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Ted Cruz Now Leader of Republican Party
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king. You may not like Sen. Cruz, may not trust him, may not support him, but he has consistently provided leadership from his new-guy chair where the GOP thrones have been — at best — incompetent.
Cruz and Rep. Lee Zeldin sent a letter to Secretary of State Kerry asking for details on the administration’s apparent intrusion into Israel’s internal politics:
“Has President Obama launched a political campaign against Prime Minister Netanyahu and his representatives?” Sen. Cruz asked. “This administration’s relentless harassment of Israel is utterly incomprehensible. The Islamic Republic of Iran is pursuing the deadliest weapons on the planet, and there can be no doubt that their first target will be Israel, followed by the United States. This administration should be focusing its animosity on the very real enemies we face, not on our staunch allies.”
Cruz asks the following questions, among others:
- How much funding has the U.S. Government provided to OneVoice, PeaceWorks Network Foundation, and any connected initiatives, projects or subsidiaries?
- Who approved providing such funds?
- What is the oversight and accounting process for how these funds are being spent?
- How often and on what dates has such funding been provided?
The point is not to get meaningful, honest answers which clear things up. We’re not stupid. The point is to get the administration on the record. I am sick to death of the McClellan Republicans refusal to engage in opening skirmishes such as this on the specious rationale that it won’t win the war in a stroke.
So long as the GOP is led by men such as McConnell and Boehner (see recent unforced “errors”), it will get no support from me, and in fact opposition. Ted Cruz will likely always have my support.
There’s a lesson in there the establishment has decided not to learn. So be it.
Image Credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com
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And what about McCain in 2008?
Don’t forget that Cruz is probably the only Senator to make the President sit and bark like a dog. Remember when Cruz told the administration that he would block all future nominations if the administration didn’t resume international flights to Israel during the terrorist/Israel conflict last year? Gotta love him and his wing man, Mike Lee.
Good post BDB
?What about him. He was not elected because there was serious money behind BO. But he was nominated by money.
I am put in mind of an old bit by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.
I find the whole matter of Republican leadership to be depressing. Having amassed the largest Republican majorities in ages, the House leadership has already gone splat right out of the gate. For all of Newt Gingrich’s ups and downs, his first days as Speaker look stable and steady by comparison. (For an even more painful contrast, I don’t remember nearly so much boo-hooing from Nancy Pelosi when she took over as Speaker and she had a president of the opposite party.)
Of course, to put this into some kind of perspective Putin runs rings around Obama, Obama runs rings about Boehner and no one more conservative or strategic can take over the leadership from him. If that’s not a wake up call, I don’t know what is.
I often think Republicans have been down so long that they don’t know what winning looks like. I don’t mean elections, but real winning, passing good laws and repealing bad ones. It means finding issues where Republicans have popular support and putting Democrats in uncomfortable political positions. Letters and speeches are feel good gestures. We need people who are going to make them yelp while we set the national agenda. If this is our best, then all we are doing is passing time until Democrats reclaim their majorities.
You’re absolutely right. I think everyone in the Republican party should copy your quote, stick it in a letter to their representative and mail it. When they’re done with that they should think long and hard about who they cast a vote for in this next election.
Mendel, it’s not even *you* who has me so fired up. I take exception to what you said, but it’s symptomatic of the situation in which we find ourselves. Bringing the only real heat to the fight, yet blamed for the lack of heat.
Now that’s frustrating.
It’s easy to deride letters as nothing, but this is a letter from one Senator and one Representative to the Secretary of State. This is IN FACT how you go about getting these charlatans on the record. Departments don’t have votes to record in Congress, and with the possible exception of Gowdy’s current effort on Benghazi, the oversight process and its committees have been shown up as toothless. They are just ways to discharge the tension.
I shake my head at the stupdity every time I see some article about how “X destroys Y in questioning!” So what? Y walks away undestroyed and returns to an agency undeterred. X goes home to run for re-election. Meanwhile A through W killed, bankrupted, or disenfranchised by Y’s actions have been forgotten. Z looks on at the “destruction” and feels that something has been accomplished. Votes for X.
There is no penalty for wrongdoing in office. Tell me about how hurt President Clinton is. Scooter Libby had the bad luck to work for honest men.
At least he thought he was. Armitage should have fried right along with that fraud Colin Powell.
How many Senators have already tried cases in front of the Supreme Court and won? He isn’t getting started iWc, he’s starting to build up momentum.
My guess is that if you gave Dick Cheney a time machine, he would load the thing on a catapult and use it to smash Colin Powell’s house.
Cruz is anxious to prove his Pro-Israel bona fides every chance he gets. I think he’s angling for Sheldon Adelson’s backing for his presidential run. This is just another stupid self-promoting stunt by the man whose ambition makes Obama look like a piker.
As a conservative, make a list of policies you would like to see proposed/advanced by the GOP Congress.
Then ask yourself if you see any indication McConnell/Boehner are pushing any of it.
Wow. So now we want leaders, aggressive promoters of conservatism – and no ambition. Or ego. ?You have a source for this one-of-a-kind guy.
I am not too worried about Cruz courting any money source. Truth of the matter is, today’s politics require money – more than they have in the past. What I DO note is that he has been just about the lone voice for conservative values in the Senate. Often he is derided for taking “untenable” stands. ?Really. No one seems to call the democrats out for similar stands.
Cruz’s comments in Iowa were right on the money – Show me where you fought for …
Wait … I think I resemble – oops- resent this remark. :)
I think you’re confusing him with McConnell. And as a side note, I’m on board with anyone that McCain and Goober Graham can’t stand.
Uh oh… ;-)
Whoever can win arguments with Democrats is the person I support. I like Cruz’s competence and intelligence.
Suppose we get the Secretary of State admitting that Obama personally authorized the use of taxpayer money to launch a political campaign against the prime minister of Israel. I doubt you’ll get something on the record that extreme, but suppose we got it. There already a lot of terrible things we know about this administration and far too many people don’t care. I don’t think even a blatant admission of wrongdoing would change enough people’s minds to be meaningful.
It’s not nothing, but it’s not enough for me to get that excited about. To use a football metaphor, it adds to the time of possession or maybe yards rushing, but the final outcome is measured by points on the board.