MaddowBlog: Ivy League educated Cruz' big blunder on the meaning of Green Eggs and Ham

[stevenleser]

Benen is brilliant as always:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/25/20692124-getting-all-the-way-to-the-end-of-green-eggs-and-ham?lite

For those who can't watch clips online, the far-right Texan read "Green Eggs and Ham" with great earnestness from the Senate floor. (He can't hold a handle to the Rev. Jesse Jackson's version, but let's put that aside for now.) Cruz continued to reference the book after having put it down, insisting it "has some applicability, as curious as it may sound, to the Obamacare debate."

He added, "The difference with green eggs and ham -- when Americans tried it, they discovered they did not like green eggs and ham, and they did not like Obamacare, either. They did not like Obamacare in a box, with a fox, in a house, or with a mouse."

There is, however, a small problem with Cruz's choice of literary references: he apparently didn't understand the story.

In "Green Eggs and Ham," our protagonist thinks he dislikes food he hasn't tried. By the end, the character discovers green eggs and ham really aren't so bad after all. Indeed, he comes to regret criticizing something he didn't fully understand, and ends up celebrating the very thing he'd complained about so bitterly.

Cruz thinks this "has some applicability, as curious as it may sound, to the Obamacare debate"? What a coincidence; I think it has some applicability, too.

[warrior1]

1. why can't republicans

and people like palin and cruz, gosh there are so many, get simple truths.

It was about getting young children to try new foods.

idiots every last one of them

[pinboy3niner]

2. Ted Cruz is such a clown...

[hibbing]

10. hehehe

Thanks for that one!

[tanyev]

3. Derp. I thought Cruz was supposed to be a brilliant debater.

[SunSeeker]

17. He is a masterdebater.

[DetlefK]

4. Americans don't like Obamacare? Quick! Someone tell President Romney!

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I think he knows

It's a double-dog whistle.

-The Ivy leaguers that he is a part of know the meaning of the story and his nonsense is an exhortation to "stop this now before the public ends up loving it forever"

- and the clueless zombie teabaggers will just take whatever he says at face value and will cheer loudly in their empty rooms.

[William769]

6. Kick & recommended.

[hfojvt]

7. I still long for a happy ending to that story

the ending where the protagonist spits out the green slop and says "I was right. I really do NOT like Green Eggs and Ham."

But maybe that is just me, because here is a list of the food that I do not like - and all of which I have tried, and yes, still do NOT like

bacon
ham
spam
steak
eggs (true story, because I was anemic throughout my childhood, I had a doctor who thought I needed to eat more eggs. So when I was 12 or so, my dad secretly put some eggs in a chocolate milkshake he was making. When I complained about the taste he was furious. "What do you mean it tastes funny?" He could not believe I could taste the egg in there. Later he told me the story about the eggs. I used to love deviled eggs though until I was about 9 and lost a baby tooth while eating one. Sorta grossed me out on them after that.)

pork chops (although I sorta walked into this. Because I hated pork chops, when we had pork chops I took the smallest one. Since, however, they were all cooked together, the smallest one was very over-cooked and as tough as shoe leather. No wonder I hated it. I actually like pork chops when the meat is tender.)

chicken (although that seems to be a childhood thing. Growing up, it seems like we had chicken for about ten meals a week, and I grew to hate it. Now I have chicken maybe ten times a year, and love it.)

onions
celery
rutabaga
beets
mushrooms
coconut
beer

But I don't have all day to make a complete list.

What I think is funny (or rather it is odd) is how people will give me crap for not liking something. "You don't like bacon?!!!" As if I made some sort of choice. I put something in my mouth and chew it and think to myself "wow, this is delicious. I love the taste of this, and the texture too. This is really good, but I am gonna dislike it - just to piss people off."

But somehow it does piss people off that I don't like the food (or drink) that they like - even though that means there is more of it for THEM to eat (if only so many people did not like rhubarb pie or donuts, I would be happy to eat their share). So I usually convert to judaism when people are trying to force bacon or ham on me. Even though religion, unlike taste, IS a choice, people seem to be more tolerant of it.

I converted to judaism just so I wouldn't have to eat ham (or spam).
Now if only I could find a religion that prohibited the eating of eggs.

[RoccoRyg]

12. Remind me

Never to come over for dinner at your place.

[hfojvt]

18. so you are saying that you are too picky

and would not eat something without ham or onions in it?

Tonight's dinner will be rhubarb pie and donuts.

Who wouldn't like that?

[Liberalynn]

8. That figures

a RePuke who can't even comprehend a children's book with pictures.

[Jackpine Radical]

11. So--the obvious question--

Did Bush understand My Pet Goat?

[Liberalynn]

13. All signs point to no

[ThomThom]

21. but he could read it upside down

[pinboy3niner]

14. He woudn't understand it in a boat

Not with a mouse or in a house
Or in a box or with a fox.

He wouldn't understand it here or there
He wouldn't understand it anywhere.

[gopiscrap]

23. obviously not he had it upside down when he was trying to read it.

[rhett o rick]

9. k&r thanks for posting. nm

[Rex]

15. You cannot cure stupid.

nt.

EDIT - And all the little Cruzes in Cruzville gave up their brains to support a huge bonfire in the middle of town...only to watch it all burn down.

[PrestonLocke]

16. Latest polls show only 27% support repealing Obamacare

How the hell is that, "The American People"?

[SunSeeker]

19. K & R

[treestar]

20. So his reading comprehension

Does not even extend to Dr. Seuss.

[gopiscrap]

22. Cruz=dumbass!!!

[Scurrilous]

24. K & R