Posted on 09/17/2013 8:57:26 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
For the last few weeks, House Speaker John Boehner has been trying to find a way to convince his caucus to vote for a bill that keeps the government open after Sept. 30 without picking a fight over Obamacare. But a minority of his caucus has been insisting on defunding Obamacare, egged on by outside conservative groups and a handful of far-right Republican Senators, most importantly Ted Cruz (Texas). This has been pretty annoying for a lot of House Republican members and staff. Jonathan Strong and Andrew Stiles of National Review got an anecdote out of a closed Republican Study Committee meeting yesterday:
Max Pappas, an aide to Texas senator Ted Cruz who was on hand, rose to argue that in the event the House and President Obama were at odds when government funding expired, Republicans could pass a bill to fund the troops and other core priorities. At that point, a woman rose, identifying herself as a staffer to a Texas Republican. Pappas, she said, was “not dealing in reality” and making everyone else’s life difficult. The staffer, whom two GOP sources identified as working for Representative John Culberson of Texas, went on to decry Cruz for holding events in Culberson’s district and telling his constituents that defunding Obamacare would be “easy.”
This is a key aspect of the Cruz-driven defund Obamacare push. With in the Senate, Cruz is essentially irrelevant. Any budget deal that comes out of there will be struck between majority Democrats and a number of more practically-minded Republicans, like Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). [ROFLOL!]
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
/johnny
The gains aren't meaningful if the Repubs elect a bunch more McCain look-alikes. The left elected the most left wing President in history, its time for the pendulum to be swung back to a much more free market, constitutional position which isn't going to happen without drastic action on the part of the Repubs.
Politics are not the National Football League. Losses have real consequences: damaged economies, lost rights, murdered unborn and further decline of the culture, if that is even imaginable.
It is my opinion that the strategy proposed by Senator Cruz is doomed to defeat. The cost of that defeat will be high. How high the cost I do not know. I prefer not to find out.
As for the qualities of Sen. Cruz, I do not have enough information to form a solid opinion. He is certainly intelligent. But, he also is young and untested, and he seems terribly ambitious for a man with precious little experience at this game. I am wary until proved otherwise.
For my money, Sen. Paul is a far cooler head and persuasive advocate for the causes that we share (how quick you are to assume that I do not share your objectives if I question your tactics). Let us not get too passionate in support of our “team” and lose sight of the goal.
As in professional golf, one can't win a tournament on Thursday. But, one can surely lose it. Sen. Cruz is threatening to lose this tournament very early in the first round. I hope that cooler heads, like Senator Paul's, prevail.
Of course not. Keep up the good work, loser.
“I’m 100% behind Ted Cruz, just wish he was our elected. We have Cornyn”
Don’t know what you mean - both Cruz and Cornyn are Texas Senators so Cruz is your senator if you live in Texas, just as Cornyn is.
>>The ACA isn’t popular, but it is more popular than denying grandma her social security check and...<<
You miss the point of the strategy. Of course people will scream for their benefits, and loudly at that. So, what will they hear from each side?
GOP: Your benefits are all in the bill we passed. All we did is defund Obamacare. The Dems want Obamacare so badly that they’re willing to take away your benefits to get it.
Dems: The GOP is shutting down the government because they don’t like Obamacare.
Public in General: We don’t like Obamacare on balance either. What the hell are you doing, messing with our benefits because of that one lousy issue?
Note that conservative retirees are likely to be much harder on their Dem Congressman, and liberal beneficiaries are mostly represented by Dem Congressman. So who’s going to get the most angry calls from constituents?
I am sympathetic to your frustration. Those of us who support constitutionally limited government have had a tough 25 years.
But we should not grasp at straws. We are fighting an intractable foe with a dominate voice in the wider culture. Winning this battle will be difficult.
Senator Cruz and his allies propose a strategy that presents few risks to them. For the firebrands, mounting this Pickett's charge will only serve to burnish their resumes.
But the inevitable loss will redound negatively to our side and serve to strengthen our opponent. So why fall into their trap and invite them to out flank us? It is folly.
Sen. Cruz presents himself as a latter day Alexander, ready to conquer the East. Let him defeat a few Illyrians and feckless Greeks to demonstrate his skills in battle before you follow him across the Hellespont to take on the King of Persia.
I think I get/got the intent of your critique about Cruz. I am very much in favor for Cruz as to what he is doing on the political/legislative matters and I believe his qualifications for speaking as to the framing of the USA are very solid. He and a couple of young fellows( not forgetting Palin)are on my team composed of old WWII VETS. However, I still am not convinced that Cruz meets the Constitutional requirements for POTUSA.
Amen Jim!!
The GOP is in decent shape to make meaningful gains in the Senate and maybe the House in 2014. Regaining control of Capitol Hill is the only way to overturn ObamaCare. Don’t blow our only chance to stop this train wreck pursuing political theatre that will feel good for about 30 seconds before the stage collapses around us.
The problem with your line of thinking is that if the GOP stand for nothing now, they will stand for nothing in the next Congress. They have preemptively surrendered across the board to the Dems on just about everything. They have failed to even engage the Dems in a serious debate about kenyancare while the slow motion trainwreck happens in front of us. That’s all we need to see to know that the current GOP will NEVER repeal obamacare.
Sorry, it is just wishful thinking that the current GOP with control of the Senate and/or WH will behave any differently than they are now.
You have distilled the issue to its essence. The ACA is not popular but neither are its opponents. The public is fickle and many will turn against those who appear to be using bullying tactics to get their way. Opinion quickly will turn against the insurgents.
The knowledge of civics among Americans is poor, but they instinctively have a sense of fair play and an abiding respect for the democratic process. Any side that appears to supersede the process will be rejected by many. This sentiment will be compounded by the endless stories of woe that will be broadcast by the media, many of which will be authentically disturbing.
The outcome you foresee could be possible if our goal is limited, perhaps a delay of implementation for a year. But an outright defunding will appear to be an overreach to many and voters will be reluctant to reward a group of undemocratic bullies throwing their weight around at the expense of grandmas, orphans, war widow and unemployed vets.
I can assure you that Sen. Cruz does not play as well to the general public as he does to you. His charisma will not change this basic calculus. Follow him into the breach at your peril.
“I can assure you that Sen. Cruz does not play as well to the general public as he does to you. His charisma will not change this basic calculus. Follow him into the breach at your peril.”
That is Democrat talk - are you one? You say you don’t know much about Cruz, so take a clue from a quote Of Ronald Reagan, “Aww, shut up.”
It is something of a complement to be called a loser by an individual whose rate of success in picking winners has been somewhat less than perfect (O'Donnell, Angle, Perry, Gingrich, Santorum and a host of other RINO-killers whose names are long forgotten). Let us hope that Senator Cruz has more merit and greater success than these former champions.
You have distilled the issue to its essence. The ACA is not popular but neither are its opponents. The public is fickle and many will turn against those who appear to be using bullying tactics to get their way. Opinion quickly will turn against the insurgents.
Is this satire? The public that “doesn’t like bullies” just elected Obama twice.
I will follow patriots like Ted Cruz. You can follow Mumbles and the Tan Man to another electoral loss. Leaders like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell who stand for nothing don’t win anything.
Ok, you made your choice, troll. bye
That is Democrat talk - are you one? You say you don’t know much about Cruz, so take a clue from a quote Of Ronald Reagan, “Aww, shut up.”
He/she actually sounded like a beltway GOP staffer or consultant type. That is exactly the defeatist mentality we face in the morbid GOP. They hate Sen. Cruz with a passion because he calls a spade a spade and shines a light on their shenanigans.
Do you know who might be running against Cornyn in the primary?
/johnny
I have read all your posts on this thread.
It is obvious you are obsessed with "inside the D.C. politics." You are purely a political animal with no true love of Liberty.
I am certain if you were around at the time of the Founding that you would have been appalled at the Founders waging Revolution.
You probably would get giddy meeting Boehner. Our Republic is at the threshold of destruction and your worry is that Cruz's efforts are seen as "bullying tactics."
Are you serious?
The evil left and the GOPe are a insidious cancer to our Freedoms. Cruz is trying his best to warn the citizens of the evil that is enveloping our lives.
My fear is that we are to far down the road to Socialism to ever "legislate" our way back to a limited Constitutional Republic.
We’re going to have to agree to disagree since I like Mr. Cruz and appreciate what he and others are trying to accomplish by striking against this leviathan. I believe he is the Real Deal. I like Rand Paul as well and see him on the same team at the moment.
You seem to have a bit of a problem with Sen. Cruz but he is in DC doing what WE, THE PEOPLE in TX sent him to do. If he is truly a megalomaniac, that will out and we will be the first to call him on it.
All the pussyfooting and egg-shell walking we have been doing helped to contribute to this mess and it’s time to stand and fight. The time has ended to compete for Miss Congeniality.
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