During a recent appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Senator Ted Cruz discussed his stance on the world’s changing climate:

“My view actually is simple. Debates on this should follow science, and should follow data. And many of the alarmists on global warming, they’ve got a problem because the science doesn’t back them up.”

“Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, and most of the leading scientific organizations worldwide have issued public statements endorsing this position.” That quote is from the official NASA site. NASA falls under the watchful eye of the Space, Science and Competitiveness subcommittee, chaired by… wait for it… Ted Cruz.

Cruz took over the position in January and I can only wonder what the confirmation after party was like, considering Cruz’s 2013 government shutdown put 97% of the agency out of work for over two weeks. I hope there was an open bar.

Ladies and gentleman, this is the man who wants to lead your nation as President of the United States.

Cruz is expected to officially announce his candidacy today in the only way Ted Cruz can, at a Christian university named Liberty.

The Texas Senator recently made headlines as one of the 47 Republicans who signed a letter to the Ayatollah, attempting to dissuade Iran from continuing peaceful talks to end their nuclear program.

“I’m embarrassed for them,” President Obama recently told Vice’s Shane Smith . “For them to address a letter to the Ayatollah – the supreme leader of Iran, who they claim is our mortal enemy – and their basic argument to them is: don’t deal with our President, because you can’t trust him to follow through on an agreement.. That’s close to unprecedented.”

If successful, the potential damage from the GOP’s Dennis the Menace-style tactic would also have affected Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, all of which are also partaking in the Iran talks.

“In our view, this letter has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy,” Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded in a statement. “It is very interesting that while negotiations are still in progress and while no agreement has been reached, some political pressure groups are so afraid even of the prospect of an agreement that they resort to unconventional methods, unprecedented in diplomatic history.”

That was the sound of 47 Republicans getting their asses diplomatically handed to them.

Like nearly every issue, the GOP is out of step with the majority of Americans. A recent CNN/ORC poll shows that 68% favor the negotiations with Iran.

All right, so foreign policy would not be a strong point under a Cruz presidency. Thanks to his appearance earlier this month at CPAC 2015, we know his domestic policies don’t fair much better.

Cruz’s number one agenda item would be to “repeal every blasted word of Obamacare”.

The Senator is an advocate for expanding health savings accounts, which is his likely replacement for the current law.

In all of his years spent attempting to repeal the ACA, Cruz has never offered a specific replacement plan. However, we can use fellow CPAC speaker Dr. Ben Carson’s proposal as an example.

In my previous entry Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Carson’s government-run health savings account system would provide every American with $2,000 a year. That’s it.

I hope you don’t have a serious illness because by October you’re going to be asking for the “leech special” when you need blood work done. Wait, it gets better.

Under the ACA, an insurer can not deny an individual coverage due to pre-existing conditions. There is no similar provision offered in Carson’s plan.

Did you guess jobs or debt for Cruz’s number two agenda item?  “Eeeh!  Sorry Hans, wrong guess.  Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change?”

Cruz wants to abolish the IRS, but what would he replace it with?

“The Senator supports a Fair Tax, ultimately,” Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told the Texas Tribune last month.

Cruz was a co-sponsor of Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss’ Fair Tax Act of 2013.

Recently elected Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is also a supporter of the Fair Tax, which is why I wrote about the subject last year.

In my 2014 entry Funny Farm, I referenced George W. Bush’s Advisory Panel of Federal Tax Reform’s study on the Fair Tax:

“Replacing the current income tax with a stand-alone retail sales tax would increase the tax burden on the lower 80 percent of American families, as ranked by cash income, by approximately $250 billion per year. Such families would pay 34.9 percent of all federal retail sales taxes, more than double the 15.8 percent of federal income taxes they pay today. The top 20 percent of American taxpayers would see their tax burden fall by approximately $250 billion per year.”

The Fair Tax is anything but.

How would women fair under a Cruz administration? Oh, boy.

The Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014 is a local D.C. law passed last year. The Act “expands discrimination on the basis of sex to include discrimination based upon the reproductive health decisions of an employee, their spouse, or their dependent.”

Essentially, you can’t be fired or harassed for your personal reproductive health decisions (using birth control or having had an abortion, for example) by your employer. Common sense legislation, unless you are the guy that likely cracked open a bottle of champagne when you heard the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Hobby Lobby case.

Last month, Cruz introduced a disapproval resolution in an attempt to overturn the law. It was one of two disapproval resolutions; the other was against the Human Rights Amendment Act of 2014.

Under D.C.’s new Human Rights Act, religious schools can no longer discriminate against gay student groups.

Cruz describes himself on his official page as a “passionate fighter for limited government…” I guess that only applies to heterosexual males.

Both measures would ultimately require President Obama’s signature to successfully overturn the laws (which isn’t happening). Another reminder to always vote.

A regular speaker at the deplorable Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit, the Texas Senator is no stranger to hate against the LGBTQ community.

It seems the modern-day Republican way to hide your bigotry is to claim in the defense of “states’ rights”. Which is like hiding an elephant behind a mouse.

Last month, Cruz introduced the State Marriage Defense Act. Under the Act, it would be up to the individual states if a same-sex marriage was recognized.

Under current law, the federal government recognizes same-sex marriages even if the couple moves to another state that does not do so.

Discussing Cruz and claims regarding climate change yesterday, California Governor Jerry Brown told Meet the Press’ Chuck Todd:

“That man betokens such a level of ignorance and a direct falsification of the existing scientific data. It’s shocking and I think that man has rendered himself unfit to be running for office.”

Brown’s comments can apply to Cruz on nearly any subject, including immigration, homosexuality, women, the internet, taxation and healthcare.

Years from now, I can only imagine the scene in the Liberty faculty lounge as they fondly reminisce about how the latest Fox News pundit attempted to launch a presidential campaign from their school.