Posted on 10/09/2013 7:34:24 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
Long ago, Ted Cruz earned the hatred of every elected Democrat in Washington. Now, he’s on his way to doing the same with nearly every Republican.
He is, to paraphrase Winston Churchill’s quip about Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, a bull who carries a china shop with him. He had barely begun his 21-hour filibuster -- or, to be strictly precise, 21-hour-long speech -- when he compared his doubters to appeasers of Adolf Hitler, and he ended it roughly a day later with a prickly exchange with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The Cruz eye-rollers had plenty of occasions to roll their eyes -- perhaps no senator has caused so many colleagues to mutter under their breaths in his first eight months in the world’s greatest deliberative body -- but the conservative grass roots cheered. They are desperate for passion and, above all, fight, and Cruz delivered them during his long hours holding forth on C-SPAN2.
We should stipulate upfront that he is not going to defund Obamacare. As a legislative strategy, the defund effort is far-fetched to the point of absurdity. The theory is that after a government shutdown, pressure becomes so intense on Democrats that Reid buckles and passes a measure defunding Obamacare, and Barack Obama signs it.
Why would a little downside political risk in the current confrontation move them? We’re talking about a party that spent decades trying to pass something like Obamacare and a president who was content to lose his House majority over it.
The Cruz all-nighter wasn’t a legislative tactic so much as it was what 19th-century anarchists called “the propaganda of the deed.” It made a point. It dramatically reaffirmed Republican resolve to repealing Obamacare. It also saved Cruz’s reputation among the tea-party conservatives. By spending nearly an entire day attacking Obamacare on the Senate floor, Cruz demonstrated enough gutsiness to take the sting out of his imminent defeat.
In the longer run, the outcome in the short term is irrelevant to Cruz’s stature as a conservative leader. No one asked whether Ronald Reagan had successfully blocked the ratification of the Panama Canal Treaty in 1977 when he ran for president in 1980. For that matter, no one asked whether Sen. Barack Obama had successfully defunded the Iraq War in 2007 when he ran for president in 2008.
Obama’s example is instructive: When before have we heard of a new senator capturing the imagination of his party’s base, establishing an unimpeachable standard of purity on a hot-button issue absolutely essential to it and beginning to run for president shortly after arriving on the national scene?
Who knows whether Cruz ultimately tries the same thing. But the scoffers are probably the same kind of people who chuckled at backbencher Newt Gingrich giving speeches to an empty House chamber on C-SPAN so many decades ago. Gingrich was playing an outside game, and so is Cruz. The disdain for him among insiders will be inversely related to the admiration for him among the much more important outsiders.
They will sustain him in a crusade against Obamacare that, alas, will extend long beyond this fall’s fiscal fights.
This same pap was said of Ronald Reagan.....the MSM and dems were ecstatic when Reagan was nominated....way to conservative the pubs had just handed the election to Jimmuh. On election day they were shocked....”nobody I know voted for this guy”!!!!
Ted sure seems to have been able, with his 21 hour “speech” to kick start this good thing. Otherwise Boehner, dingyharry and nobama would be happy as pigs in their mudhole and the slow-train would still be rolling on toward socialism without any substantive protest.
Although I am not pleased to see WW2 Vets harassed and NPS acting like Gestapo, but this thing Cruz started is energizing many, many even on the dem side in seeing liberals for their true selves.
“It was said that Reagan’s message was aimed over the heads of those in Washington and the media directly towards the people. I believe Cruz is doing the same thing.”
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Agreed.
I further think that even with people (such as myself) who do not actually approve of a repeal of Obamacare until the GOP gets off their collective wazoos and passes an alternative, Cruz is appealing to me.
I really, really like the guy. More all the time.
(and Palin of course)
Go Ted!
Speaking of Churchill, I think Ted Cruz is taking this tact.... “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” - Winston Churchill
The laws were dusted off after being written decades before and just shelved and the rhetoric was turned white hot to anyone that so much as uttered a peep against them. The liberals were grinning from ear to ear that another "crisis" would result in the Holy Grail of federal oppression and Fascism long sought to control free people. Just try to imagine there was an "NRA" in the health care world. Who was that organized? The phones did light up, but they didn't see the money and organization arrayed against them. Cruz tried to turn the tide and get people to protest more loudly, but the push back was immediate and overwhelming.
It really didn't have to do with Senate votes, it had to do with a lack of organization. In 21 hours, Cruz proved his metal by just DOING what he promised to do. He tried to explain the truth of ObamaCare to any geek that might tune in to CSPAN or catch the highlights on the 6'o clock news. Waiting till the last minute to organize might be considered a mistake, but IMO, he was waiting for someone to lead. No takers left the dirty deed up to him, Lee, and Paul.
In my mind,( and I've been called crazy) Cruz has elevated himself to the top pick for conservatives in '16. Try as they might to pull him down, you and I both know HE WAS RIGHT TO FIGHT. Obamcare is a Chinese fire drill and will appear more ridiculous every month. In 3 years would you rather be the guy that gave up or the guy that fought with every fiber of his being no matter the cost? If the phones had melted that day, the red state Dems would have soiled themselves and begged for mercy, but there wasn't enough opposition to get it done. Even today, the low information voters don't yet "get" that ObamaCare won't be a free giveaway. Ask one, they will tell you it's free or chump change. When it is explained to them, they have a blank stare until you change the subject.
That should have been our job for the last 3 years. Even today, people don't understand that the reason Obama gave a delay to big business is because they told him and the unions they will fire millions, cut millions more to 29 hours, and the ones left will lose their "Cadillac" plans. That has now been kicked down the road till after the 2014 election. Your company doesn't have to warn you what's about to happen, but the unions know what's coming. Do you want to count on a carve out for unions? When your company drops you to pay the fine and put you on ObamaCare, you can't go back to company paid insurance,...it's over,...the toothpaste is out of the tube.
Who in the Republican party is telling anyone this? All these smug Democrats, and even Republicans, are keeping this gem quiet. Why aren't union chiefs on BOR or Hannity every night? The talking heads are busy beating Cruz about the head about how "stupid" he is and aren't interested in the plan one year from now. What would keep Fox News from dropping BOR just to save $20k a year on his insurance? If the government was a business, we could drop congress and save hundred's of millions a year by putting them on Obamacare. BOR can pay cash, but what about the camera man?
If we could take our focus off of beating Cruz up, maybe we could get this info out there and make some of the fence sitters start to pucker up.
When does Obama-care get defunded?
The laws were dusted off after being written decades before and just shelved and the rhetoric was turned white hot to anyone that so much as uttered a peep against them. The liberals were grinning from ear to ear that another "crisis" would result in the Holy Grail of federal oppression and Fascism long sought to control free people.
The only problem, the NRA and others had ideas that made more sense than the cookie cutter confiscation the liberals had in mind. The coup de gras was when the phones started to melt in DC. The people said "Call me any name you want, I prefer freedom to slavery and I will vote against you and get everyone I can to vote against you if you weaken over the murders of 26 innocents." Just try to imagine there was an "NRA" in the health care world. Who was that organized? The phones did light up, but they didn't see the money and organization arrayed against them. Cruz tried to turn the tide and get people to protest more loudly, but the push back was immediate and overwhelming.
It really didn't have to do with Senate votes, it had to do with a lack of organization. In 21 hours, Cruz proved his metal by just DOING what he promised to do. He tried to explain the truth of ObamaCare to any geek that might tune in to CSPAN or catch the highlights on the 6'o clock news. Waiting till the last minute to organize might be considered a mistake, but IMO, he was waiting for someone to lead. No takers left the dirty deed up to him, Lee, and Paul.
In my mind,( and I've been called crazy) Cruz has elevated himself to the top pick for conservatives in '16. Try as they might to pull him down, you and I both know HE WAS RIGHT TO FIGHT. Obamcare is a Chinese fire drill and will appear more ridiculous every month. In 3 years would you rather be the guy that gave up or the guy that fought with every fiber of his being no matter the cost? If the phones had melted that day, the red state Dems would have soiled themselves and begged for mercy, but there wasn't enough opposition to get it done. Even today, the low information voters don't yet "get" that ObamaCare won't be a free giveaway. Ask one, they will tell you it's free or chump change. When it is explained to them, they have a blank stare until you change the subject.
That should have been our job for the last 3 years. Even today, people don't understand that the reason Obama gave a delay to big business is because they told him and the unions they will fire millions, cut millions more to 29 hours, and the ones left will lose their "Cadillac" plans. That has now been kicked down the road till after the 2014 election. Your company doesn't have to warn you what's about to happen, but the unions know what's coming. Do you want to count on a carve out for unions? When your company drops you to pay the fine and put you on ObamaCare, you can't go back to company paid insurance,...it's over,...the toothpaste is out of the tube.
Who in the Republican party is telling anyone this? All these smug Democrats, and even Republicans, are keeping this gem quiet. Why aren't union chiefs on BOR or Hannity every night? The talking heads are busy beating Cruz about the head about how "stupid" he is and aren't interested in the plan one year from now. What would keep Fox News from dropping BOR just to save $20k a year on his insurance? If the government was a business, we could drop congress and save hundred's of millions a year by putting them on Obamacare. BOR can pay cash, but what about the camera man?
If we could take our focus off of beating Cruz up, maybe we could get this info out there and make some of the fence sitters start to pucker up.
A paragraph in post 25 was not posted. Look to #27.
And the GOP. He has turned on the lights and the RINOs are scattering. We knew there was a cancer in the GOP but, I for one, didn't quite know how bad it was. Cruz is making them act like conservatives, and they hate it.
ooooo Love that poster but mostly love that man =)
Im on CRUZ CONTROL...........
Nice graphic...
“...Cruz speaks for me!....”
Speaks for You, me, and several million other Americans.
Any Republican that DOESN’T support Cruz is supporting the Democrats and helping them wreck the country.
Pretty much period.
That’s where I am.
To all Republicans: If you didn’t support Ted during his epic stand, don’t ask for my vote, because you already showed what side you’re on.
“...In 21 hours, Cruz proved his metal by just DOING what he promised to do....”
Gee... A man acting with Honor and keeping his word... what a concept, huh? Whodathunk it.
Used to be a pretty standard thing...
Ted Cruz has honor and courage, and in an age where the absolutely feckless, worthless and contemptible are held up as standards and elevated far beyond their abilities, he’s a bright light for those of us who still believe in Duty, Honor, and Courage.
Any Republican that doesn’t support him in his efforts is sh*t in my eyes, and will be told so in no uncertain terms.
If Cruz runs for President, and I think he’d do a great job at it, the threat won’t be from Democrats but from Republicans. The RINOs won’t want to see someone like Cruz rise to power, since it will force them to give up their “conservative only it’s convenient” mentality.
The past elections we have seen Some Pubbies such as McCain attack fellow Republicans like rabid dogs, but then treat their Democrat opponent with gentle hands. Now is the time to draw the line in the sand and let the RNC know that no RINO will get your vote since it is no different than voting Democrat.
Every day, we are winning more and more.
Only when we fight, when the GOPe has its way we just surrender
Especially when we're winning!
He scares the Dems and the GOPe because he has a strange charisma ..... not great looking, 'funny' voice, but he's a leader, a 'firebrand', and people get excited, have hope again, and will follow him. This is very unlike the RINOs 'in line' and waiting for their turn ... the usual losing candidates the GOPe wants to run so as not to rock their own boat & the Dems expect as their limp opposition.
Add please? Thanks
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