Sen. Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz Photo : Richard Ellis ( Getty Images )

Sen. Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz (R-Texas), who just so happens to look like a grown-up Eddie Munster, had the audacity to make fun of his Democratic rival Rep. Robert “Beto” O’Rourke—who won the Democratic primary Tuesday night and will be running against Cruz for the Senate—because he uses a nickname.


On Tuesday, Rafael’s campaign released a jingle mocking O’Rourke because he chooses to go by his nickname instead of his birth name, Robert.

And Rafael, who chooses to go by “Ted”—and that doesn’t scream of someone trying to erase his Latino heritage at all, so don’t even start thinking that way—had to explain his name-bullying on CNN.


“You go after Beto for his name. Beto is obviously a nickname—why?” Chris Cuomo asked Cruz, The Hill reports.

“First of all, you didn’t like that dirty pool when you were running for president and the president called you ‘Lyin’ Ted,’ you didn’t like that kind of tactic,” Cuomo said.

“And you know what? Your name is Rafael; you go by Ted, but your middle name is Edward. That’s a more Anglicized version of it,” he continued. “He went the other way and has a more ethnic version of his name—why go after him? You’re both doing the same thing.”

Boom! We see you, Cuomo! We see you!

Rafael tried to come back, noting: “You’re absolutely right, my name is Rafael Edward Cruz.”


Rafael added that the name-shaming jingle was a joke.

“In terms of the jingle, some of it is just have a sense of humor,” the Republican senator said.


Part of the jingle says, “Liberal Robert wanted to fit in, so he changed his name to Beto and hid it with a grin,” The Hill reports.



I wish O’Rourke had gone on TV and said, “That goofy bitch is running out here calling himself Ted! I don’t have the energy to talk about Ted!” and then just stormed off the stage. Instead, O’Rourke took the high road during an appearance on CNN’s New Day on Wednesday.


“I just don’t think that’s what folks in Texas want us to focus on,” he said. “We can get into name-calling or talk about why the other person’s such an awful guy, or we can focus on the big things we want to do for the future of our country.”

Fine. Cuomo handled O’Rourke’s light work.

We see you, Cuomo! We see you!