Is anyone paying attention to what Ted Cruz says?

Because a lot of it is pretty incoherent. For example, talking about refugees, Cruz said:

"There needs to be systematic and careful retroactive assessment of terrorists brought in from high-risk countries, to examine the public records, to examine all of the evidence that might indicate whether these individuals have ties to radical Islamic countries," he said. "What communications, what statements have they made, what actions have they taken?"

Who are these "terrorists brought in from high-risk countries"? From the context, it looks like Cruz is calling any refugee from the Muslim world a "terrorist." But if we knew they were a terrorist, they would not have been admitted as a refugee.

And what's the deal with "whether these individuals have ties to radical Islamic countries"?  Not groups, "countries"?!?! Does that mean a state sponsor of terrorism, like Syria or Iran (except that the Syrian and Iranian governments are fighting the Islamic State)? And depending on what he means by "ties," that could be almost anything. I mean, Syrian refugees are, by definition, from Syria. They all have "ties" there. But that doesn't mean they have "ties" to terrorists.

It's just a big word salad that probably sounds serious to the uninformed but doesn't hold to any scrutiny by anyone who knows anything about the real world. And this is from one of the more serious GOP candidates.