core group of friends/followers, mainly people who were deeply in tune with his politics (he was as rightwing on day one at college as he is today) and who took what most found to be his assholery as a form of take-no-prisoners conservative badassdom. Indeed, if you think this is an issue of whom I talked to, just like-minded people maybe, consider this: It perfectly mirrors what's happened over the last year in the Senate. Cruz has a small handful of followers in the Senate; but basically everyone else in his Republican caucus despises him <emphasis added>.

<snip>

[icymist]

35. Found this interesting; a bit of boarding on sexual displaying?

In addition to Mazin and Leitch, several fellow classmates who asked that their names not be used described the young Cruz with words like "abrasive," "intense," "strident," "crank," and "arrogant." Four independently offered the word "creepy," with some pointing to Cruz's habit of donning a paisley bathrobe and walking to the opposite end of their dorm's hallway where the female students lived.

[UTUSN]

6. R#12 & K for, his arrogance is a Daddy thing, incredible void of self-insight,

dripping with no-basis-in-reality arrogance. Texas wingnuts used to call the great Liberal Ralph YARBOROUGH "the Little Embarrassment." They have to pretend to like the token minority members they can get, but barely under the surface are CRINGING.

[philly_bob]

7. Not questioning the facts but questioning the tactic of digging up old grudges

as a way of shedding light on the shutdown.

One thread with a few recs is okay, but I'd hate to see DU go there Drudge-style.

[DhhD]

9. Except for the 49 states that got something that they did not ask for, they are bound to ask

questions now instead of later. Texas, on the other hand, asks questions later instead of before the Nov 2012 election. No need to make the same mistake twice, especially if Cruz is asking 50 states to send him to the White House. That is my opinion.

[UTUSN]

10. A grudge is about being wronged. This is insight into his essence/being, who he is. n/t

[Enrique]

20. no, it's tweets by a comedy writer

for entertainment value only.

[UTUSN]

22. Camaradero, so the personal revulsion doesn't ring true to you? Are they lies?

And what would be the point of "entertainment" when the target is at least technically a powerful public figure? It could cut both ways, either butter up a powerful dude for potential favors or trash him (with truth) to what end? Trashing just gratuitously, yet potentially incurring the wrath of a powerful figure?

The difference with DRUDGE is that lots of his smears are FALSE.

As for the venue of tweets, I'm a Neanderthal in technology, but even I have had it flicker in my consciousness that The Twitter and the rest are the coin of the realm today. Would it carry more weight as a lecture in some academic forum somewhere? If the pettiness of the information is what you're aiming at, well, history is chock full of anecdotal bits. "Gossip" does not equate with "UNtruth."

[Enrique]

26. he is a very powerful public figure

any senator is, and Ted Cruz even as a freshman wields greater power than a typical senator. It goes hand in hand with his lack of scruples, which is also not unique to him but which he possesses in greater magnitude than the typical D.C. political hack.

None of which has anything to do with body odor. In fact these scumbags probably smell a lot better than I do. Who cares? (except as a joke)

[UTUSN]

29. (Not beating a dead horse) Agree with your 1st 3 sentences in Post #26.

And agree that fatcat scumbags can spa themselves most days and buy (or be given) the best of fragrances, and therefore smell better than ME.

But ridicule, yes going back to kindergarten, is a totally common (in all senses of "common&quot tool/weapon. It might even be bullying. Cf., LIMBOsevic mocking REID, Ted KENNEDY, Jimmy CARTER's daughter. It resonates. If a put-down sticks, it works.

We love it when FDR mocks "these men of SMALL vision" or TRUMAN does it (will Google). (I love FDR/TRUMAN in the Present Tense.)

Hey, we know Carnival CRUZ *stinks* figuratively, so if he had/has a penchant for stinking viscerally, so much the better to know.

(I promise I'm not going to drag this out more.)

[laundry_queen]

21. Exactly. The snooze button tweet shows he's a self centered asshole who doesn't care about anyone

but himself. And that the ONLY way to get him to stop is to force him to. It's very instructive.

[valerief]

11. Yes, heaven forbid Cruz should be bad-mouthed for any reason.

[MNBrewer]

16. Grade School Politics

"You're smelly and you look funny!" Ha ha!

[cheapdate]

18. Enlightened debate doesn't win any elections in America.

That's not how ordinary human beings conceptualize politics. The voting public isn't interested in an academic debate. Ted Cruz is a slimy, f%$ing creep.

[valerief]

23. Because so many Americans are so, so smart. nt

[Enrique]

19. i agree

who cares if he had body odor?

[whathehell]

41. Really?

As to your question "Who cares if he has body odor"?, my answer would be

"anyone who has to be in close physical proximity to him".

Sorry, but stinking, at least In this society, really is significant -- One of the first signs of

mental illness, in fact, is "letting yourself go" in the personal hygiene department.

[Ikonoklast]

28. And this is why Democrats fail, Republicans expect us to 'play nice' all the time.

Fuck that noise, you cannot win a dirty fight by being the nice guy, you fight your opponent using his own tactics.

Let them get outraged, it's what we've been asking Democrats to do for thirty years, hell, people here have been begging Mr. Obama to go there.


Sorry if you think Democratsl need to be nice, and let the other side keep throwing shit and expect us to just sit there and take it.


You can sit there and wipe yourself off and apologize for making the other side angry, I for one like a good dirty fight.

[Enthusiast]

32. We could never be Drudge-style

unless we started spinning shit out of whole cloth. DU is in no such danger. We don't have to make shit up.

[nxylas]

40. And how do we know it isn't made up?

For all we know, the guy could be a total bullshitter who has never even met Cruz. It seems that believing anything that confirms our own biases, without verifying, isn't confined to birthers and climate change deniers.

[kairos12]

8. Cruz should be on late night selling his signature Smarmalade

[jsr]

12. Figures.

[ffr]

13. Hilarious and scary all rolled into one

crazy lunatic.

[northoftheborder]

17. He refused to debate his opponent when running for Senate. Afraid his reputation for being....

...."smart" might be contradicted? Afraid his personal reputation might be revealed? He was a mystery to Texans, all the Republicans just voted straight R that year, the Dems didn't have an outstanding enough candidate running against him.

[Stainless]

24. Ted Cruz is a Shitstain on the Fabric of Society

The odor that emanates from him is nauseating.

[Faux pas]

30. Good one!

I like 'boil on the ass of life' myself. lol

[Enthusiast]

33. Accuracy in reporting.

[Blue Owl]

36. A foul secretion hath plagued the nation

Most foul...

[indepat]

37. Senator Ted Cruz is a politician whose politics and other antics leave a smelly

odor over the entire American landscape imo.

[Vogon_Glory]

38. Cruz Had Body-Odor Issues? Oh, The Irony!

I find Craig Mazin's complaints about Ted Cruz's body odor issues to be delightfully ironic. Most of the geriatric hard-line right-wing exiles living in South Florida regularly railed about Fidel Castro for pretty much the same reason--Castro also supposedly had BO issues. And so here is Mr Ted Cruz, right-winger extraordinaire, more American than any dreamer taken into the US by his foreign-born papi, oh-so-patriotic , oh-so-Republican, being zinged for the same issue.

------------

Don't blame me for Ted Cruz. I voted for Paul Sadler, Texas Democrat. Our loss was Texas' loss, and the nation's loss.

[bluedeathray]

39. Personal attacks aside...

WGAF?

It's his policies and lack of leadership that are vile and counter productive.

And if personal hygiene is a deal killer for leadership, then most of our field commanders will at one time or another, be judged incompetent.

Of course we could always take care of THAT situation in...alternate... ways!

[whathehell]

42. -----

WGAF?....Anyone who has to be in close physical proximity to him, for starters.

As to your other point -- Yeah, field commanders can be given a pass -- senators in suits and ties? -- not so much.

[bluedeathray]

45. There's a point in there somewhere

That you blew past.

Conceding that those in proximity to him may have an unpleasant experience if the wind is right, I was under the impression that we were here to debate policy, form opinion, disseminate information. You know...Liberal stuff.

This personal attack stuff seems silly, and small minded.

Really, with all the real problems with our elected leaders and our nation's path, WGAF?

And wasn't the OP about college days anyways?

[whathehell]

47. Is body odor a sensitive issue for you?

"Conceding that those in proximity to him may have an unpleasant experience if the wind is right, I was under the impression that we were here to debate policy, form opinion, disseminate information. You know...Liberal stuff".

First of all, I would imagine body odor to be a "non-partisan" issue, if you will, so I'm not

sure what you mean by "liberal stuff". Secondly, no "wind" is necessary to transmit BO to others standing

at reasonably close distances, especially indoors.

Unless you've got a personal beef with the BO intolerant, I'd suggest you lighten up a bit.

[bluedeathray]

48. Believe me...no

Especially in my current position. I wasn't talking about field commanders from a remote perspective.

BO isn't the issue. Isn't an issue. Guess I may have become inured, and insensitive.

In any case, it just seemed that there are plenty of higher priority discussion points than BO.

But I didn't want to be a big heavy beefy BO hater. There's only so much malodorous malfeasance that one thread can stand.

[lonestarnot]

50. "plenty of higher priority discussion points than BO." Ugh not when it comes to

baggers. They can't even figure out fucking soap and water.

[whathehell]

52. Okay, but

BO can and will be an issue for anyone who associates with other humans who don't like it, which means about 99.9 percent of American society.

Yes, there are decidedly issues of a higher priority, but sometimes we just like having fun.

[Myrina]

44. Why are TeaNutters always smelly slobs??

The 2 I've worked with are just extra funk-nasty.
Take their shoes off & walk around with smelly bare feet for everyone to enjoy (not to mention getting their foot funk on the carpet),
horrible table manners - talk with their mouths full, slurp, slobber, grunt - come in to work looking like they just rolled off the couch after a weekend long bender - wrinkled shirts, not shaved, messy hair ...


WTF?

[Initech]

46. Once an ass, always an ass.

[lonestarnot]

49. OMG. He stinks too! gag

[Berlum]

51. Ewwwwww

[Hekate]

53. Just don't forget he was a brilliant student, or we will underestimate him to our sorrow

He plays the rube, he plays the populist, but he is neither. He's a very dangerous man, with real-world accomplishments, including arguing cases before the US Supreme Court.

Graduated cum laude from Princeton
Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard
Referring to Cruz's time as a student at Harvard Law, Professor Alan Dershowitz said, "Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz

[icymist]

54. Yup! That's why studying this man is crucial.

However, no matter how smart this guy is, his downfall will be his arrogance, abrasiveness, creepiness, and his ability to think himself superior to everybody else that he won't be able to see how wrong he is until after the fact and too late.

[NCarolinawoman]

60. ****

[Blue_Roses]

62. I agree

Charles Manson is known to have a high IQ. And he's as nutty as a fruit cake.

There is also a very narcissistic characteristic to this type of intelligence that makes it very dangerous. Ted Cruz reeks of narcissism and has the I-am-better-than-anyone syndrome, belittling anyone who dare disagrees with him. He lives in such a false reality that I can't ever see him compromising. He does not need to be doing the work of the people.

[pam4water]

55. How does Princeton pick it students? The education was obviously wasted on him. Is it like Harvard

admission -- it's not what you know, it's who you father knows?

[Hekate]

57. They don't give out degrees cum laude like candy, though. Please see my post #53

Dubya aimed for, and was proud of, his "Gentleman's C" record. Dubya cherished his ignorance and his gut feelings.

Not this guy.

[Catherine Vincent]

56. Writing about how someone smelled in college is childish, imo.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

59. Uh huh.....

http://server4.whiterosesociety.org/content/malloy/MalloyMemories/I%27m_NOT_an_8_year_old!.mp3

[Rstrstx]

61. Don't like this thread, it's too Rush-like

There are plenty of despicable things about Ted Cruz that are on full display that I don't see how digging up dirt on his past is constructive.

It reminds me of many Republican's and in particular Limbaugh's tactics of taking down - sort of dehumanizing - Democrats by insinuating darker sides of their personality (Obama is a narcissist, the Clintons are sleazy, Michelle was mean to Oprah, etc). Republicans, even moderate ones, are never subjected to such treatment in their little world.

We should be better than that.

Or maybe not, after all it is Ted Cruz, the McCarthy of our time. Where IS Stephanie Miller when you need her? I admit I used to laugh every time she would mention Katherine Harris' name (I am Frau Blucher)