Bill Day's latest: The "Cruzzard" takes flight

BILL DAY CRUZZARD

At Virginia’s Liberty University, Ted Cruz made it official.

The Texas senator declared his long awaited White House bid on Monday with a passionate 30-minute speech, calling to “reignite the promise of America.”

Cruz, a tea party firebrand, became the first in a soon-to-be-very-crowded Republican field with an event at the bastion of Christian conservatism; an irony not lost on either sides of the aisle, including editorial cartoonist Bill Day.

Cruz’s campaign — most certainly a long shot — seeks to mold him as a grassroots warrior, not only against recognizable opponents (liberals and Democrats], but also the Republican Party establishment itself.

The speech, followed by a Christian-themed rock music and prayer event at Liberty University, the country’s largest Christian university, threw down a gauntlet for Jeb Bush, the Texas native, former Florida governor and presumptive GOP front-runner.

In essence, Cruz declared war on the “mushy” Republicans from his own party.

“Imagine repealing every word of Common Core,” he told the audience — many of whom were students at the mandatory university event — in a clear preview of the upcoming battle over education, one issue sure to frame the debate in 2016.

Although conventional wisdom is that Cruz does not have a chance at the presidency, anyone who doubts the “Cruzzard” (as Day calls him) is gearing up for a battle on several fronts may be underestimating him.

Remember this: Cruz was one of the lawmakers who spearheaded the 16-day federal government shutdown in October 2013. Anyone willing to cut his nose to spite America’s face is ready to fight all comers.

Even as the Republican Party looks to a Cruz campaign with a slight amount of trepidation, there is one person happy the tea party agitator has entered the race: likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

She, for one, has little fear of Day’s Cruzzard.

 BILL DAY CRUZZARD

Phil Ammann

Phil Ammann is a Tampa Bay-area journalist, editor and writer. With more than three decades of writing, editing, reporting and management experience, Phil produced content for both print and online, in addition to founding several specialty websites, including HRNewsDaily.com. His broad range includes covering news, local government, entertainment reviews, marketing and an advice column. Phil has served as editor and production manager for Extensive Enterprises Media since 2013 and lives in Tampa with his wife, visual artist Margaret Juul. He can be reached on Twitter @PhilAmmann or at [email protected].



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