Canadian-born Beltway yakker David Brooks says problem with Ted Cruz is 'leadership' can't bribe him because he's not motivated solely by committee assignments

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9/17/13, "Columnist from Canada through New York complains about Senator from Canada through Texas-ism," Legal Insurrection, William A. Jacobson

"David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times, was interviewed recently on PBS and  referred to Ted Cruz as ”the Senator from Canada through Texas.” (h/t Instapundit)

I guess Brooks meant that as a shot, but it’s an odd shot for Brooks to make. Brooks also was born in Canada to parents at least one of whom was an American citizen. They are both natural born Citizens.  Brooks grew up in New York, Cruz in Texas.

Substantively, what Brooks considers a bug I consider a feature (transcription via Daily Caller):

"What’s going on in the House, and a bit in the Senate, too, is what you might call the rise of Ted Cruz-ism,” Brooks said. “And Ted Cruz, the senator from Canada through Texas, is basically not a legislator in the normal sense, doesn’t have an idea that he’s going to Congress to create coalitions, make alliances, and he is going to pass a lot of legislation. He’s going in more as a media-protest person. And a lot of the House Republicans are in the same mode. They’re not normal members of Congress. They’re not legislators. They want to stop things. And so they’re just being — they just want to obstruct.” …

“Two things that are interesting that are happening, especially being talked about this week,” Brooks said. “One, leadership in both bodies, the leadership’s inability to force any discipline. That’s partly because a lot of these people just are not interested in the committee assignments, the normal leverage the leadership has, in part because the earmarks are gone, some of the spending favors.” …

“[S]o the leadership can’t impose any discipline on a Ted Cruz,” Brooks said. “There’s nothing they can punish him with.”"...


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