Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, is one of the sharpest people on Capitol Hill. How his political common sense left him regarding his abortive Cancun vacation is beyond me.

I have daughters too and I know when your daughters ask for something, within reason,  most dads will hop to it. I would have as well, but then I’ve never been, thank God for the United States of America, a US senator.

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Cruz: “Heidi and me, we lost power for two days. Our house was dark. We had no heat. We were all huddled around the fireplace because it was the only heat in the house, and after a couple of days [of] the girls being really cold and [temperatures] being in the teens or the 20s outside, our girls said ‘Look, school has been canceled for the week. Can we take a trip and go somewhere warm?’ And Heidi and I, as parents, we said ‘OK, sure.’ ”

Yes, his house had lost heat and power. I can also imagine his wife’s attitude on the general subject. All good reasons to send the wife and kids to better climes. But, was it really necessary to accompany them? No doubt his wife Heidi is a very capable parent, as most spouses of members of Congress are used to spending time as a virtual single parent. So why Ted, why?

Cruz said he had “second thoughts almost immediately” after boarding the plane. In hindsight he called it “obviously a mistake.” Too late bucko.

To top it off, he pulls the ultimate bad optics by leaving the dog behind. Now, of course, he should have left the dog behind as long as it was properly cared for, which it was. Hopefully the Cruzs are not like those people who think their animals are humans and use terms like “furbaby.” Those people should be locked up in mental health institutions. The Cruzs would have needlessly complicated their plans for a quick getaway by bringing the dog along.

They probably figured, the dog has fur, we’ve provided for its upkeep, no problem. But then the critter happened to trot over to a door that made it visible from the outside. When it did that, various photographers took pics of what looked like a forlorn puppy left alone to fend for itself during a winter storm. To make the whole thing even winter worse, the dog is named Snowflake. The set up was perfect. The Democrats went crazy, prompting this.

And this.

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The Democrats knew full well the dog was fine. But politics is not about reality, but about perception, about optics. The Democrats intuit there a lot of clinically insane “furbaby” types who will take one look at the shot of the dog in the door and damn Ted Cruz for all eternity. This is the actual reality of American politics today. These kind of voters, these kind of issues. Hell, given that, maybe a margarita or two in Cancun was a good idea.