Rich Lowry sees conspiracy in the remarkable degree of dislike for Ted Cruz:
Henry Adams said that politics is the systematic organization of hatreds. For the left, over the past year it has seemed at times to be the systematic organization of hatred of Ted Cruz.
It is possible that what Lowry has instead seen is the simultaneous expression of independent dislike, rather than something more conspiratorial.
After all, after only two months, both Republican and Democratic legislators found themselves having the same reaction:
"Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, has only been a U.S. Senator for 43 days, but he's already accomplished the amazing feat of uniting both sides of the aisle. Less than six weeks into his term, a remarkable number of both Republicans and Democrats have come forward to say that they think Cruz is kind of a jerk. In a steady stream of reports from his new colleagues, Cruz's rudeness comes in both public and private, and it's not just the words he uses but also how many of them he uses."