Ted Cruz's Stunning Victory Over Iowa's Ethanol Cartel
The Inigo impersonator devised a clever electoral strategy
If Donald Trump is the Tony Soprano of American politics, Ted Cruz is a less-affable version of Mr. Haney from Green
Acres (Ok – not quite, but sort of! Do feel free to say, H&R readers, which movie character is a better fit with Cruz). But the only thing cleverer than Cruz's impression of Inigo Montoya in Princess Bride (and not the least because it irritates Billy Crystal and the insufferably self-righteous Mandy Patinkin so much) is the campaign strategy he devised in Iowa to defeat the ethanol cartel and win the primary, I note in my column at The Week.
No candidate, Republican or Democrat, had to date attacked Iowa's beloved ethanol subsidies and lived to tell the tale. The two biggest subsidy boosters in living memory are arguably President Obama and Donald Trump. But how did Cruz pull it off?
Essentially, by putting together a shrewd electoral strategy that thwarted the "public choice" dynamic that has been keeping the ethanol cartel in business by transferring $10 billion annually to its pocket from that of the drivers while gumming up their cars.
Go here to read what this strategy is.
And watch below Cruz's impersonation of Inigo etc.: