Tag Archives: Tea Party

Stand in Line to Insult Ted Cruz

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The thin-skinned Senator Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) thinks that Pres. Obama has insulted him by criticizing Cruz’s proposal to only allow Christian refugees into the U.S.

When I hear political leaders suggesting that there would be a religious test for which a person who is fleeing from a war-torn country is admitted, when some of those folks themselves come from families who benefited from protection when they were fleeing political persecution, that’s shameful, that’s not American.

Apparently, they are scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America.  . . . At first, they were too scared of the press being too tough on them in the debates. Now they are scared of 3-year-old orphans. That doesn’t seem so tough to me.

Cruz responded claiming that, “It is utterly un-befitting of a President to be engaging in those kinds of personal insults, attacks.” Cruz further charged that Obama was “belittling the Republican field” and called for the President to “insult me to my face.”

First, the Republican field is doing a more than adequate job of belittling itself with its  ridiculous rhetoric.  Second, Cruz seems to have a double standard about insults.  Cruz has accused Pres. Obama of waging a war on police, being a state sponsor of terrorism and violating the constitution.  Cruz also claimed that Obama’s “vilification of law enforcement” was responsible for the shooting death of Harris County Deputy Darren Goforth – a patently absurd claim in light of the facts surrounding that tragic murder.   Them’s  fighting words where Red comes from.

Moreover, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC points at that if Cruz should be concerned about anyone insulting him it should be Cruz himself –  who just last year argued that we should be accepting Syrian refugees while castigating the President for failing to act.  But that was before Cruz realized he could score some political points with his Tea Party base by attempting to look tough by calling for a halt to resettlement of all but Christian refugees from Syria.

What’s more, Cruz is doing more than just posturing and thumping his chest for the cameras. As the Washington Post reported, the senator “introduced a bill Wednesday that would prohibit refugees from any country the State Department has determined is controlled in part by a foreign terrorist organization from entering the United States.”
 
How would blocking victims of terrorism help? Cruz hasn’t explained, though it’s the sort of move that’s likely intended to impress Republican primary voters.
 
That said, if the senator is serious about a spirited debate over U.S. refugee policy, perhaps the best course of action would be an argument between this version of Ted Cruz and last year’s version of Ted Cruz. 
Interviewed in February 2014, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz declared that Syrian refugees should be permitted into the United States and argued that this could be done without jeopardizing national security.
 
“We have welcomed refugees – the tired, huddled masses – for centuries. That’s been the history of the United States,” he told Fox News in a video featured on Cruz’s website. “We should continue to do so.” He added: “We have to continue to be vigilant to make sure those coming are not affiliated with the terrorists, but we can do that.”
I’ll look forward to Cruz’s condemnation of Cruz for his reckless indifference to national security.

How Would a Real “Tea Party” Fare in Texas

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The divide in the GOP is playing itself out on the national stage as the Tea Party wing (represented by Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, etc.) fights it out with the Establishment wing (represented by Jeb!!!!$$$$?, Marco Rubio, John Kasick, Chris Christie, etc.) while the Insanity wing (Donald Trump and Ben Carson) leads the way.  Meanwhile, Red wonders how his many Republican friends can continue to stand with a party in which 43% of its members think Pres. Obama is a Muslim, which believes we can deport 11 million people back to wherever they came from without any problems, still believes that supply-side economics works, and wants to return to the gold standard.

Simply put, the Republican Party needs to break up.  We will have your Grandfather’s Country Club GOP which believes that responsible governance is a good thing, that not all government is inherently evil, understands that many aspects of modern commerce require reasonable regulation, recognizes that compromise is an essential part of life, and which has more or less sane fiscal policies.  Then you will have a Tea Party which will be ideologically pure and stand for kicking out every last undocumented alien, huge tax cuts for the very wealthiest, bring back the gold standard, making gay marriage illegal, destroying any right to choose, instituting religious tests for office, allowing guns everywhere, repealing the 17th Amendment, instituting property ownership requirements for voting and any other policy that will insure that the upstanding good, white people of  America remain in control.

The Texas Tribune has the breakdown on just what might happen if the GOP were to fracture.

Candidate filing is underway and guess what, Captain Obvious? Almost everything that’s competitive in Texas races will come to a head in the March primary and not in the November general election.

That said, recent polling shows that not only are there strong factional differences between Tea Party and non-Tea Party Republicans, but also that the anti-establishment types are a sizable part of the Texas GOP.

The latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll asked Texans which primary they’d be voting in; 50 percent said Republican and 35 percent said Democrat. It also asked how they would vote in a congressional race if there were candidates from the Republican, Democratic and Tea Parties. Once again, 35 percent chose the Democrats. The Republican number dropped to 22 percent, and the Tea Party got 17 percent. The percentage of “don’t know” responses rose, too.

One of the poll’s co-directors, Daron Shaw of the University of Texas at Austin, reads that to say that 43 percent to 44 percent of the GOP primary voters are Tea Party voters. That faction is relatively small in the Legislature, especially in the Texas House. But they’re bucking for a promotion, talking about entering enough candidates in the 2016 elections to seriously challenge the conservatives now in power.

The races will firm up over the next month; the filing period that opened on Saturday continues through Dec. 14.

The Short List of the Accomplishments of Ted Cruz

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Red has put together a short list of the accomplishments of Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) since entering elective office:

  1. Chosen by Senate colleagues as “Most-Hated” in a landslide.
  2. Set new standard for shameless self-promotion.
  3. Shut-down government for a short time and tanked his party’s polling numbers.
  4. Didn’t waste valuable time attempting to pass actual legislation.
  5. Took grandstanding to a new level.
  6. Made record number of speeches to an empty Senate chamber.
  7. Became more convinced that he is World’s Smartest Man.
  8. Put the Tea back in Tea Party.
  9. Boosted sales of ugly black cowboy boots.
  10. Became pen-pals with Justin Trudeau.

Meanwhile, the Jeb!!!!$$$$? “Campaign” plans to highlight the complete lack of accomplishments.  The Texas Tribune has the skinny on Jeb!!!!$$$$?’s latest attempt to take down Ted.

“We feel really good about Texas,” said Jeb Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz, suggesting in an interview late Wednesday that Cruz has little to show Texans after three years in the Senate. “Where’s the accomplishments?” 

“The reality is, we look forward to communicating our record of accomplishment, the most conservative record of accomplishment in the field, versus others, and that includes Sen. Cruz,” Diaz told The Texas Tribune following the third Republican presidential debate here at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Sen. Cruz has not distinguished himself” either by repealing Obamacare or keeping the nation’s debt from exploding. 

“So the reality is, once again, good floor speeches, great PowerPoint, but when it comes time to get things done, where’s the accomplishments?” Diaz asked. “So as we discuss these differences with Texans and others, we’re going to highlight the most accomplished conservative record in the field versus folks in the field that don’t have any really discernible accomplishments.”

Jeb!!!!$$$$? Vents

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Jeb!!!!$$$$? may have blown the last clear chance he had at winning the GOP nomination when he vented in public about his opponents and how he really has much better things to do than be President.  While campaigning in South Carolina last weekend, Jeb!!!!$$$$? revealed the following:

If this election is about how we’re going to fight to get nothing done, then I don’t want any part of it. I don’t want to be elected president to sit around and see gridlock just become so dominant that people literally are in decline in their lives. That is not my motivation. I’ve got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, being miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that.

So Red felt compelled to compile a list of ten “really cool things” that Jeb!!!!$$$$? could do other than be President.

  1. Hold an actual Tea Party – you know with crumpets and cucumber sandwiches and all.
  2. Teach a first grade bilingual education class.
  3. Take a job at the Land Office working for son George P. Bush with out the Bush fils first complying with the Texas requirement that all job openings be publicly posted.
  4. Write that spy novel he’s been kicking around for several years.
  5. Brush up on his Jai Alai game.
  6. Get a personality transplant.
  7. Rhumba with Columba.
  8. Create a line of Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Ben Carson voodoo dolls.
  9. Challenge Mitt Romney to a boxing match – loser has to endorse Donald Trump.
  10. Go home and never be heard from again.

As They Say – Will Rogers Never Met Ted Cruz

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The Texas Tribune reports that former President George W. Bush has little use for Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) and has no reluctance to let that be known.   At a fundraiser JEB!!!!$$$$?, Bush did not hold back about his feelings for the Tea Party firebrand and GOP presidential hopeful.  Bush joins a growing class of GOP stalwarts whose animosity for Cruz is thinly veiled at best.

“I just don’t like the guy,” Bush said at the Denver fundraiser, as reported by Politico. One unnamed donor told the news organization, “I was like, ‘Holy sh-t, did he just say that?’ I remember looking around and seeing that other people were also looking around surprised.”

Another donor told Politico, “He sort of looks at this like Cruz is doing it all for his own personal gain, and that’s juxtaposed against a family that’s been all about public service and doing it for the right reasons. He’s frustrated to have watched Cruz basically hijack the Republican Party of Texas and the Republican Party in Washington.”

Cruz has criticized Bush’s record as president but his stint on Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign figures prominently in the candidate’s political biography.

Cruz gave a statement to Politico that simultaneously called on those happier associations while pushing back against Bush’s assertions. “I have great respect for George W. Bush, and was proud to work on his 2000 campaign and in his administration,” Cruz told Politico. “It’s no surprise that President Bush is supporting his brother and attacking the candidates he believes pose a threat to his campaign. I have no intention of reciprocating. I met my wife Heidi working on his campaign, and so I will always be grateful to him.”

Well, Red and W had to agree on something someday.

A Texan Should be Speaker

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Considering the outsize influence Texas has in the current GOP domination of Congress, it only makes sense that a Texan should be Speaker of the House.  And at least three Texas Representatives seem willing to step forward if Paul Ryan (now allegedly too liberal – if you can believe that – to be Speaker) decides to decline to run.  The Texas Tribune indicates that Bill Flores (TP-Bryan), Michael McCaul (R-Gerrymanderland), and Mike Conaway (TP-Midland) are all interested in the job.  All would be midgets following in the Texas-sized footsteps of Congressional giants and former Texas Speakers Sam Rayburn, John Nance Garner and Jim Wright, but at least they would be Texas midgets.

 U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, said Monday he intends to seek the gavel of the United States House of Representatives if his colleague, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, doesn’t.

Though GOP lawmakers have been urging Ryan to run as a consensus candidate, Flores said in an interview with The Texas Tribune that he spoke to Ryan on Sunday.

“I don’t want to share private conversations, but he was still a ‘no’ as of yesterday when I spoke to him,” Flores said. 

If Flores is to succeed, he will need the 25-member Texas House delegation behind him. That’s no certainty yet, given  possible home state competition. U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Midland, has said he will consider running for speaker if Ryan opts against a run. U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul is also mulling a run, a source close to him confirmed. 

Where we are now is, what we’ve agreed is that we’re going to hold our powder dry,” Flores said of his fellow Texans. “And then we’ll see which Texan gets the most traction, and the thinking is today that we’ll coalesce around one Texan eventually.” 

The race is complicated by the Gang of Forty ultra-right wingers who are making outsized demands as a condition of support for any candidate for Speaker.  So right now we have about 10% of the Congress who represent the most far-right lunatic fringe of what used to be a mainstream political party controlling who will hold the third most powerful position in American government.  If Ryan bails, Flores might just be the man.  First, he apparently doesn’t understand the meaning of a private conversation which positions him well to betray anyone who strays from the Tea Party line.  And second, he is apparently willing to kowtow to the Gang of Forty demands of ideological purity at the expense of actually governing.

Cruz Lines up Texas Tea Party Support – Big Whoop!

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The Houston Chronicle reports that Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) has lined up the support of numerous Tea Party denizens of the Texas Legislature.  Red is not sure how that is going to help him in Iowa where a decent showing is surely critical.  Cruz is currently staggering around in sixth place in most national polls, but ranges anywhere from third to sixth in Iowa.  Still, Red has to admit that even sixth place is an impressive feat for a politician that has NOT ACCOMPLISHED A SINGLE THING in his not quite TWO YEARS in actual elective office.  The Canadian-born Cruz talks a good game to his rabid base of right wing loonies, but he has yet to show much broader appeal.  Maybe that day will come now that Cruz has lined up the craziest of the inmates of the Texas Legislative Asylum.  With Tea Party favorites like Konni Burton, Matt Krause and Doug Miller backing him, Cruz is sure to rocket to the top.

But Cruz can’t match the endorsement chops of Ben Carson.  Carson, who looks more and more clueless with each passing minute, has snagged the coveted endorsements of Kid Rock, Roger McGuinn, Richard Petty and Mickey Rourke.  If that isn’t a lineup sure to sway the national consensus in Ben’s direction, Red doesn’t know what is.

John Cornyn Must Really Hate this Guy

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Sen. Ted Cruz (TP-Texas) continued his assault on Republican leadership yesterday before a nearly empty Senate chamber.  Cruz seemed desperate to vent on the GOP powers that be as part of his flagging “outsider” campaign for President.  The focus yesterday was the GOP’s failure to defund Planned Parenthood and block the Iran treaty. Cruz was practically frothing and at times, it was very hard to tell who Cruz hates more – Pres. Obama or the GOP leadership.  But that is so often the case with the professional Haters such as Cruz.  In contrast, Red thinks that it is becoming perfectly clear that Sen. John Cornyn and other stalwarts of the GOP in Congress likely hate Cruz with a white hot passion that far exceeds their loathing of Obama.  The Texas Tribune has the full story on Cruz’s latest diatribe.

In an hour-long speech on a nearly empty Senate floor that ended when he could not gain permission to continue, the state’s junior senator and presidential hopeful expanded his usual criticisms of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to include outgoing House Speaker John Boehner. Cruz also lambasted fellow Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, spoke of the recent lunar eclipse and boasted of a puzzling personal role in law enforcement.

“Speaker Boehner faced a conundrum,” Cruz said of Boehner’s abrupt decision to step down. “If he does what he and McConnell promised, which is funding all of Barack Obama’s priorities, he would have lost his job.” 

“And so what did he do?” Cruz asked. “He announced he’s resigning as speaker and resigning as a member of Congress.” 

He also took aim at his colleague from Texas, Majority Whip Cornyn. Dozens of times, he questioned the integrity of “Republican leadership,” a reference that includes Cornyn in his capacity as the second-ranking Senate Republican. 

He specifically called out Cornyn, along with a handful of other senior Republican senators, for voting down a Cruz amendment targeting funding for Planned Parenthood and the Iran nuclear weapons deal via voice vote. 

In contrast, Cruz cast himself and conservative senators and House members who frequently vote with him as the only elected members performing their jobs with the will of the American public in mind.  

The speech lasted until his colleagues refused to extend his allotted time. Along the way, Cruz made several pop culture references — the Sunday night lunar eclipse, the movie “The Terminator” and the novel “Brave New World” — not an altogether unimaginable departure from his marathon 2013 speech two years ago which included a reading of “Green Eggs and Ham.” 

He also claimed the mantle of the badge: 

“I’m an alumnus of the U.S.  Department of Justice,” he said. “I was an associate deputy attorney general. I spent much of my adult life working in law enforcement.” 

Cruz served in that position for six months, according to his online LinkedIn.

Red will sleep more soundly at night now that he knows Chief Assistant Deputy Constable Trainee, Part-time Dog Catcher and Self-Proclaimed Piece Officer Ted Cruz is on the job.  Canada’s loss is our gain. And Red knows how to spell Peace, just in case you were wondering.

One Thing the Bushes Know How to Do, Cont.

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The Houston Chronicle reports that Land Commissioner and Bush family scion George P. doesn’t seem very interested in following the law when it comes to hiring for the General Land Office.  Either that, or the latest Texas Bush is more interested in rewarding Bush family friends and sycophants.  The Houston Chronicle reports that Bush has failed to follow Texas law in remaking the agency in the Bush family image.

Less than a year after being elected to lead the oldest state agency in Texas, Land Commissioner George P. Bush has dramatically remade the General Land Office by ousting a majority of its longtime leaders and replacing many of them with people with ties to his campaign and family. 

Eleven of the top 18 officials on the agency’s organizational chart a year ago have been fired, forced out or quit, and more could leave soon under an ongoing overhaul that Bush has described as a “reboot.”

In their place, Bush has given top jobs to two of his law school classmates, two relatives of members of two Bush presidential administrations and at least three others with ties to the family or other political leaders.

In all, Bush has hired at least 29 people who worked on his campaign or have political connections, according to a review of thousands of pages of personnel records. The agency did not advertise any of the openings publicly.

State law requires all agencies considering external candidates for a job to post the opening with the Texas Workforce Commission. Newly elected statewide officials often ignore the requirement for some core positions – Attorney General Ken Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller already have been publicly criticized for doing it a handful of times this year – but Bush’s hiring differs because of how far-reaching it has been, with the hires ranging from a temporary transition director to five campaign veterans hired permanently for the new position of “regional outreach coordinator.”

Another Bush ignoring the law is no big deal, but it seems especially blatant in the case of George P.

Chapter 656 of Title 6B of the Texas Government Code prohibits appointments from outside of the agency except in cases of reorganization ordered by the Legislature.

“Any agency, board, bureau, commission, committee, council, court, department, institution, or office in the executive or judicial branch of state government that has an employment opening for which persons from outside the agency will be considered shall list the opening with the Texas Workforce Commission,” the law states.

Workforce Commission spokeswoman Lisa Givens said she did not know who was responsible for enforcing that law. The commission does not check to ensure that jobs are posted, she said.

The Attorney General’s Office referred questions about the law to the Workforce Commission.

Personnel records show that Bush has directed at least 40 external hires between November 2014 and July 2015 but listed only four of those with the Workforce Commission.

One Thing the Bushes Do Know How to Do

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The Bushes clearly know how to reward friends and punish anyone not swearing fealty to all things Bush.  George P. is clearing if not cleaning house at the Land Office and installing friends and Bush family cohorts.  Former Commissioner Jerry Patterson laments the loss of institutional knowledge while others question where this important agency is headed under the latest Bush name.

At least 111 state workers have been fired, retired or have quit the Texas General Land Office — about 17 percent of the agency’s workforce — under the leadership of George P. Bush, whose so-called reboot has drawn criticism from his predecessor, who says the agency is suffering under “a purge.”

Bush’s house-cleaning invokes the conservative belt-tightening mantra that pervades Texas politics, but the size of the exodus and the tenor with which it was announced has raised questions.

This whole idea is all about looking good,” former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, also a Republican, told the Statesman.

Despite recent audits that were critical of “significant weaknesses” in the way the agency managed contracts under Patterson, the former commissioner called Bush’s shake-up “a purge of the best agency in Texas government and a purge of people who have done wonderful things.”

“It’s all about ‘I’m going to show that I can cut the size of government,’” he said. “I think it’s some serious ignorance. You’ve been hired to do a job. They’re all on the street now, and they haven’t got new jobs.”

When he announced the reboot in June, Bush and his No. 2, Anne Idsal, suggested the agency was hampered by entitled workers and other “threats.”

Threats? What threats?  Please tell us.