Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, and Rand Paul

I suppose Cruz has just chosen to be a coconut.  That's the only explanation that makes sense here.

Blaming a recent surge in young border-crossers on the president, Sen. Ted Cruz waded into the crisis Thursday with a bill to reverse a 2012 order protecting child migrants from deportation.

“The staggering conditions that children are being subjected to are a direct result of the amnesty that President Obama illegally and unilaterally enacted in 2012, which caused the number of unaccompanied minors to skyrocket,” Cruz said. “The only way to stop the border crisis is to stop President Obama’s amnesty.”

'Amnesty', as we know, is Republican code for 'deport 'em all'.

Cruz wants to link Obama’s $3.7 billion funding request to the deferred action order. Other Republicans say they’ll block funding for a border response without changes to a 2008 law that lets Central American children remain in the country for years pending resolution of their immigration cases.

Blah blah blah.  Carnival Poop Cruz could very likely be deported back to Canada under his own guidelines, but since he has renounced his citizenship, perhaps he and his father just ought to be sent on back to Cuba instead.

The fact that nobody is going to get to Rafael's right in the 2016 GOP presidential primary is what's at play here, and the recent polling showing Rand Paul leading everybody is also the reason why Rick Perry chose to go after Paul earlier this week, calling him an isolationist.

"As a veteran, and as a governor who has supported Texas National Guard deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, I can understand the emotions behind isolationism. Many people are tired of war, and the urge to pull back is a natural, human reaction," Perry began his piece in the Washington Post. "Unfortunately, we live in a world where isolationist policies would only endanger our national security even further."

"That's why it's disheartening to hear fellow Republicans, such as Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), suggest that our nation should ignore what's happening in Iraq."

That drew a sharp elbow from Paul.

"Apparently his new glasses haven't altered his perception of the world, or allowed him to see it any more clearly," wrote Paul.

Paul continued: "With 60,000 foreign children streaming across the Texas border, I am surprised Governor Perry has apparently still found time to mischaracterize and attack my foreign policy."

Kaboom.  Perry just found himself back in South Texas with a bruised backside.

Paul will find appeal to what now might be called the middle, or maybe the Goldilocks zone, in the GOP: not too hot (Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum), not too cold (Chris Christie, Jeb Bush)... juuust right (a crowded field itself, with Perry, Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker).  You gotta be crazy, but not too crazy.  Throw the animals just enough red meat to keep 'em satisfied, not so much that they think they're actually in charge of anything.  It's still way too early to divine anything of importance in this early jockeying, but that won't keep anybody from trying.

I would rather focus on the election that happens in 3 1/2 months, because the potential for better -- or worse -- leadership for Texas, the United States Senate, an equal rights ordinance in Houston, and a fracking ban in Denton are all significantly more important issues to all Texans than who might or might not run for president in 2016.