Good day Austin:

Taking a break from the final excruciating grind of the 85th Texas legislative session, let us look for some diverting reading.

How about Minnesota Sen. Al Franken�s new book, Giant of the Senate. Oh, it�s not out for a few days. But thanks to Amazon with its search inside this book feature, I searched for Ted Cruz �

And this is what I found.

Here�s why Franken feels free to flout the unwritten rules of the Senate in Cruz�s case.

Here is Al Franken, who made a good living in comedy before becoming a U.S. senator, recounting the time that his Minnesota colleague, Amy Klobuchar, tried to pre-clear a Ted Cruz joke she was going to tell at the Gridiron Dinner with Ted Cruz.

Here is Al Franken recalling the first impression Cruz made in Washington (Franni is Franken�s wife, Franni. Yes, her name is Franni Franken.):

And here is a contextual look back at an early example of Cruz loathing by his college roommate.

Cruz responded this afternoon to what Franken had written�about him.

From Politico:

�Al is trying to sell books and apparently he�s decided that being obnoxious and insulting me is good for causing liberals to buy his books,� Cruz said in an interview. �I wish him all the best.�

And, on Thursday, the Cruz for Senate campaign was fundraising off of Franken�s contempt.

Last week it was Rosie O�Donnell on the attack, yesterday Al Franken decided to take his own shots at Senator Cruz.�

Extreme liberals like Rosie and Franken are increasingly frustrated that their attempts to stop Ted are falling on deaf ears.

In fact Rosie�s tweets supporting one of Ted�s potential opponents has only emboldened you � the grassroots supporters who have been with us since the beginning ��by delivering the campaign its BIGGEST fundraising week of Q2 2017!

But we can�t stop now.



The Hollywood left and so-called �resistance� are more energized than ever to defeat Ted at the ballot box, stop the President�s agenda, and turn�Texas BLUE.�

Will you help us�#KeepTexasRed?

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Just so we�re clear � when Al Franken says �I hate Ted Cruz� what he really means is he hates the conservative principles and values he represents. Franken can�t stand the fact that Ted won�t back down from the promises he made to the people of Texas and succumb to the ways of Washington D.C.

Franken, Rosie, and the candidates they have chosen to support are going to be well-funded in next year�s midterms.�That�s why it�s going to be up to us to match them dollar for dollar as Ted gears up for reelection.�

Can you make an immediate contribution of $5, $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can afford right now to our �RESISTANCE RESPONSE� fund?

Senator Cruz is working hard to ensure a conservative agenda is passed on behalf of the American people, despite�the non-stop political hits from the likes of Franken, Rosie, and the rest of the liberal left.�

Help him deliver on the promises our Republican majorities have made today!

� Team Cruz

P.S. � Ted will never stop fighting for the interests and values of the twenty seven million Texans he represents, show him you have his back with an urgent contribution of $5, $25, $50, or $100 today!

�DONATE�

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Franken is not the first author to dwell on Cruz.

He also features prominently in Roger Stone�s The Making of the President 2016, whose animus toward Cruz is at least the equal of Franken�s.

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A sample page:

OK.

Break�s over.

Get back to paying attention to the 85th running of the Texas Legislature.

We�ve got bathroom policy to resolve.

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