WATCH: Jon Stewart handicaps Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential ambitions

The Daily Show host weighs in on the Cruz-for-president trial balloon, and he isn't impressed

Jon Stewart slams Ted Cruz
(Image credit: The Daily Show)

On Wednsday, supporters of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) floated the idea of the conservative Cuban-American freshman lawmaker running for president in 2016. Most commentators weren't terribly impressed with Cruz's chances, and it's pretty safe to say that the 2016 presidential hopefuls in the Democratic Party weren't shaking with fear.

But political scientist Jonathan Bernstein was more bullish on Cruz. "Yes, Ted Cruz could win the presidency," he says on his Plain Blog About Politics. Cruz seems to be "more or less within the ideological mainstream of his party," and probably closer to the activist base on issues like immigration reform (he's opposed) than his 2016 GOP rivals. In the general election, "Cruz is likely to be perceived as an ideological outlier, but that's a penalty, not a disqualification — it didn't, for example, prevent Ronald Reagan from winning." The bottom line is that Cruz could win the GOP nod, "and pretty much anyone who could win a major party nomination has a reasonable chance of winning the presidency."

Jon Stewart at The Daily Show has a less-nuanced take: Cruz is hated by colleagues in both parties, and he was born in Canada. Would the birthers really let a "dirty syrup-guzzler" become president? (Watch above.)

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Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.