Posted on 09/26/2013 4:22:14 AM PDT by Kaslin
While many people will attack GOP leaders in the Senate for not understanding what Sen. Ted Cruz is doing, don’t count me as one of them. You see GOP leadership has been handicapped for quite some time now.
Mark Twain, who witnessed the impeachment debacle of Andrew Johnson in the House of Representatives in 1868, pegged it: “[I] was reporter in a legislature two sessions and the same in Congress one session,” Twain wrote, “and thus learned to know personally three sample bodies of the smallest minds and the selfishest souls and the cowardliest hearts that God makes.”
You must understand that it’s very difficult for politicians to recognize another politician, as in the case of Sen. Cruz, who is actually doing the things he campaigned on, like getting rid of Obamacare.
Cruz, in this case, is an oddball to his Senate colleagues.
Keeping promises is a novel concept that many politicians have difficulty accepting at face value.
This is increasingly true in the GOP, where the solution for Obamacare is Romneycare, for Common Core is No Child Left Behind, for War in Syria is a bigger, better, badder war in Iraq; and where the solution for TARP, and bailouts is, um…TARP and bailouts?
When another politician keeps promises, other politicians think: “What’s he up to?” imagining that it’s a ploy to run for president or vice president or governor. “Or, perhaps,” they think, “he just doesn’t know any better.”
They fall back on the liberal trick of pretending someone is just too stupid to know any better.
Yes, they have all said they want to get rid of Obamacare, at least if they’re Republican.
They campaigned on getting rid of Obamacare, they fundraised on it, went to barbecues and got applause for condemning Obamacare.
But that doesn’t mean they actually want to DO something about getting rid of Obamacare.
Now I can understand why the average human being might think that they should DO something about it, especially if these politicians campaigned about DOING something about it.
But these Republicans didn’t go to the trouble of stump speeches and barbecues and town halls and meet-and-greets and press conferences and get-out-the-vote to go to Congress to get things done.
They went to Congress so that they could get to go back to Congress, again and again, and again.
And in that process of going to Congress again and again and again, politicians from both parties often become so acclimated by the exigencies of campaigning that I sometimes wonder if there’s actually a human inside the mechanism anymore-- if their soul doesn’t eventually shrink away or just hide in a corner, like in the further recesses of the appendix.
Years of constant battle with the press, with the opposition, and with their too-young staffers to avoid saying anything that might result in a “gotcha” moment has to eventually affect the thinking of even the most narcissistic people.
And right on cue, politicians are the most narcissistic people.
They have to be.
Otherwise they would not be able to live with themselves.
As a class politicians don’t keep promises.
Even more, they know they don’t keep promises. They’re OK with that.
After all: Don’t you know how important these people are?
Promises are for little people; only little people keep promises.
And only a real narcissist can live with logic like that. The higher you go on the politics totem, the tighter the logic gets.
Sen. John McCain’s head is so big, for example, that he thinks his head keeps the Capitol dome from falling in on itself.
For the folks in DC -- especially in the GOP-- the whole idea of keeping promises and getting things done is too radical, too revolutionary.
And that’s why this may be the last hurrah for the old GOP.
Increasingly, I suspect that most Republican politicians, as least the ones in Congress, want Obamacare implemented. You don’t fundraise as effectively when you defeat Obamacare.
No.
You fundraise effectively on the latest Obamacare outrage.
So Sens. Mitch McConnell and John McCain and the rest of the McClique up in DC have arranged a compromise.
Obamacare stays intact, the spending goes on unabated and the fundraising for 2014 will continue for the GOP.
The GOP leaders call this peace.
But peace was never a choice.
“You were given the choice between war and dishonor,” Winston Churchill chided GOP wannabe Neville Chamberlain on the eve of the world war; a war that was largely crafted on a series of compromises by Chamberlain ala McClique.
“You chose dishonor, and you will have war,” thundered Churchill.
Sadly, here too, war it will be, eventually.
Cruz’s plan won’t work. Both from a practical standpoint (there’s enough GOP squishes to ensure defeat) and from an implementation standpoint. Defunding Obamacare actually does little to no good. Most importantly, it doesn’t stop the subsidies which kick in on January 1, and once those come into play, good luck ever getting them repealed.
That said, I stand with Cruz on this, and want him to push it to the limit. Not because it will work, but because it forces Democrats and squishes to “own” Obamacare.
BTTT
But we still got folks like Cruz. The "establishment" went a complete 0-fer, if you recall, with their "safe" candidates.
You think I can’t read between lines?
Plenty of GOP-E candidates lost as well. But you GOP-E morons never admit to that.
The ones who had Republican establishment knives stuck into their backs driven by hostile mainstream media madness.
And you're wrong in both views. FR has always been about promoting conservatism, not about siding with one political party or another. The GOP is a sometime ally for conservatives, and the Democrats are a pretty consistent enemy, but that doesn't let the GOP off the hook when they start collaborating with the enemy.
BTW you your name fits you perfectly
IIRC, McCain went to the woodshed in his last re-election run saying that he had "learned his lesson" (then on immigration reform). The good people of AZ re-elected him - believing that such a conversion was possible. Many other RINOs used that same tact, and likewise were re-elected.
Some were "primaried" out, but the GOP tactics of scorched earth/attrition against the Tea Party worked perfectly, however.
Seems a grand plan might be: (a) primary-out in 2014 by any/all means possible (e.g., misinformation in "polls", repeatedly refresh memories of past positions,...) as many RINOs as can be got - all would be a good goal, no excuses and no "I promise to do better." and (b) defeat as many Dim-0-crats as possible.
Start yesterday for 2016. Do not go to "winter quarters" after 2014 - learn, refine strategies/tactics for better 2016 results. More targets to be got - some very high-value come to mind.
Words are not actions and actions are not results.
McCain "got" six more years, for example, of "same old, same old" RINOism. Fool me once today is once too many.
Or plan (c): vote all incumbents out - clean, simple, and a step forward.
Sub in Reagan for Cruz and that’s what the DC elite were saying in the 70s. Sorry, but you are completely wrong. Cruz is building a party based on principle to replace the failed party that has gotten destroyed for the past 7 years trying to go along and get along
Cruz vs a bag of mayonnaise.
Huh? is that you Rove? McCain?
You win for the most ignorant post of the year on FR.
The GOPe needs to be destroyed....
Cruz stands for Liberty. You and your pals in the GOP worship at the Alter of State Power.
/johnny
regarding McCain:
When you care more about what the other side thinks, it's probably time to switch sides or step down. There is new leadership in the GOP, whether the party wants to admit it or not
It’s not about a party or winning. It’s about leadership and representation. To assume otherwise is to believe Americans cannot think for themselves and are not responsible for their own destinies. We can and we are.
Maybe I am. If Cruz is one then I'm one too. You can continue to hitch your wagon to McCain and Graham. See what it gets you.
Standing on principle is more appealing than grovelling for approval.
It’s called “representation”. It’s the basis of our form of government.
This debacle has destroyed my faith in the GOP once and for all. As Rush said yesterday — could there be a better opportunity for a political party than this? Polls show upwards of 60-65% of people oppose this disaster, across all party lines. Whole campaigns were run and won based on the promise to stop it. But instead of seizing the momentum, a sure WIN, what does the GOP do? Sides with who is supposed to be the enemy; betrays everything they’re supposed to stand for. They have shown without a doubt what their true intentions and motivations are, and it has NOTHING to do with conservatism. They can all go to hell and take their empty rhetoric with them.
Thanks for posting the link. Excellent column by Michael Walsh
You are correct of course
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