Ted Cruz isn't planning to be in the Senate very long

[Rapunzel]

I honestly think the reason a lot of us like Ted Cruz - as opposed to being groupies - is we have been starving for someone in the Republican Party who is willing to charge into the fight instead of call retreat claiming over and over and over again "we have to hold our powder for the next election, the next increase in the debt ceiling, the next presidential election the next, the next, the next and they always count on the voters forgetting they said they would fight - just let us wait until next year or next month or............  All the GOP does is call retreat. I am sick of it. Either fight or get the heck out of the way and let someone who cares enough to fight and not worry about the next election of the next chunk of money the Chamber is going to stuff in their pockets take the helm.

[aligncare]

It does not matter Rap what the reality is.  It has everything to do with who is controlling the narrative.  The prevailing narrative in the MSM is Cruz/Republicans shut down the government.  There is no doubt of that in my mind.  There is also no doubt that the timing was very favorable for Obama and his ACA.  Here is a parallel:  Was the Clinton/Lewinsky affair:

A.  All about sex, or
B: The Chief Executive of the United States lied under oath denying a U.S. citizen due process under the law.

You and I answer "B".  90%+ of all others would answer "A".

And that is because too many are afraid to speak out and say it is B and A is insignificant in the scheme of things.

 ... And Clinton-Lewinsky happened in the earliest days of FOXNews and Matt Drudge, before they became influential, and before Breitbart and the rest of the alternative media.

The point is ABC, CBS, and NBC no longer control the narrative. They're still big, yes but not the only voice out there. Not anymore.

[Bigun]

What party line?

I will tell you that I would check my tactics. 

Senator Cruz, with considerable respect due, had ill-conceived tactics and ill-conceived timing.  And in the failed attempt, it smacked as self-serving.

He ended up with answer "A".

This party line!  "Ted Cruz shut down the Government"! If those who claim to be on our side would quit trying so hard to sell that BS perhaps the truth would prevail a little sooner!

The rest I respectfully but strongly disagree with entirely!

[DCPatriot]

I don't care if his name is Cruz or Snooze....at least somebody stood up and laid out the opposing POV in an 'in-your-face' manner.

We've been apparently listening to the GOP consultant brigades since Ronald Reagan...."Don't stoop down to their level, don't attack them personally, leave Hillary alone...etc.!"

BULLSHI*!

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results......in the meantime, the American culture has significantly deteriorated since Reagan.

I want an IN YOUR FACE Republican leader who continues to make the news every night with 'outrageous' alternative suggestions and rebuttals toward an enemy that actually would like to see us dead.

WAKE THE F**K UP!

And if that makes me a child Sink.....then I'll wear the badge proudly.

[Lando Lincoln]

You know, it doesn't even matter if Cruz is in the picture or not - if Republicans aren't getting blamed for a government shutdown - they're getting blamed for a war on women or hating immigrants or hating fast food workers making minimum wage or hating gay people just wanting to get married or hating black people...I could go on and on.

The left always has to have a victim and a villain.  This is a winning strategy for them and with the help of the media it's pretty much a fait accompli.  In this instance, it has been wildly successful in (1) cutting Ted Cruz down at the knees (a figure they seem to be terrified of) and (2) scaring the cowardly Republicans into ever letting the government shut down again.

I could not agree with you more Alice.  That is why Rand Paul fired the Lewinsky shot across Hillary's bow.  He served notice that he is prepared to do battle on the War on Women theme.  The Republicans need to get in front of the narrative.  For some mystifying reason, a Boy Scout troop could do a better job.  And why not - fundamentals and history are on their side for heaven's sake.  They need to have regular, formal ways of messaging the media and the American people.  Weekly info meetings on a select topic with select representatives.  The messaging needs to be on-point, succinct and incessant.  Absolutely incessant.  And the first thing I'd attack and shred is the identity politics of the left.

[Lando Lincoln]

I honestly think the reason a lot of us like Ted Cruz - as opposed to being groupies - is we have been starving for someone in the Republican Party who is willing to charge into the fight instead of call retreat claiming over and over and over again "we have to hold our powder for the next election, the next increase in the debt ceiling, the next presidential election the next, the next, the next and they always count on the voters forgetting they said they would fight - just let us wait until next year or next month or............  All the GOP does is call retreat. I am sick of it. Either fight or get the heck out of the way and let someone who cares enough to fight and not worry about the next election of the next chunk of money the Chamber is going to stuff in their pockets take the helm.

And that I understand Rap.

[DCPatriot]

I could not agree with you more Alice.  That is why Rand Paul fired the Lewinsky shot across Hillary's bow.  He served notice that he is prepared to do battle on the War on Women theme.  The Republicans need to get in front of the narrative.  For some mystifying reason, a Boy Scout troop could do a better job.  And why not - fundamentals and history are on their side for heaven's sake.  They need to have regular, formal ways of messaging the media and the American people.  Weekly info meetings on a select topic with select representatives.  The messaging needs to be on-point, succinct and incessant.  Absolutely incessant.  And the first thing I'd attack and shred is the identity politics of the left.

It's exactly why I'm so exasperated over seeing so many here on the forum continue to call for manners and decorum on the political battlefield....read in front of the camera.

It's time we beat the crap out of them.

[Lando Lincoln]

This party line!  "Ted Cruz shut down the Government"!

The rest I respectfully but strongly disagree with entirely!

No worries.  I understand, appreciate and share the frustration.

[mystery-ak]

I don't care if his name is Cruz or Snooze....at least somebody stood up and laid out the opposing POV in an 'in-your-face' manner.

We've been apparently listening to the GOP consultant brigades since Ronald Reagan...."Don't stoop down to their level, don't attack them personally, leave Hillary alone...etc.!"

BULLSHI*!

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results......in the meantime, the American culture has significantly deteriorated since Reagan.

I want an IN YOUR FACE Republican leader who continues to make the news every night with 'outrageous' alternative suggestions and rebuttals toward an enemy that actually would like to see us dead.

WAKE THE F**K UP!

And if that makes me a child Sink.....then I'll wear the badge proudly.

What DC said...word

[Bigun]

I honestly think the reason a lot of us like Ted Cruz - as opposed to being groupies - is we have been starving for someone in the Republican Party who is willing to charge into the fight instead of call retreat claiming over and over and over again "we have to hold our powder for the next election, the next increase in the debt ceiling, the next presidential election the next, the next, the next and they always count on the voters forgetting they said they would fight - just let us wait until next year or next month or............  All the GOP does is call retreat. I am sick of it. Either fight or get the heck out of the way and let someone who cares enough to fight and not worry about the next election of the next chunk of money the Chamber is going to stuff in their pockets take the helm.

BRAVO!!!  Well said!

 :thumbsup2: :thumbsup2: :thumbsup2:

[alicewonders]

I don't care if his name is Cruz or Snooze....at least somebody stood up and laid out the opposing POV in an 'in-your-face' manner.

We've been apparently listening to the GOP consultant brigades since Ronald Reagan...."Don't stoop down to their level, don't attack them personally, leave Hillary alone...etc.!"

BULLSHI*!

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results......in the meantime, the American culture has significantly deteriorated since Reagan.

I want an IN YOUR FACE Republican leader who continues to make the news every night with 'outrageous' alternative suggestions and rebuttals toward an enemy that actually would like to see us dead.

WAKE THE F**K UP!

And if that makes me a child Sink.....then I'll wear the badge proudly.

  

[Gazoo]

I don't care if his name is Cruz or Snooze....at least somebody stood up and laid out the opposing POV in an 'in-your-face' manner.

We've been apparently listening to the GOP consultant brigades since Ronald Reagan...."Don't stoop down to their level, don't attack them personally, leave Hillary alone...etc.!"

BULLSHI*!

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results......in the meantime, the American culture has significantly deteriorated since Reagan.

I want an IN YOUR FACE Republican leader who continues to make the news every night with 'outrageous' alternative suggestions and rebuttals toward an enemy that actually would like to see us dead.

WAKE THE F**K UP!

And if that makes me a child Sink.....then I'll wear the badge proudly.

^ What you said! 

[Bigun]

I don't care if his name is Cruz or Snooze....at least somebody stood up and laid out the opposing POV in an 'in-your-face' manner.

We've been apparently listening to the GOP consultant brigades since Ronald Reagan...."Don't stoop down to their level, don't attack them personally, leave Hillary alone...etc.!"

BULLSHI*!

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results......in the meantime, the American culture has significantly deteriorated since Reagan.

I want an IN YOUR FACE Republican leader who continues to make the news every night with 'outrageous' alternative suggestions and rebuttals toward an enemy that actually would like to see us dead.

WAKE THE F**K UP!

And if that makes me a child Sink.....then I'll wear the badge proudly.

Going! Going! Going! GONE!!!!

It's an out of the park HOME RUN!

 :thumbsup2: :thumbsup2: :thumbsup2: 

[alicewonders]

I could not agree with you more Alice.  That is why Rand Paul fired the Lewinsky shot across Hillary's bow.  He served notice that he is prepared to do battle on the War on Women theme.  The Republicans need to get in front of the narrative.  For some mystifying reason, a Boy Scout troop could do a better job.  And why not - fundamentals and history are on their side for heaven's sake.  They need to have regular, formal ways of messaging the media and the American people.  Weekly info meetings on a select topic with select representatives.  The messaging needs to be on-point, succinct and incessant.  Absolutely incessant.  And the first thing I'd attack and shred is the identity politics of the left.

Absolutely right.  We have got to expose the tactics of the left - and we have to be in your face with it.  The left is not nice and polite in their attacks and they continue to win elections - so it is an effective tactic with the public, especially the low information voter.  The left does control the mainstream media and so we have a big challenge in presenting our message and getting it out there to the masses - but if we can't rebuke their lies, the lies will stand as truth. 

[olde north church]

Cruz, Paul, Reagan.  Let's just call a spade a spade, nothing of worth in this nation was resolved by ballots only by bullets.  Independence, the Second War of Independence, the Civil War, Civil Rights.  Everything else is parlor chat.

[DCPatriot]

Cruz, Paul, Reagan.  Let's just call a spade a spade, nothing of worth in this nation was resolved by ballots only by bullets.  Independence, the Second War of Independence, the Civil War, Civil Rights.  Everything else is parlor chat.

It's the only thing that seems to get everybody's attention.

And it also places the NSA's paranoia into better perspective.

[sinkspur]

I don't care if his name is Cruz or Snooze....at least somebody stood up and laid out the opposing POV in an 'in-your-face' manner.

We've been apparently listening to the GOP consultant brigades since Ronald Reagan...."Don't stoop down to their level, don't attack them personally, leave Hillary alone...etc.!"

BULLSHI*!

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results......in the meantime, the American culture has significantly deteriorated since Reagan.

I want an IN YOUR FACE Republican leader who continues to make the news every night with 'outrageous' alternative suggestions and rebuttals toward an enemy that actually would like to see us dead.

WAKE THE F**K UP!

And if that makes me a child Sink.....then I'll wear the badge proudly.

Go ahead.  Support a bombthrower. 

Reagan was an amiable human being who made an effort to work with everybody.  And he did work with everybody.

There seems to be an attitude among some conservatives that if we're just nasty enough, if we just refuse any compromise and show sustained anger, voters will love us.

SOME voters will love you.  Most won't.  But you're welcome to try.

If you throw dirt, DC, you're a child.   In the adult world, that only works in professional hockey.

[olde north church]

It's the only thing that seems to get everybody's attention.

And it also places the NSA's paranoia into better perspective.

How about one of "our" people suggest the NSA turn the "antenna" outward instead of inward.

Our people as in Rand Paul, Cruz, Lee, Boehner, that crowd.

[happyg]

Reagan was an amiable human being who made an effort to work with everybody.  And he did work with everybody.


Reagan was a president. Cruz is only a Senator. Reagan got cooperation; Obama is dictatorial. The democrats don't want to cooperate, and they are the instigators. They hammer away, and guess who is allowing themselves to be hammered? The days of mediation between parties is over, unless we get someone in who is intelligent with common sense, and the guts to stand by his beliefs. That is what Reagan did, and like it or not, the democrats were in no position to defy him any more than they already had. They found that the MSM and themselves did not intimidate Reagan, and Reagan went on to be one of our best presidents.

[olde north church]

Reagan was an amiable human being who made an effort to work with everybody.  And he did work with everybody.


Reagan was a president. Cruz is only a Senator. Reagan got cooperation; Obama is dictatorial. The democrats don't want to cooperate, and they are the instigators. They hammer away, and guess who is allowing themselves to be hammered? The days of mediation between parties is over, unless we get someone in who is intelligent with common sense, and the guts to stand by his beliefs. That is what Reagan did, and like it or not, the democrats were in no position to defy him any more than they already had. They found that the MSM and themselves did not intimidate Reagan, and Reagan went on to be one of our best presidents.

And he did it WITHOUT Consevative talkers, the Internet and the Fairness Doctrine.

[Rapunzel]

DC gets the prize for post of the day, month and year all rolled into one.

[truth_seeker]

From the time Nixon was elected Senator, it was 18 years until he was elected President. (1950-1968)

From the time Reagan was elected Governor it was 13 years until he was elected President. (1967-1980)

Cruz comes up way short, when looked at in an historic light. Plenty of others have put in their training time. Governors Perry, Walker, Bush, Huckabee, Martinez, Kasich, Brewer, Sandoval, Christie, would be a list of examples.

Back during my corporate career, we discovered an interesting phenomena - why management went outside for supervisory positions, instead of promote from within.

It was because they knew all the weakness for current employees, but outsiders had no known weaknesses to them.

Cruz reminds me of that situation. In his short time he's made a few speeches, a couple of filibusters. He has no record of accomplishments whatsoever, yet he's a legend in no time.
 

[kevindavis007]

To be quite honest, I don't think the American people will elect another person from Senate again for a long time..

[Carling]

I disagree.  If we properly purge the US Senate of all the hangers-on whose only goal is to die in office and lie in state under the Rotunda, you might be amazed at who ends up in Leadership positions.  If Cruz stays put he will soon have seniority, and that counts for a lot.  Stranger leaders than Cruz have emerged....

We shall see.  In any case, I like Cruz right where he is.

We both live in Oregon, right?  What are the odds of removing Wyden or Merkely with even a moderate GOP
such as Gordon Smith, let alone somebody like Ted Cruz?  You're hoping for some massive shift that defies reality.  I'm sure it feels nice ideolgically to hold firm on your view, but reality makes it a completely unreasonable expectation.

[katzenjammer]

I honestly think the reason a lot of us like Ted Cruz - as opposed to being groupies - is we have been starving for someone in the Republican Party who is willing to charge into the fight instead of call retreat claiming over and over and over again "we have to hold our powder for the next election, the next increase in the debt ceiling, the next presidential election the next, the next, the next and they always count on the voters forgetting they said they would fight - just let us wait until next year or next month or............  All the GOP does is call retreat. I am sick of it. Either fight or get the heck out of the way and let someone who cares enough to fight and not worry about the next election of the next chunk of money the Chamber is going to stuff in their pockets take the helm.