Posted on 02/21/2014 9:23:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The internal battle between establishment and conservative Republicans has gained intensity recently, especially as more and more frustrated Americans align themselves with Tea Party values like limited government and individual liberty. Desperate to retain power, many in the party’s left wing choose to focus their efforts on fellow Republicans rather than the corrupt Democrats currently in charge of D.C.
One of the latest examples of this disturbing trend came during a recent MSNBC segment featuring former Republican Rep. Steven LaTourette. Now the leader of a political action committee called “Defending Main Street,” the politico had some extremely harsh words for Tea Party hero Sen. Ted Cruz.
LaTourette, whose group receives much of its funding from sources decidedly to the left of Cruz, described Texas’ junior senator as “reprehensible” for his defense of fiscal responsibility. The recent debate over yet another hike in the debt ceiling was highlighted by Cruz’s insistence that his fellow Republicans be held accountable for their votes. Though the increase ultimately passed, it did so without a single Republican vote.
By endorsing a principled fiscal position and demanding others in the party do the same, LaTourette concluded that Cruz’s actions “cannibalize” the GOP. In reality, the outspoken conservative wing is merely attempting to stem the tide of big government waste that has largely overtaken the Republican Party.
Nevertheless, LaTourette appeared on the ultra-leftist news network to taunt Cruz and imply he is ruining the party he is trying to save.
“I don’t think he is a Republican,” LaTourette said in the recent interview. “I wish he would stop being a Republican and leave the party. That would be a nice thing.”
Millions of Tea Party loyalists and Cruz supporters would beg to differ. As long as America operates under the current two-party system, conservatives realize the only way to survive the constant assault on prosperity and freedom is by stacking the GOP with patriotic leaders.
LaTourette – along with other big government Republicans – must sense the continued rightward shift of the party’s base. In response, the only weapon left in their arsenal is the type of personal attack regularly levied against Cruz and others poised to become the new voice of the GOP.
Hey SD Cruz is alright, ,,terrible tactition. ..this forum sometimes loses it . Like now. I hate cult of personalities now we giving one toCruz. He’s not all that.
Because I like Cruz and hope he runs for the presidency, I’m a member of a cult?!?
Stuff it.
He’s not all that? Huh?
Education
Cruz attended high school at Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas,[26] and later graduated from Second Baptist High School in Houston as valedictorian in 1988.[11] During high school, Cruz participated in a Houston-based group called the Free Market Education Foundation where Cruz learned about free-market economic philosophers such as Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Frédéric Bastiat and Ludwig von Mises.[20] The program was run by Rolland Storey and Cruz entered the program at the age of 13.[18]
Cruz graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1992.[2][5] While at Princeton, he competed for the American Whig-Cliosophic Society’s Debate Panel and won the top speaker award at both the 1992 U.S. National Debating Championship and the 1992 North American Debating Championship.[27] In 1992, he was named U.S. National Speaker of the Year and Team of the Year (with his debate partner, David Panton).[27] Cruz was also a semi-finalist at the 1995 World Universities Debating Championship, making him Princeton’s highest-ranked debater at the championship.[28][29] Princeton’s debate team later named their annual novice championship after Cruz.[28]
Cruz’s senior thesis on the separation of powers, titled “Clipping the Wings of Angels,” draws its inspiration from a passage attributed to President James Madison: “If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” Cruz argued that the drafters of the Constitution intended to protect the rights of their constituents, and the last two items in the Bill of Rights offered an explicit stop against an all-powerful state. Cruz wrote: “They simply do so from different directions. The Tenth stops new powers, and the Ninth fortifies all other rights, or non-powers.”[24][30]
After graduating from Princeton, Cruz attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995 with a Juris Doctor.[2][31] While at Harvard Law, Cruz was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, and executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review.[5] Referring to Cruz’s time as a student at Harvard Law, Professor Alan Dershowitz said, “Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant.”[12][32][33][34][35][36] At Harvard Law, Cruz was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics.[37]
Cruz currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the Texas Review of Law and Politics.[37][38]
Legal career
Clerkships
Cruz served as a law clerk to J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1995[4][37] and William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States in 1996.[2] Cruz was the first Hispanic ever to clerk for a Chief Justice of the United States.[39]
Private practice
After Cruz finished his clerkships, he took a position with Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal, which is now known as Cooper & Kirk, LLC, from 1997 to 1998.[40]
In 1998, Cruz served as private counsel for Congressman John Boehner during Boehner’s lawsuit against Congressman Jim McDermott for releasing a tape recording of a Boehner telephone conversation.[41]
Bush Administration
Cruz joined the George W. Bush presidential campaign in 1999 as a domestic policy adviser, advising then-Governor George W. Bush on a wide range of policy and legal matters, including civil justice, criminal justice, constitutional law, immigration, and government reform.[40]
Cruz assisted in assembling the Bush legal team, devise strategy, and draft pleadings for filing with the Supreme Court of Florida and U.S. Supreme Court, the specific case being Bush v. Gore, during the 2000 Florida presidential recounts, leading to two successful decisions for the Bush team.[37][42]
After President Bush took office, Cruz served as an associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department[2][42] and as the director of policy planning at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.[2][12][42]
Texas Solicitor General
Appointed to the office of Solicitor General of Texas by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott,[4][43] Cruz served in that position from 2003 to 2008.[20][37]
Cruz has authored more than 80 United States Supreme Court briefs and presented 43 oral arguments, including nine before the United States Supreme Court.[4][12][22] Cruz’s record of having argued before the Supreme Court nine times is more than any practicing lawyer in Texas or any current member of Congress.[44] Cruz has commented on his nine cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court: “We ended up year after year arguing some of the biggest cases in the country. There was a degree of serendipity in that, but there was also a concerted effort to seek out and lead conservative fights.”[44]
In the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, Cruz drafted the amicus brief signed by attorneys general of 31 states, which said that the D.C. handgun ban should be struck down as infringing upon the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.[22][45] Cruz also presented oral argument for the amici states in the companion case to Heller before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[22][46]
In addition to his success in Heller, Cruz has successfully defended the constitutionality of Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds before the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, winning 5-4 in Van Orden v. Perry.[12][22][37]
In 2004, Cruz was involved in another high-profile case, which was Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow.[12][37] In Newdow, Cruz wrote a U.S. Supreme Court brief on behalf of all 50 states which argued that a non-custodial parent does not have standing in court to sue to stop a public school from requiring its students to recite of the Pledge of Allegiance.[12][37] The Supreme Court upheld the position of Cruz’s brief in a 9-0 decision.
Cruz served as lead counsel for the state and successfully defended the multiple litigation challenges to the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting plan in state and federal district courts and before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning 5-4 in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry.[37][47]
Cruz also successfully defended, in Medellin v. Texas, the State of Texas against an attempt by the International Court of Justice to re-open the criminal convictions of 51 murderers on death row throughout the United States.[4][12][22][37]
Cruz has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America,[43][48] by The National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America,[49][50] and by Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century.[51][52]
Private practice
After leaving the Solicitor General position in 2008, he worked in a private law firm in Houston, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, often representing corporate clients, until he was sworn in a U.S. Senator from Texas in 2013.[24][37][53] At Morgan, Lewis, he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice.[53]
In 2009, while working for Morgan, Lewis, Cruz formed and then abandoned a bid for state attorney general when the incumbent Attorney General Greg Abbott, who hired Cruz as Solicitor General, decided to run for re-election.[
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Cruz
Willingness to stand up to the establishment is rare. But it’s the one characteristic that sets a politician apart from all others.
The establishment is our worst enemy. And politicians like Cruz understand that the establishment can be dismantled through political means.
Senator Cruz stands up against the mob of brainless GOP elite, and in doing so shows true leadership—the best of the best.
Leave the GOP Ted! You are actually propping up a rotting carcass. Leave, and take the few true with you, the GOP will then collapse, allowing a real conservative party to grow in it’s place.
Leave them Ted! You won’t believe the rush and the roar of those stampeding after you.
How dare Cruz not let leftist legislation pass with unanimous consent, why he might give people the idea that the GOP and Democrats have some differences and we cannot have that!!
Is there any doubt that they aren’t Conservatives at all. If they were truly honest about their conservative views, they would go on a conservative media and attack Cruz, not a left wing one
He IS “all that”. He is honoring his pledges. It has turned out that those who were crying that Cruz was using the “wrong strategy” have NO strategy. Bob
Thanks for that workup on Senator Cruz. I had no idea but like him even more after reading of his accomplishments.
Fools! If Ted Cruz leaves, it will be to start a 3rd Party. If he does that many GOP people will join him—maybe 30-40% of the Rino Party will leave—including some top names—also doners will leave as well. Liberty Party will become the new second party. Look to the UK, and the UKIP Party who are pulling to peices the old Torys who forgot their conservative ideals seeking public approval. A new world is dawning folks!
former Republican Rep. Steven LaTourette is a serious dumb ass.
If Cruz is forced from the party he’ll certainly start a new, Real conservative party and a whole passel of folks will go with him.
The GOP establishment has said just as much to the rank and file conservative.
Of course then they turn around and say, ‘please vote for our moderate candidates. We really need you!’
looks like the GOPe will be able to be described as having “LaTourette’s Syndrome”....
Ohio pings..( As a FYI! )
That is the first time I have ever seen a news organ conservative or liberal take that- the proper- inference.
It is my belief that the Republican moved into the Democrat Party toward the end of Clinton’s Presidency. It is obviously the Official Opposition Division of the Democrat Party, even with a nominal Republicans president(Bush).
The party hacks are looking more desperate and ridiculous every day!
There's two magic formula's I'm not sure any one knows. First is how to make a viable third party that stands for freedom, limited government, and the Constitution strong enough to overtake a second party. Second is how to keep that New Party from putting its own self preservation ahead of America and the freedom of the American People.
So far, nobody's had an answer for those things. For that reason, the Tea Party has remained decentralized, independent local organizations.
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