Posted on 10/21/2013 3:21:09 AM PDT by markomalley
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is defiant. [WATCH VIDEO] The Texas Republican refuses to back off the idea of using another showdown over government funding to delay ObamaCare, even as Republican leaders are ready to move on.
Cruz’s insistence comes in the face of deep criticism from fellow Senate Republicans.
“I would do anything and I will continue to do anything I can to stop the train wreck that is ObamaCare,” Cruz told ABC News when asked whether he would push the country to the brink of another shutdown.
“I don’t work for the party bosses in Washington,” he added on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
His recent bruising battles with the GOP leadership have had one clear positive for the freshman Republican. He has cemented his role as the Tea Party’s standard-bearer.
“Ted Cruz had a very good last few weeks for himself because his whole goal is to build a national brand with the Tea Party segment of the Republican electorate and he certainly did that,” said John Ullyot, a Republican strategist and longtime Senate aide.
In a matter of weeks, Cruz has positioned himself as a formidable potential candidate for president in 2016, eclipsing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who was considered the Senate’s brightest conservative star at the start of the year.
Reporters on Capitol Hill often mob Cruz, who has served less than a year in the Senate. Television bookers want him on their shows. He has a huge megaphone, and that is a problem for GOP leaders in Congress.
Cruz also has an army of followers. Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), a vocal critic of the 42-year-old senator, gets many calls from Cruz allies. Some of the comments have been “vile,” King said recently.
Ullyot said Cruz’s goal is to emerge as the leading conservative alternative to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
“Rubio’s big problem is he needed to become the candidate of the more conservative wing of the party and Ted Cruz has supplanted Rubio,” the strategist said.
But even as Cruz has amplified his influence with the conservative base, some Republican strategists warn he could end up destroying his party’s ability to win national elections.
“If it came down to Ted Cruz and Chris Christie, I bet you three quarters of the Republican Party would be supporting Chris Christie,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who worked for the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008.
“He probably hurt himself in terms of 2016 electability,” O’Connell added.
There is no mistaking the extent to which Cruz divides opinion, even within his party.
Former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said in an interview that aired on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that Cruz ought to “have a little bit of self-restraint.”
He has become increasingly isolated in the Republican conference. When GOP colleagues excoriated Cruz at a private Oct. 9 meeting, no one in the room stood up to defend him, according to a source.
Another source with knowledge of the meeting said the group of angry Republican senators also lambasted Cruz’s ally, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). When Cruz walked in 20 minutes late, they focused their fire on the Texas freshman.
Sens. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Dan Coats (Ind.), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and other Republicans ripped Cruz in a private meeting for giving political ammunition to future conservative primary challengers.
Several senators believe Cruz’s strategy was motivated by one thing: his presidential ambitions.
Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) told The Hill last month that blocking a government stopgap spending measure to demand the defunding of ObamaCare was good for White House aspirations, but not a realistic plan.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Univision in an interview that aired Sunday: “In an effort to help him run for president, he has done some stuff that’s really damaging to our country.”
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) viewed the shutdown as a debacle for his party. In an interview with The Hill, he compared it to getting kicked by a mule and vowed to steer the party in another direction.
McConnell said the GOP’s objective should be “to fight again on another day for things we believe are important, which is keeping taxes low and continuing to try to reduce spending.”
Tea Party conservatives are already criticizing this strategy, arguing that ObamaCare is a bigger drag on the economy, and thus a better target, than Medicare and Social Security, which remain popular.
“Some people are saying, ‘Let’s pivot to entitlement cuts. Strategically, we can’t win ObamaCare.’ But stopping ObamaCare is pro-growth and people oppose the law by 2-to-1. How is it strategically smart to pivot to entitlement cuts, which doesn’t help with jobs and polls terribly?” said one Senate GOP aide.
These conflicting views set up another clash between McConnell and Cruz over tactics.
Cruz views the recent fight over the shutdown as only the first battle in a longer war.
He thinks his hard-nosed strategy can achieve future policy goals aside from defunding the Affordable Care Act.
“This was going to be a multi-stage extended battle,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “But we’ve also seen a model that I think is the model going forward to defeat ObamaCare, to bring back jobs [and] economic growth, to abolish the IRS, to rein in out of control spending.”
Shortly before the Senate voted Wednesday to fund the government and raise the debt limit, Cruz took to the floor to blame his GOP colleagues for undermining the effort to repeal at least part of ObamaCare.
He made the same assertion in blunter language on Fox News.
“The House Republicans marched into battle. They exercised tremendous leadership, tremendous courage,” he said. “It should have been the Senate Republicans riding like the cavalry to support them.
“Instead, unfortunately, the Senate Republicans were divided and became basically an air force dive-bombing the House Republicans and conservatives, and once that happened there was no way to hold the line,” he added.
Cruz and his aides have given no real indication that he will change his tactics in the near future.
“It’s premature to declare any tactic in or out. Next steps will be thought through, what the leverage points are and how they can be used successfully. But the focus remains mitigating the harm ObamaCare is doing to the economy and working people,” said Sean Rushton, Cruz’s spokesman.
It is, however, an open question whether Cruz can command the same following from House Republican conservatives.
Without Tea Party allies in the House putting pressure on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Cruz would have much less leverage.
“How many members of Congress are going to get positive feedback from all of this?” said Ron Bonjean, a former Senate and House Republican leadership aide. “The key here is what House Republicans are going to hear back home and whether or not they would stand by Cruz once again after going through a failed strategy that was offered by him.”
Beyond Capitol Hill, the rhetoric directed against Cruz has turned white-hot at times.
The U.S. Capitol Police told The Hill on Friday that it is investigating several threats a self-identified military veteran made against Cruz on Twitter.
Having but one or a small group stomp their feet for change - or to return to traditional values at this point - well, it’s pointless.
Not only has the tide turned - but the boat has completely flipped and sunk.
The tell tale signs started with the fraudulent election of Obama, then Obamacare, Followed Up with Benghazi, out of control spending since 2009, weapons to Syrian Al Qaeda Rebels and the awkward relationship with Moslem Brotherhood types, and a whole of other situations that showed the “Conservatives” didn’t care to move on any of these - and if they did they did not stick with it...
It’s over people - 2014 elections will nothing more than a show...and 2016 will put the final nail in the coffin!
They just don't get it. They just refuse to get it.
Rats hate him because Ted is the antiRat... no more reaching across the isle and no more compromise with communism. Anyone within the elected gop/e machine or any paid whores (consultants) that speak ill of Cruz are part of the problem... they can NEVER be part of the solution. When those that have lost the past two elections and the the past two before W was elected... those that so mishandled our brand that Nazi piglosi and dingy harry reid were swept into power in 2006... well when they speak of someone losing elections... they own defeat... they are the poster children for it. Stay strong and stand with Cruz and against the soft tyranny of the rovian way. Look at the failure of their agenda and their progressiveness... look at where we are today. These are the people that are responsible for ALL of our problems and they are in league with our enemies.
Our number one problem is fraudulent elections. Until it is addressed and remedied, our nation is lost. No ifs ands or buts. The fact that no “elected” leader will discuss it tells me most are in on the scam.
I also know that nothing will be done about it. I know this because here on FR, home of conservative, smart Americans, many don’t want to believe it is happening. They would rater stick their fingers in their ears and talk about “getting out the vote”.
I agree, unless God intervenes, stick a fork in it.
It is not that they don’t get it. They get it all right. They are in on the scamming of the American people.
All of this party fighting is a show.
>>>”...said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who worked for the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008”>>>
Right there, it’s proof that Ford O’Connell should be tossed out of the Rep. party. McCain was a total waste of time, money and work. One might say that McCain deliberately threw the election. He sure as h*** wasn’t trying to win.
At this point, I am really only confident of people like Cruz and Lee, and the 2010 revolutionaries elected to Congress. I think the rest of them are plain traitors, and that goes for all their enablers, too.
As long as the problems remain so will the opposition.
O-care, inflation, deficit spending, abusive govt. and poor economic development are making things worse for Americans. Some people understand this and choose to offer solutions rather than accept problems.
I am proud of my Texas Senator Ted Cruz. After his ‘fillibuster’, I wrote to let him know just that, and that it was the first time in years that I felt my views were actually being represented in Washington.
I am still convinced that he did what was needed, and at the very least he was successful in directing the focus onto Obamacare.
My conservative values are those of my parents. 30 or 40 years ago, they were the values of much of the country.
Since when is it ‘radical’ to want to control the ever expanding size of government, and rein in out-of-control spending? Are we Tea Party Texans really that far out of step with the rest of the country?
“Republican strategists warn he could end up destroying his party’s ability to win national elections.”
The strategists of Dole, McShame, Romney
Bttt
“If it came down to Ted Cruz and Chris Christie, I bet you three quarters of the Republican Party would be supporting Chris Christie,” said Ford O’Connell, a Republican strategist who worked for the McCain-Palin ticket in 2008.
...........................................................
This from the guy who gave us John McCain. Now fellating another loser, The Fat man from New Jersey who kisses Obama’s ass.
Count me in the other quarter. Chris Christie will not get a vote from me.
Ted Cruz is a man with principles that he lives. That elevates him and embarrasses these lesser men. He is a general that warriors will follow in the fight for freedom, and his inferiors know it. They are scared.
Go Ted, you have courage. The beltway mouth breathers are despicable and unAmerican. They may have won the battle but lost the war.
I wonder how many of the RINO’s have been paid off to turn against us.
I wonder if they were paid in silver?
‘The Hill’
How many readers actually get their opinions shaped by ‘The Hill’? They list a print circulation of only 24,000 but a staff of writers numbering 34. That’s about 700 circulated per writer. How in the world do they stay afloat? Answer: They are K Street denizens and are likely paid in bulk by K Street organs who likely get their cash from leftwing federal government conduits.
It’s clear that ‘The Hill’ is an isolated Beltway echo chamber. And although they say they are nonpartisan they list most of their contributing writers who happen to be some of the most biased leftwingers in the liberal media. For example:
James Carville, Lanny Davis, Juan Williams.
And then there are the relative unknowns who will gleefully direct their farts at anything that references their name including this FR post:
Mark Mellman (who is on the payroll of Harry Reid),
Markos Moulitsas (Daily Kos creature),
Bill Press (vile person who wears his vileness as some sort of badge of notoriety; even liberals in LA couldn’t stand this guy when he was a local commentator),
John Feehery (squishey moderate who hates conservatives)
and lastly the weasel who will sell out for a toe job, Dick Morris.
It dawned on me that The Hill’s readers and followers are only of use in setting tone and party talk inside the Beltway.
I am curious if there is any true conservative voice periodical inside the Beltway that has similar influence.
A positive aspect that has come from the shutdown is that Cruz has emerged as the primary GOP spokesperson. We couldn’t ask for a more articulate advocate for conservatism.
Rubio is good as well, but he’s hurt himself on amnesty.
Even Dershowitz conceded that Cruz was among the best students he taught at Harvard.
Right there, it’s proof that Ford O’Connell should be tossed out of the Rep. party. McCain was a total waste of time, money and work
These GOP consultants are conservative for pay only. Once they start talking the truth comes out. Much like straight guys who are gay for pay. They are not to be trusted.
Ted Cruz Ping!
If you want on/off this ping list, please let me know.
Please beware, this is a high-volume ping list!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.