MID-SPEECH, TED CRUZ FORGETS WHICH LINE OF B.S. HE'S SPOUTING

This clip is getting attention because Ted Cruz reportedly scared the crap out of a little girl at a campaign appearance in New Hampshire. But I want to point out something else about the moment -- something that reveals how transparently phony Cruz is.

... While speaking at an event sponsored by the Strafford County Republican Committee, Cruz warned that there was an “urgency to politics today that is unlike anything any of us have ever seen.”

“It is now or never,” he explained. “I don’t think we’ve reached the point of no return yet. But we’re close. We are close! And I believe if we go four or eight more years on this same path, we risk losing the greatest country in the history of the world.”

“Millions of Americans are realizing this isn’t working,” the possible Republican presidential candidate continued. “The Obama economy is a disaster. Obamacare is a train wreck.”

“And the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind -- the whole world is on fire.”

This is where Cruz scared a little girl who was being held in her mother's arms, according to a tweet from a reporter on scene.

“The world is on fire,” Cruz replied, turning to face the girl and her mother. “Yes! Your world is on fire!”

You can't see the girl in the video, but it's likely that she was upset, because Cruz clearly goes on to reassure her -- and here's where he reveals himself as a fraud:

Realizing that his rhetoric might have gone too far, the Texas Republican decided to do some damage control.

“But you know what?” he asked. “Your mommy is here and everyone is here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better.”

Excuse me? "Even better?" Cruz just got through telling the crowd that America is on the verge of being destroyed. If he'd said, "Your mommy is here and everyone is here, and they're going to save this country and make sure it's the great country it was in the days of Saint Ronald Reagan," it would at least be consistent with the America-in-peril message. Instead, as soon as it was clear that the kid was upset, Cruz switched off the "America under the Democrats is dooooomed!" tape in his head and switched on the "America is the greatest country in the world! Woo! Woo! Woo! U-S-A! U-S-A!" tape, as if they're interchangeable.

At least Fox-era Glenn Beck, the last wingnut prophet of doom to reach mainstream prominence, seemed able to remember which narrative of America he was peddling for the duration of an entire rant. Of course, Beck had glommed onto the notion that America went to hell sometime around the Wilson administration; that was an insane idea, but give him credit for sticking to it, at least for the length of his Fox run. Cruz can't even remember that the flames are rising for the length of a brief speech.