The knives are out for Ted Cruz. The Know Nothing Wing of the GOP questions his American citizenship, the Establishment is smearing him and now the KKK remnant of the Democrat party led by Mickey Kaus goes after Ted Cruz. Mad that Cruz is going after Obamacare, Mickey now tries to turn Republicans against Ted by using the Immigration issue.

Hey, Look at Me Fail: Isn’t it obvious that Ted Cruz is in it for Ted Cruz? The man had a choice–he could fight the’ Senate’s push for “amnesty first” immigration legislation, which he had a very good chance of killing, or he could stage a showy fight against funding Obamacare that he’d certainly lose. The first course would annoy the business backers who fund Senate and presidential campaigns. The latter course would gin up and channel conservative anger, boosting Cruz’s profile in the caucuses and primaries,without doing anyone much damage at all (since it would fail). The choice seems to have been a no-brainer for the senator.

I originally thought Cruz opposed amnesty and took a dive on the issue, doing the minimum possible to maintain his credibility. I now don’t think his behavior was that bad. It was worse–his very opposition to amnesty was fake. Evidence: The New York Times, in a bit of Anticipatory Strange New Respect, recently ran a piece on Cruz’s attempt to stake out “middle ground on immigration.” The middle ground seems to be support for legalization that stops short of citizenship:

“A path to legal status, but not to citizenship. A green card with no right to naturalization.