AM I IMAGINING THINGS? – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  History has been made.  Note the date.  The New York Times has published a fair-minded piece about a rising conservative Republican.  I don't know if the reporter is still alive, or still employed, but the piece is definitely there.  I have checked repeatedly.

The subject is Ted Cruz, newly nominated Republican Senate candidate from Texas and an almost shoo-in to be elected in November.  From The Times:

HOUSTON — As a teenager, Ted Cruz was an intense and eloquent parser of free-market economics, dazzling Rotary Clubs here in Houston by reciting the Constitution. At Princeton, he was a champion debater and an intellectual leader of a band of conservative students. He was a star at Harvard Law School and clerked for the chief justice of the United States.

Can you imagine the coronary situation in liberal newsrooms as that is being read.  This man is a conservative?  What happened?  Has the psychiatrist been called?

But few may have imagined Mr. Cruz, 41, in his newest role, as the Tea Party favorite and Republican candidate for the United States Senate, trading verbal orchids with the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. Mr. Cruz earned the nomination on Tuesday in a runoff election after more than a year of sweaty street campaigning, drawing national attention for beating Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the more experienced nominee of the Texas Republican establishment.

“I’d have predicted that he would be a professor, not a politician,” said Robert P. George, Mr. Cruz’s adviser at Princeton in the early 1990s. Professor George, a noted social conservative, said that Mr. Cruz stood out even among his Ivy League peers as “intellectually and morally serious,” writing his thesis on the separation of powers.

I hear the sirens.  Liberals are collapsing.  The New York Times is being surrounded by angry leftists yelling "Traitors!" and "To Chick-fil-A with you!"

It helps, of course, that Mr. Cruz has the smooth good looks and practiced speech of a television host and is able to channel his knowledge into sound bites.

“He has the potential to be a national figure,” said Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, noting Mr. Cruz’s intellect and oratorical skills.

True, although we should point out a little problem here.  Cruz was born in Alberta, Canada, when his parents were working there.  They had lived in Texas.  His father had immigrated from Cuba.  His mother was born in the United States.  I honestly don't know where that places Ted Cruz in terms of placement on a national ticket.  A presidential candidate (we're speculating about the future, obviously) has to be a natural-born citizen.  A federal court ruled that John McCain was natural-born even though born in the Panama Canal Zone, because his father was a naval officer.  I'd imagine Cruz would be ruled eligible because of his mother's citizenship, but I'm guessing.  Anyone know?

Mr. Cruz argued before the Supreme Court nine times and has trumpeted his successes. In his most notable victory, the court affirmed the right of Texas to ignore instructions from the International Court of Justice and the Bush administration to review an illegal immigrant’s death sentence.

COMMENT:  Read the whole piece.  Even The Times has to concede that this guy is solid.

August 2, 2012