Ted Cruz at Princeton: Creepy, Sometimes Well Liked, and Exactly the Same

[DonViejo]

by Patricia Murphy Aug 19, 2013 4:45 AM EDT

Can a master debater who wore a paisley bathrobe to creepily stroll by the women’s wing of the dorm be the next president? Patricia Murphy talks to Ted Cruz’s college roommates about his stint at Princeton.

When Craig Mazin first met his freshman roommate, Rafael Edward Cruz, he knew the 17-year-old Texan was not like other students at Princeton, or probably anywhere else for that matter.

"I remember very specifically that he had a book in Spanish and the title was Was Karl Marx a Satanist? And I thought, who is this person?" Mazin says of Ted Cruz. “Even in 1988, he was politically extreme in a way that was surprising to me.”

By Mazin’s account and those of multiple members of Princeton’s class of 1992, the Ted Cruz who arrived as a college freshman in 1988 was nearly identical to the man who arrived in Washington as a freshman Republican senator in 2013: intelligent, confident, fixated on conservative political theory, and deeply polarizing.

“It was my distinct impression that Ted had nothing to learn from anyone else,” said Erik Leitch, who lived in Butler College with Cruz. Leitch said he remembers Cruz as someone who wanted to argue over anything or nothing, just for the exercise of arguing. “The only point of Ted talking to you was to convince you of the rightness of his views."

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.

full article:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/19/ted-cruz-at-princeton-creepy-sometimes-well-liked-and-exactly-the-same.html

[Berlum]

1. The Annointed One (R)

[sharp_stick]

2. I can see creepy coming up

just one look at that sneering prick has the hair on my arms standing up. I wouldn't leave my kids alone in a room with him.

[Beacool]

3. Creepy? Yep, that about describes him.

I see that he was already an a-hole at the ripe old age of 17. Not surprising considering his father's beliefs.

Cruz would be a frightening guy to have as president. He's an ideologue, but he's also very smart. He scares me even more than Rand Paul because he might just become the Republican nominee in 2016. If that were to be the case, we better fight tooth and nail to get a Democrat elected. If anyone was thinking of voting third party if their preferred candidate doesn't get the nomination, the possibility of Cruz as president should scare the pants off them.

[PADemD]

4. Worth reading the whole article!

Craig Mazin said he knew some people might be afraid to speak in the press about a senator, but added of Cruz, “We should be afraid that someone like that has power.”

And the idea that his freshman roommate could someday be the leader of the free world? “I would rather have anybody else be the president of the United States. Anyone,” Mazin said. “I would rather pick somebody from the phone book."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/19/ted-cruz-at-princeton-creepy-sometimes-well-liked-and-exactly-the-same.html

[TeamPooka]

5. Craig Mazin is also the screenwriter of the Hangover II & III and Scary Movie II & III

which is why he has the best line of the article at the end.
Wow former roommate of the biggest douche in the world.

[maxsolomon]

6. There are different kinds of Intelligence

the ability to listen with an open mind, think independently of preconceptions, and alter one's opinions when presented with new information is a hallmark of the kind of Intelligence Ted Cruz does not have.

[marble falls]

7. "Creepy sometimes". "Sometimes"??!?!?!

[blkmusclmachine]

8. Weird.

[Cha]

9. So, nothing's changed except

more creepy. perfect teabagger candidate.

remember mitt.. and his life long obsession with creepy?