Alexandra Petri: Ted Cruz and his conscience amicably part ways – The Washington Post

“Just about a month to go,” his conscience said, whistling. “I’m excited that you’re going to vote for the candidate I pick. You can’t vote for Trump. You said if people voted for him, ‘this country could well plunge into the abyss.’”

“Yes,” Cruz said, uneasily. “But I always said that, you know. About all kinds of things. I didn’t always mean it.”

“Oh,” his conscience said. “Well. But.”

“Not that I didn’t mean it that time,” Cruz added, hastily, putting on his coat and adjusting his tie.

“Where are you going, Ted?” his conscience asked.

“Just out,” Cruz snapped. “Can’t I go out? Can’t I do anything?”

Photo by Ninian Reid

4 comments on “Alexandra Petri: Ted Cruz and his conscience amicably part ways – The Washington Post

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  1. My reflex on hearing of the Cruz endorsement of Trump was a shorter, less creative version of this, but it begged the question, “When did Cruz ever have more than a passing relationship with his conscious?” Beating him up about being an opportunist ready to throw yesterday’s principled stand under the bus, over a cliff, into the fire of eternal damnation seems quaint when confronted with that other fellow’s carryings on.

    • Perhaps, but some of us have a lot of suspension of disbelief, or suspension of acknowledgment of the suspension, in favor of the greater cause, to make up for. So every forgiveness from then receives a compensatory denunciation now, amplified by the same very inconceivability of the other guy once exemplified by Cruz’s honorable refusal, now only magnified in this willful reversal to endorsement. The personal dimension and the timing and the whole comedy make the fall from champion to object of ridicule steeper. Perry and Jindal, or this or that pundit or radio-talker, fell from lesser illusory heights.

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