October 27, 2013

"Ted Cruz goes pheasant hunting in Iowa and says government shutdown was good 'because it got people talking.'"

Because Iowa's where you go to hunt pheasants.

I was going to write "Because Iowa's where you go to hunt peasants pheasants," on the theory that "peasant" isn't really an insult. It just means rural folk, but I looked it up in the (unlinkable) OED and changed my mind. It's been a term of abuse since the 1500s. My favorite abusive and old quote from the OED is:
1612 J. Taylor Laugh & be Fat sig. D7, Thou ignoble horse-rubbing peasant,..being but a vilipendious mechanical Hostler.
Horse-rubbing! I think I know know what that means. But how about vilipendious? It means contemptible. I looked it up in the OED and the only example of its ever having been used was "Thou ignoble horse-rubbing peasant,..being but a vilipendious mechanical Hostler."

Anyway, that ignoble, vilipendious, horse-rubbing peasant Ted Cruz seems to be running for President.

49 comments:

Unknown said...

Absolutely true.

We know that the Democrat Media Arm would be lulling the low information voters about Obamacare whether the site was successful or not. And somehow John McCain would make some stupid statement indicating Republican support for it.

But after the government shutdown there is clarity about the two parties and who was trying to protect Americans from the terrible impacts of ObamaHealthControl.

Anonymous said...

Makes me Think of Blazing Saddles...

Gabby Johnson: "I wash born here, an I wash raished here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin' bushwackin', hornswagglin' cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter."

Olsen Johnson: [after Gabby Johnson's speech] "Now who can argue with that? I think we're all indebt to Gabby Johnson for stating what needed to be said. I am particulary glad that these lovely children are here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, it expressed the courage little seen in this day and age. "

Paco Wové said...

We here in the Flyover Hawkeye State are quite well aware of how we appear to the bi-coastal sophisticates, thankyouverymuch. In fact, I just returned from a trip visiting friends and family in the Imperial City, listening to their ho-ho-ho'ing at each others' jokes about the horrible Tea Partiers (a.k.a. "the American Taliban", don't you know). I like these people, but geez, what a bubble they live in.

Anonymous said...

Mongo Like Horse-Rubbing.

bbkingfish said...

rubbing = robbing in this archaic context

You're welcome.

Anonymous said...

For a Film About the Dangers of Horse-Rubbing:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0874423/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

Rick said...

Unknown has it right.

Anonymous said...

Now we see the violence inherent in the system!

Anonymous said...

You heard here this first:

Ted Cruz will NEVER be the POTUS.

More importantly, Ted Cruz will not WIN Re-election.

He is a DINOSAUR. They are extinct, by the way.

Michael K said...

Obamacare is going to make Cruz unbeatable. In 2016, it will NOT be working.

William said...

If they can make someone as mild and affable as Scott Walker seem dark and malign, imagine the party they'll have with Ted Cruz.

Bob Boyd said...

Walker/Cruz 2016
"Praise the Lord and Pass the Horse Liniment"

Left Bank of the Charles said...

A hostler tending to horses at an inn and giving them a rub-down does not deserve an exclamation point!

Wince said...

Ted Cruz goes pheasant hunting in Iowa and says government shutdown was good 'because it got people talking'.

Too bad, that's not what Cruz said.

Cruz: "One of the things we accomplished in the fight over Obamacare is we elevated the national debate over what a disaster, what a train wreck, how much Obamacare is hurting millions of Americans across this country."

James Pawlak said...

No--It was good because it demonstrated how many Federal employees are "Non-Essential".

Anonymous said...

It got those who were concerned about a global financial repercussions talking too.

Anonymous said...

Please DO run Cruz, it will please Democrats to no end.

Anonymous said...

Another month or so of these "global financial repercussions", and I'll be able to buy myself a Rolls if I want to.

chickelit said...

William said...
If they can make someone as mild and affable as Scott Walker seem dark and malign, imagine the party they'll have with Ted Cruz.

Attacks on Scott Walker palin comparison with those on Ted Cruz.

eddie willers said...

Please DO run Cruz, it will please Democrats to no end.

Be careful what you wish.

I hoped Obama would beat Hillary.

chickelit said...

The Liberal Media and Progressive Sullivanists had an easy time mocking Tea Party candidate's credentials in the past. Ted Cruz will be tougher man to discredit.

Paul said...

AP is right. Cruz will not be president, because we are officially an idiocracy now.

And that's too bad because we are headed in a trajectory that is simply unsustainable economically.

We will keep borrowing and printing money, raising taxes on the producers, distributing crumbs to the ever increasing welfare class for votes, and making the Democrat criminal class and their cronies rich with the spoils of corruption, until the whole edifice collapses.

Anonymous said...

Hey, here's a conspiracy theory for you folks. What if Cruz is a plant to scare people into voting for Walker? Even I would vote for Walker over Cruz if there was no decent Democratic candidate.

I don't think Walker would have Cruz as a VP. Walker didn't agree with the shutdown/ near default as a way of defunding Obamacare IIRC.

Anonymous said...

Scott Walker is the best hope for GOP in 2016. He will FAIL if he associates with GOP-All-Time-Losers: Cruz, Palin, Santorum, Gingrich, etc., etc.

Walker needs to stay far away from the jokers like Christie, Rand, Cruz, Rubio, etc.

If Scott is smart, and I know he is, he will stay as an GOP independent of clowns.

His VP: Very simple: Kelly Ayotte.

chickelit said...

Inga said...
Hey, here's a conspiracy theory for you folks. What if Cruz is a plant to scare people into voting for Walker? Even I would vote for Walker over Cruz if there was no decent Democratic candidate.

How meaningless and vacuous, Inga. Hillary will likely be the Dem candidate and I'd bet money you're already onboard.

Anonymous said...

AP is sentient.

Anonymous said...

Kelly Ayotte had some choice words for Cruz during the shutdown fiasco IIRC.

cubanbob said...

Hillary? HAHAHA!

Yep, after 8 years of Zero, America is going to vote for another Affirmative Action meets The Peter Principle Candidate.

I can see the bumper stickers now; "ObamaCare: Son of HillaryCare".

BarryD said...

Iowa is the #2 state, with SD being #1 but done to death at this point, with farmers charging $100/bird to hunt their fields and the like.

So yeah, Iowa is the place I'd go pheasant hunting if I didn't live in the middle of am upland bird mecca where I can hunt every type of terrain from river bottoms to mountain tops, for all different types of birds, and it's beautiful.

Cruz probably is running, but Iowa is, indeed, the place to hunt pheasants.

BarryD said...

Oh yeah, evidence: http://www.liveoutdoors.com/your-open-season/110260-top-states-for-pheasant-hunting/

Rich Rostrom said...

The opening credit panel of Fancy Pants says "Starring Robert Hope (formerly Bob)". Then Hope "looks out" of the screen, and says "No eating popcorn during my performance, peasants!"

Big Mike said...

Ted Cruz fought the good fight for people who are seeing their healthcare premiums rise under Obamacare but getting worse coverage than they had before. There are way more of those people than there are of people for whom Obamacare means getting better coverage than they had before. Kelly Ayotte better get out and meet some people so she understands what she apparently doesn't get yet.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lem the artificially intelligent said...

If he does I will be voting for him.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Whatever his electoral chances, Cruz is right and the establishment Republicans are slowly and surely doomed. As things continue to crater and the media continues to cover for the Democrats, it is populist rabble-rousers like Cruz who will increasingly set the subject of the conversation.

david7134 said...

Cruz and the Tea Party are the new direction of the Republican Party. Cruz, by himself, took on Obama and the RINO's. He is thus the hero of the silent majority. The elite of the Republican are so out of touch with the country that they don't even realize that their time has come and gone. What Ms. Althouse is doing is setting up a situation where she can vote for Hillary, much as she did for Obama. We need a new government, if we don't get out of this spiral down the liberal crap hole, then the new government will come about through civil war after the economy crashes.

Paul said...

"Cruz and the Tea Party are the new direction of the Republican Party. Cruz, by himself, took on Obama and the RINO's. He is thus the hero of the silent majority. The elite of the Republican are so out of touch with the country that they don't even realize that their time has come and gone. What Ms. Althouse is doing is setting up a situation where she can vote for Hillary, much as she did for Obama. We need a new government, if we don't get out of this spiral down the liberal crap hole, then the new government will come about through civil war after the economy crashes."

I'm sorry but that ain't gonna happen.

DHS and local police forces around the country are militarizing in anticipation of that eventuality.

The military is being politicized and commanders are being relieved and replaced with those sympathetic to Obama and the leftist, statist agenda.

It's not 1776, and any rebellion will be ruthlessly annihilated.

Do you think all that talk about the Tea Party being arsonists, terrorists, traitors, etc. is just for dramatic effect? It is to legitimize it's destruction by any means necessary including bloodshed.

Obama's transformation of America is incompatible with founding principals and the defenders of such are his sworn enemies. He'd like nothing more than a violent uprising from the right as a justification to purge them with force once and for all.

Strelnikov said...

Is good be peasant.

Is no good be kulak.

befinne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
befinne said...

I know your politics excite you, but the point of the post isn't about Cruz but about Althouse, who didn't think "peasant" an insult. This is someone who lives in and supposedly comments intelligently about America. Yet assumed that Iowans are peasants.

Hyphenated American said...

I wonder why liberals hate the tea party more than Moslems. Don't you?

Mark Jones said...

No, I don't wonder why liberals hate the Tea Party more than Moslems. The Tea Party is an imminent threat to their political aspirations. The Moslem threat is still to distant for them to grasp it.

Mark Jones said...

No, I don't wonder why liberals hate the Tea Party more than Moslems. The Tea Party is an imminent threat to their political aspirations. The Moslem threat is still to distant for them to grasp it.

Rusty said...


It's not 1776, and any rebellion will be ruthlessly annihilated

By whom?

1/2 of 1% of firearm owners is a group larger than anything the government can send against it.

Jane said...

My family watched Ted Cruz's speech in Iowa.

My tween girls laughed at every joke - I appreciated his calm manner of speaking.

I'm so tired of screamers!

Unknown said...

Relying on other means of securing our finances should be prioritized in case of another Government shut down. With a possibility of another government shutdown due to lack of unity, I guess it is wise if people will acquire an income protection for extra protection.

Jack said...

Written like a genuine 'hopey & changey' low information Obama voter, Ann.

Paul said...

" It's not 1776, and any rebellion will be ruthlessly annihilatedBy whom?1/2 of 1% of firearm owners is a group larger than anything the government can send against it."

Are you kidding? What good is a rifle against armor?

Militarized police forces and a politicized military vs. armed citizens deemed enemies of the state.

No contest whatsoever.

poppa india said...

Paul, the people driving that armor have to get out of it someday. The people servicing and fueling it aren't protected by armor.