Ted Cruz's America, and you better watch yourself

By Richard K. Barry

I know this has received a lot of play, but I have to weigh in.

In an interview Tuesday on “CBS This Morning,” Senator Ted Cruz said he “grew up listening to classic rock” but that his "music taste changed on 9/11."

“I actually intellectually find this very curious, but on 9/11, I didn’t like how rock music responded,” he said. “And country music, collectively, the way they responded, it resonated with me."

“I had an emotional reaction that said, ‘These are my people,’” Cruz said. “So ever since 2001, I listen to country music.”

I realize many people will ignore this as a meaningly issue, but is it? Is there anything this man won't say. And what, precisely,  did "rock music" do back then that was so awful? But we know the answer: if you weren't deemed patriotic enough by the arbiters of real American public opinion, you were "the enemy," you were "against us" and "with the terrorists," as W. famously said.

That's what Cruz really wants to signal. That's his America.