Ted Cruz

The Conservative Political Action Conference: A Bunch Of Retreads And Future Losers!

Ronald 10 Comments

Conservatives are in the third of four days of their annual Conservative Political Action Conference, and it is quite an event, a circus of retreads and future losers, who fail to see that the nation has rejected their ideology when it is presented to them in Senate races, and only holding on to power in the House of Representatives because of gerrymandered districts created by the Tea Party uprising of 2010, which led to a large number of Republican governors and state legislatures at the precisely correct time to affect the shaping of House districts for the ten year cycle following the census figures.

The Tea Party movement has had its heyday, and there are already signs of its future demise, although they will persist in some rural districts in the House, and have their Senators, including Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul, all ambitious to be President of the United States, but none of them should be delusional that they will actually be the next President, while they are all fighting to outdo each other three years ahead of 2016!

Attention at this conference is given to such retreads as Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and Newt Gingrich.

Also, such losers as Wayne La Pierre, Grover Norquist and the usual right wing talk show hosts, including Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, are part of the “distinguished” speakers spewing forth their divisiveness.

And the conservatives are making clear that they will not budge in any form on the issue of gay rights, immigration reform,their “traditional” view of women being submissive to men, and refusal to separate science from the influence of religion!

There are differences on foreign policy between the libertarians and the neoconservatives, however, and any suggestion of moderation on ANY issue has led to Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell being denied an invitation to speak.

The ultimate reality is that it does not matter what happens at the CPAC, as it is like Don Quixote battling the windmill! The American people are NOT going to elect any of these “clowns”, even those who seem more “moderate”, such as Christie, to the White House in 2016. The Republicans are fighting a civil war, primarily over who shall represent them in 2016, but it is all for naught!

The next President will, assuredly, be a Democrat—whether Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Martin O’Malley, Andrew Cuomo, Elizabeth Warren, Mark Warner, Amy Klobuchar or someone else not yet known!

“Don’t Drone Me, Bro”—The Self Destruction Of Rand Paul AND Ted Cruz!

Ronald 2 Comments

When Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky spoke yesterday at the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference, a supporter yelled: “Don’t drone me, Bro”, referring to Paul’s 13 hour filibuster demanding an answer from President Obama that he would never use a drone on an American citizen on American soil, a stunt which gave Senator Paul a lot of attention, and led to his promoting the idea of the likelihood of his Presidential candidacy in 2016.

Meanwhile, Texas Senator Ted Cruz showed just what a bully, and an arrogant, overbearing person he is, making himself very unpopular even among fellow Republican Senators with his loony absolute interpretation of the Second Amendment, and showing lack of respect for Senator Diane Feinstein, who lived through the carnage of the murder of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in 1978. The fact that even Justice Antonin Scalia has stated that there are limits to the Second Amendment does not phase Senator Cruz, as he fancies himself to be a “constitutionalist”!

Both of these Republican Senators fancy that the nation is ready for their looniness—Paul, the libertarian, who wants to bring about a utopian world of little government in people’s lives; and Cruz, using Joseph McCarthy type demagogic techniques to create turmoil and mistrust, and also to throw a “firebomb” as a method to grab for more power and influence!

Both Senators are upstart freshmen, who are showing total ignorance and total disrespect for the institution of the Senate, and their style and methods are designed to promote their own ambition, but will have the effect over time, if not fought bitterly by sane elements, to destroy the Republican Party and its long, much of the time, respectable history and leadership!

The nation is NOT going to accept either Senator Paul or Senator Cruz as their Commander in Chief, as they both, in different and competing ways, are promoting anarchy and chaos in the political arena, and are both VERY dangerous!

Ted Cruz Vs Diane Feinstein: Looniness Vs Responsibility

Ronald 14 Comments

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has only been in the US Senate for less than three months, but already is gaining a reputation as a modern version of Senator Joseph McCarthy, and also as a total lunatic on the subject of guns!

Yesterday, Cruz “lectured” Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein of California about his concept that the Second Amendment has absolutely no limits, and compared that amendment to the First and Fourth Amendments, claiming that Feinstein would not want limits on those two amendments, so why so on the Second Amendment.

Feinstein responded by saying she has been in the Senate for 20 years, and was Mayor of San Francisco for nine years, and inherited that job by the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and gay Supervisor Harvey Milk, which she walked in on, and saw the dead bodies and carnage.

She asked why it is necessary to have bazookas, and all other types of assault weapons, and that no one is trying to take away all guns, just large magazines of ammunition and weapons that one would never use for hunting.

And she pointed out to Cruz that there ARE limits on the First and Fourth Amendments, and that any sane person has to understand that there needs to be limits on the Second Amendment!

Cruz showed total lack of respect and deference to Feinstein, and comes across as totally arrogant, reckless, loony, and very dangerous with his rhetoric and his extreme right wing agenda.

And this man has interest in being President, although he was born in Canada, and the constitutional question, therefore, would arise if he became a serious candidate.

This man would be a danger to our civil liberties and our sanity were he to become a serious player for the Presidency. But there is no way that he would ever be elected President of the United States! But every effort to weaken his appeal must be made by progressives, who realize that he is a long range threat to our political stability!

Marco Rubio Joins Ted Cruz And Mike Lee, Threatening To Shut Down The Government Unless ObamaCare Is Defunded!

Ronald 8 Comments

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has indicated that he is flirting with the Tea Party Movement, which helped to elect him to the Senate in 2010, by his threat to refuse to support a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, unless ObamaCare is defunded completely, which would cause great harm to tens of millions of Americans.

Rubio joins Tea Party radicals Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah in this disgraceful tactic, and in so doing, he is rapidly destroying any chance of being the GOP Presidential nominee in 2016, and even if the GOP was crazy enough to nominate him, he would lose in a landslide!

These Tea Party radicals have no conscience, no ethics, no sense of propriety in their public actions, and have absolutely no concern about those less fortunate, only adding to the horrible public image of the Republican Party!

Rand Paul Becomes A Potential Presidential Candidate, And That Is Good For Democrats!

Ronald 4 Comments

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has become a celebrity, due to his 13 hour filibuster, postponing consideration of John Brennan, a twenty five year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, to become its head, The purpose of the filibuster was to gain a guarantee from the Obama Administration that drones would not be used on American soil against American non combatant citizens.

It has caused the American Civil Liberties Union to back Rand Paul, and some Democrats as well, including Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, as well as several progressive journals and web sites.

But the biggest manifestation has been the split developing in the Republican Party between the Tea Party Movement supporters (such as Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio) and the neocons (John McCain and Lindsey Graham, particularly), and this is great news for the Democratic Party!

Rand Paul is now being talked about more seriously as a potential Republican nominee for President, a thought that makes 2012 candidates for the nomination look as the beginning of a trend of continued disaster that will only become worse in 2016.

Bring on Rand Paul, and watch the GOP split asunder, and watch Rand Paul make Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Bob Dole, past GOP Presidential losers, appear brilliant by comparison! RIck Perry, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Herman Cain were all embarrassing and disastrous, but Rand Paul would be the most disastrous nominee in history!

If Rand Paul is nominated, and even if he divides the Republican Party while losing the nomination, he will only insure a massive popular vote victory by any Democratic nominee for President, particularly Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, but including others, such as Martin O’Malley, Andrew Cuomo, Elizabeth Warren, or Mark Warner!

The Republican “Diversity” Primary Or Jeb Bush For President?

Ronald 3 Comments

It seems more and more likely that the Republican Party will do their best to put a person of diversity status, either ethnically or gender, on their 2016 Presidential ticket as the only way to have a chance to win the White House.

This “diversity” primary contest for being on the national ticket would include:

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina
Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire
Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Senator Susan Collins of Maine
Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana
Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina
Governor Susana Martinez of New Mexico
Governor Brian Sandoval of Nevada
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington
Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

So overall, there are seven Senators, four Governors, three Congresswomen well known enough, and Condoleezza Rice for the Republicans to choose from to have a “diversity” nominee for President or Vice President.

And when one looks at the list, it is clear that the only “real” choices are Rubio, Cruz, Ayotte, Jindal, Haley, and Rice, as a member of the House has not been nominated since 1880 (James Garfield), and the other choices are far less known, and come from smaller states in population, which undermines their candidacy. And Murkowski and Collins are far too “Moderate” to be the nominee of a right wing Republican Party!

But Rice is highly unlikely to be interested, although easily the most qualified of the six who could be nominated. Jindal and Haley have come across as mean spirited, uncaring Governors on the subject of immigration and health care. Ayotte has not distinguished herself by connecting to John McCain and Lindsey Graham as a “replacement” for Joe Lieberman. Cruz, being born in Canada, will create the issue of his eligibility to run for President, and his use of “McCarthyism” strategy against Chuck Hagel, Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, and his basic aggressive style after less than two months in office will not do him well in a Presidential campaign.

So Marco Rubio, with all of his “warts” and shortcomings, stands out as the best “diversity” candidate, with his coming from Florida, the fourth largest state, and the largest state in play in a Presidential campaign, being a plus!

But it could be that being from Florida is also a plus for former Governor Jeb Bush, who if only he could change his last name, would be the likely best choice for his party.

It could all come down to a final race between former Governor Jeb Bush, whose wife is Mexican American and speaks excellent Spanish, and Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban American a full generation younger than Jeb Bush!

Florida Senator Marco Rubio: His Record Not A Positive One For The Presidency In 2016!

Ronald 30 Comments

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is very charismatic, handsome, youthful, and charming, and Time Magazine called him “The Republican Savior”.

Then he gave the response to the State of the Union Address, and showed total hypocrisy when he stated that government gets in the way, and cannot solve people’s problems or help them in a major way.

But then, he also said in the same speech that he would never have finished his own education without the federal government loans program, and that his mother depended on Medicare for her health care, although now the federal government should be cutting both programs and others as well.

In so doing, being contradictory, Marco Rubio messed up his chance to be impressive, just as Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana and the same age as Rubio, did when he responded to the State of the Union Address in 2009.

And when one examines the Rubio record, he discovers the following facts:

Rubio has had huge personal debt problems and was implicated in a political credit card scandal.

Rubio has lied and exaggerated about his family history, including the idea that his grandfather escaped Fidel Castro and Cuba, when he actually migrated in 1957, when Fulgencio Basista was still in power.

Rubio backed Florida Governor Rick Scott in his scheme to limit the hours and participation of voters in the Sunshine State.

Rubio voted against the extension of the Violence Against Women Act.

Rubio has been involved in support of groups that are vehemently anti gay rights and marriage.

Rubio supported a bill to allow employers to deny birth control insurance coverage to employees.

Rubio has called for Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel to withdraw, denying President Obama the right to select his own cabinet officers, as long as there is no corruption involved.

Rubio has denied science, questioning climate change and evolution

Rubio signed the Grover Norquist tax pledge.

And the list of faults and shortcomings goes on beyond this short list above, and disqualifies Marco Rubio as a serious Presidential nominee in 2016.

And yet, when compared to Jindal, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, and many others, Rubio probably has a better chance to be the GOP nominee in 2016, and lose to Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, or whoever else the Democrats nominate!

Rick Scott,Jan Brewer, John Kasich Accept ObamaCare Medicaid; Rick Perry And Nikki Haley Still Show No Concern For Those Without Health Care!

Ronald 9 Comments

A total of seven Republican Governors, including Rick Scott of Florida, Jan Brewer of Arizona, and John Kasich of Ohio, along with the Governors of New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan and North Dakota have dropped their opposition to ObamaCare in the form of federally backed funds for expanded Medicaid for their poor citizens, with Scott’s announcement the most stunning reversal of all, but with gubernatorial elections around the corner in 2014.

This has led to fury among Tea Party radicals who cannot believe that Scott has reneged on his Tea Party followers, and it might lead to a primary challenge to Scott, who has also reversed course on education funding. So this could make it harder for him and other Republican Governors to win another term in office, and give Democrats the chance to retake the Governor’s chair in many “Red” states, many of whom went that direction in 2010, giving the Tea Party prominence that it has used to try and take America back to the 19th century!

But two prominent holdouts remain–Governor Rick Perry of Texas and Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina— representing two states that are, overall, more degraded in their poverty statistics than most other states. These two Governors are making victims of millions of citizens, who are being condemned for being poor, an absolute disgrace!

And meanwhile, Tea Party Senators are becoming more outrageous in their rhetoric, including Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with the latter being coined by some the “new Joseph McCarthy” , due to his wild and false accusations against former Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Barack Obama’s choice to be Secretary of Defense. These two men have no problem in being reckless in their behavior, as both are extremely ambitious, and think they will be President in 2017, a total delusion on their part!

It is people like Paul and Cruz, along with Perry and Haley, that demonstrate that the Republican Party is doomed in the future, until and when they purge these hateful, despicable figures out of the equation of the future of the GOP!

Republicans Seem To Be Suicidal In Reluctance To Change Course

Ronald 37 Comments

The Republican Party is in its death throes more and more each week.

The country is no longer interested in their agenda, in their candidates, in their goals, and in their promotion of fear and hate!

The GOP has lost five of the last six popular vote totals for President, despite spending inordinate amounts of money, the most ever in 2012, due to the Citizens United case of the Supreme Court in 2010.

But they have elements that are destroying them from within like a cancer!

These destructive elements include:

The right wing conservative talk show hosts on radio and Fox News Channel, who are making massive amounts of money promoting hate, fear and division, and until the GOP tells Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham and their ilk to go somewhere, they will be going down the road to destruction!

The power of the National Rifle Association and Wayne La Pierre, and its campaign to defeat any candidate who wants any reasonable gun regulations, is going to cause the defeat of Senators and Congressmen, who are unwilling to sell their souls to this powerful pressure group!

The Tea Party Movement, which wants to wipe out Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and is furious at Republican Governors, including the latest convert on ObamaCare, Florida Governor Rick Scott, making it a total of seven Republican Governors who have decided to accept that program, has plans to run candidates against anyone who does not wish to support their desire to go back to the 19th century and wipe out all aspects of the welfare state, so Maine Senator Susan Collins is on a hit list, as is even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for not being conservative enough! Do not forget that the Koch Brothers and other wealthy billionaires are the brains behind this movement, which is lower class populism gone wild, but they have the ability to harm the Republican Party establishment! And Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are the lead elements in this Tea Party uprising, who might cause the Republican Party to go down to defeat in many races, because of their loony libertarianism!

The right wing evangelical Christian movement, which will fight any move toward acceptance of gay rights and gay marriage, abortion rights, immigration reform, and gun regulation, as well as their desire to promote religion in the education curriculum, rejecting science and history, and promotion of a theocracy in states that have large numbers of their believers.

The “NeoCons”, Neoconservatives, who want more money spent on defense, advocate overseas military interventions, and glorify wars in the name of American capitalism and profits! They had power under George W. Bush, but are now trying to defeat Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary.

And finally, the no tax increase crowd, led by Grover Norquist of Americans For Tax Reform, a group which is starting to see some Republicans abandon them, but not enough, and willing to back corporate loopholes and the wealthy, at the expense of the middle class and the poor, these two groups failing to understand that this elite has no concerns, except to back the establishment on Wall Street and in the corporate world, even at a time when corporate profits are soaring, and the stock market has doubled under Barack Obama!

These are the destructive elements in the Republican Party, and will cause its total dissolution very soon if the direction of the party is not changed to appeal to the moderate center, the tradition of the party under Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and YES, even in the time of Ronald Reagan, when moderates were still a major part of the party success, and Reagan a conservative but not an extremist, as these various elements of the party are in 2013!

The Conservative Political Action Conference 2013 Roster Of Speakers

Ronald 3 Comments

The Conservative Political Action Conference will be held in mid March in Maryland near Washington, DC, a city that most conservatives hate, because it represents “Big” government.

Among the “distinguished” speakers at CPAC will be the following Republican “luminaries”:

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Former Florida Congressman Allen West
National Rifle Association Vice President Wayne La Pierre
Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan
House Majority Leader, Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia
Florida Senator Marco Rubio
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

And the person who will close the conference is newly minted Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Realize that this incomplete list above includes a multitude of potential Presidential candidates, including all but Palin, West, La Pierre, and Cantor. And even Palin and West are delusional enough, that who can say they will not be announced candidates for President?

It should be an entertaining conference!