Tag Archives: Ted Cruz

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Cruz making more enemies daily

Sen. Ted Cruz cannot possibly understand what he’s doing.

The Texas Republican seems to be doing everything possible, all within his power, to alienate the leadership of his party, not to mention the elders of the U.S. Senate where he has served all of nine months.

As Dana Milbank notes in his Washington Post column, Cruz has done what was thought to be virtually impossible, which is create a massive amount of wreckage in record time.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-in-debt-limit-and-shutdown-defeat-ted-cruz-is-one-sore-loser/2013/10/16/d896d180-36b4-11e3-ae46-e4248e75c8ea_story.html?hpid=z7

McConnell brokered a deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that reopened the government and staved off a default of our national debt obligations. That wasn’t acceptable to Sen. Cruz, who said the Washington “establishment” caved in. To whom he wasn’t entirely clear.

Cruz then stormed in front of a bank of TV cameras at the very time McConnell was making his own statement about the deal. I am quite certain the Senate’s chief Republican is not going to forget what Cruz said and did any time soon. As McConnell was trying to put some kind of positive spin on what he and Reid accomplished, Cruz was turning the spin in precisely the opposite direction.

Team player? All for one and one for all? Neither of those notions has a place in Ted Cruz’s vocabulary.

Cruz said the Senate should have “listened to the American people.” My hunch is that the 81 senators who voted for the McConnell-Reid deal were listening to the people — who were telling them to end this madness, to get the government operating fully and to avoid plunging this nation into default.

It’s Ted Cruz who needs to have his hearing checked.

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Senate Loudmouth Caucus about to expand

I’ve taken great pleasure the past several months savaging the boorish behavior of rookie U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

His “crime” has been an inability to keep his trap shut while learning the ropes of the institution to which he was just elected in November 2012. He jumped right into the thick of the fray — and right in front of every TV camera in sight — to tell the world what he thinks about everything under the sun.

I’m sick of the sound of his voice — and he’s only been a senator for nine months.

Cruz is a member of what we ought to call the Loudmouth Caucus in the Senate.

His ranks are likely to expand early next month. The beauty of the Loudmouth Caucus is that it’s a bipartisan organization. Anyone can join. Cruz is about to be joined, no doubt, by a Democratic colleague from New Jersey.

Ladies and gents, let’s welcome Sen. Cory Booker.

Booker is the mayor of Newark, N.J. He won a Democratic primary a few weeks ago and is set to be elected to the unexpired term of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Yes, Booker has a Republican opponent, but it doesn’t matter. Booker’s going to win the election. Then he’ll run for re-election to a full term later and he’s likely to be re-elected.

Why is this man’s pending entrance into the Senate worth noting? It’s because he’s going to battle Cruz tooth-and-nail for face time on every TV news camera one can find on Capitol Hill. I’d put money on that.

Booker is as uninhibited as Cruz. He loves the sound of his voice. He loves seeing his face on TV. He talks and talks and talks — and at times it’s nearly impossible to follow the man’s train of thought.

Booker has made a name for himself as Newark mayor by doing some unconventional things, such as rescuing a resident from a burning building. He’s also picked up a shovel and cleaned out storm drains. He’s a working mayor, or so he would have us believe.

Booker is likely to set out proving he’s a working senator, too — although I’m not sure we’re going to see him performing manual tasks the way he has done as mayor. He’s likely just to talk a lot about all the hard work he will do.

I’ll make this prediction: Booker will anger his Democratic colleagues as much as Cruz has angered his fellow Republican senators. Given the anger that permeates the capital these days across party lines, it’s a given Booker is going to have enemies on the other side — just as Ted Cruz did — the moment he takes the oath of office.

Get ready for a lot more noise coming from the World’s Oldest Deliberative Body.

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Immigration becoming signature Texas issue?

I am beginning to sense a centerpiece issue emerging in the race for Texas lieutenant governor.

The issue is immigration and it may reveal which of the four major Republican candidates for the state’s No. 2 elected office will become the most effective demagogue on it.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-politics/2013/10/todd-staples-next-immigration-headache/

Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples is one of the Big Four. He served in the state Senate, representing an East Texas district. He has become entangled in a vote he reportedly cast in 2001 to allow immigrants to use foreign passports and birth certificates as valid identification to obtain a Texas driver’s license.

Staples says he doesn’t remember casting such a vote. Really, commissioner? If you did, then it’s on the record in some form.

He now says such allowances are a “grave mistake” and he opposes them.

The other three GOP big dogs — state Sen. Dan Patrick, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst — also are running as quickly as they can from another issue: allowing those who came into Texas as children of those who entered the state illegally in-state tuition rates to attend public colleges and universities.

Patrick ripped that can of worms wide open when he said he is the “only candidate” to oppose such a thing. The other three pounced on him for that declaration; Patterson called him a “liar.” Dewhurst said he’s never supported in-state tuition for undocumented residents.

I happen to think these men are acting like disgusting demagogues on this issue. I believe granting such a waiver is humane and compassionate. So does Gov. Rick Perry, whose support for the waiver got him in trouble as he campaigned briefly for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

Immigration reform well might determine just how strong the tea party influence is within the Texas Republican Party. Dewhurst learned the hard way when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012 when he got “Cruzed” by the guy who beat him in the primary, Sen. Ted Cruz. Dewhurst, who I once thought was a serious and studious politician, is now turning hard right on immigration to avoid getting outflanked yet again.

Perhaps another signature issue will emerge. For now, I’m thinking it’s going to be immigration.

It’s going to get ugly.

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GOP ‘playing with fire’ over debt limit

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is the latest Washington, D.C. official to turn himself into a Sunday news show hologram, making five appearances today on broadcast and cable TV to deliver a stern message.

Failure to increase the nation’s debt limit would be catastrophic to the economy, Lew said.

Is anyone listening on the Republican side of the aisle?

http://thehill.com/video/sunday-shows/326799-lew-congress-is-playing-with-fire

The debt limit stands at $16.7 trillion. If Congress doesn’t approve a measure to boost it by Oct. 17, the nation’s ability to pay its debts runs out. The United States would default on its obligations.

The Republican-led House of Representatives, though, is digging in on that one. The GOP wants to defund the Affordable Care Act so badly it has produced a partial government shutdown. GOP showboats like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas say they’ll do “whatever it takes to defund Obamacare.”

Does that mean destroying people’s retirement accounts, downgrading the nation’s worldwide credit rating, forcing a stock market collapse? Is that what they mean by “whatever it takes”?

Lew’s message is stark. I happen to believe his prognosis. Does anyone in power in D.C. care about those of us out here who are going to pay the price for their foolishness?

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‘Politicization’ of vets memorials continues

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is right when he urges all parties to avoid politicizing veterans memorials while part of the federal government remains shut down.

He talks a good game, but he and his colleagues play something quite different.

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/texas-on-the-potomac/2013/10/john-cornyn-dont-politicize-veterans-memorials/

Cornyn made his statements in front of the World War II Memorial. Then came Sen. Ted Cruz, Cornyn’s fellow Texas Republican, to welcome Honor Flight veterans from Texas to the memorial. What did Cruz do? He blamed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for the mess that has engulfed Washington.

Members of the House and Senate, by their presence at these memorials, in effect politicize their very existence and make pawns out of the veterans who come to visit them.

The National Park Service that runs these memorials has been forced to shut down because Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on a simple spending measure to fund their operation. Just the other day a West Texas congressional Republican, Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock, put on a disgraceful display of grandstanding by upbraiding a park ranger for doing her job, which was to keep people from entering one of these veterans memorials.

Was he politicizing the memorial? Ummm, yes.

I believe Sen. Cornyn and other members of both congressional chambers — from both political parties — should concentrate on settling this issue and avoid public displays that, by definition, lead to the politicization of solemn memorials meant to honor brave Americans who fought and died in defense of this country.

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Tea party support hits the skids

This is a most interesting report: The Gallup Poll organization says 22 percent of Americans support the tea party movement, which I’ve taken to calling the “insane wing” of the Republican Party.

The Gallup survey gives the tea party its near-lowest rating since the movement hit its peak around the time of the 2010 mid-term elections.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/324771-tea-party-hits-a-low-point-

It begs the question: Why are tea party darlings in the U.S. Senate, such as Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, getting so much air time and print space? I think it’s because they’ve been yapping the loudest and have discovered some secret formula for getting their faces on national television.

Gallup isn’t exactly a lefty-leaning polling group. The Gallup group actually tends to lean to the right, but its findings often are cited as being authoritative.

Cruz is the latest tea party golden boy to hog the spotlight, blabbering on for 21-plus hours in an attempt to derail the Affordable Care Act in the Senate. He ended up voting with the rest of them to keep funding the ACA, which seems to suggest that his Senate floor gabfest was all for show.

I’m suspecting that showboating is beginning to wear thin among Americans who want their federal government to actually do something on their behalf.

That, of course, is anathema to the tea party wing of the Republican Party.

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Cruz loves sound of his own voice

I applauded Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., some months back for actually filibustering the nomination of CIA Director John Brennan, not because I approved of his reasons, but because he actually took to the U.S. Senate floor and talked until he ran out of verbal gas.

Now another tea party golden boy, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is blabbering his brains out as I post this blog item. I have to hand it to Ted the Tattler: He, too, is yapping about this and that in an effort to derail the Affordable Care Act. Again, I disapprove of his reasons, but I have to hand it to the guy for actually filibustering.

http://news.msn.com/us/senate-moves-toward-test-vote-on-obamacare

The filibuster has become a misused instrument. Senators can “filibuster” something simply by lodging an objection. They object to a bill and then go about their business. Paul and Cruz have restored some form of “integrity” to the process.

Here, though, is where I get rankled at Ted Cruz. The new guy loves the sound of his own voice. Of that I am utterly convinced. I truly wonder whether he is motivated by something other than listening to himself talk in front of a national audience.

Do you remember when he denigrated the character of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel? He questioned whether Hagel, a Vietnam War combat veteran, had become an agent of foreign governments hostile to the United States? Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called Cruz down on the spot and said he never should question the character of someone such as Hagel, with whom McCain served in the Senate. McCain’s admonition went in one of Cruz’s ears and out the other. Cruz hasn’t shut his mouth … yet.

I’ve already wondered out loud why some members of Congress get so much air time on TV. Cruz, so new to the national spotlight, is basking in that limelight a little too comfortably to suit me. I’m wondering now if someone in the Senate is going to challenge this guy’s blustering and loudmouthed actions publicly.

He’s been in national office all of nine months and I’m sick of the sound of his voice already.

Then again, maybe that’s just me.

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It’s always the same blowhards spouting off

Have you ever wondered why, with 535 members of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, we keep hearing only from a tiny fraction of the entire congressional body?

OK, maybe you haven’t wondered about that. But I have. I find it annoying almost in the extreme.

The ongoing discussion about the Affordable Care Act, the budget, whether to shut the government down and a host of other pressing issues of late brings this topic to mind.

Since the loudest voices all seem to be Republicans these days, I’ll pick on them mostly here.

I’ve been intrigued particularly by the ubiquitous presence of one Ted Cruz, junior Republican senator from Texas, who’s been holding the only elected office he’s ever held for all of nine months. But the guy is everywhere, ranting about “Obamacare” and pledging to do everything within his power to defund it.

I’ll make Cruz my Blowhard in Chief on this one.

But as I look at the Senate roster I see a lot of other capable Republicans — especially those who’ve been around a lot longer than Cruz — who would be just as capable, articulate and forceful as the junior U.S. senator from Texas, who has managed to eclipse even his more senior Texas colleague, Republican John Cornyn.

Where has Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch been? Anyone seen or heard from Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran? I’m about to put an all points bulletin on Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, who once served as education secretary for President George H.W. Bush.

The Senate has about 90 or so silent types who I guess prefer to leave the blustering to the likes of Cruz, John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

To be sure, Democrats have their share of Senate blabbermouths. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Chuck Schumer of New York seem to be the Democrats’ loudest mouthpieces.

I’d rather hear, though, from Al Franken of Minnesota, who in his previous life was a hilarious “Saturday Night Live” cast member.

The House has its small cadre of Republican blowhards as well. I think of Peter King of New York, Steve King of Iowa and Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota (who, thankfully, is leaving Congress after the 2014 election). I’d throw Southeast Texas Republican Steve Stockman into that mix, but he’s too goofy to be taken seriously. As for House Democrats, let’s trot out Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Debbie Schultz of Florida (who also chairs her party’s national committee).

I’ll mention only one silent House member whose voice ought to be heard. He is Mac Thornberry from right here in the Texas Panhandle. The Clarendon lawmaker has been around since 1995 and has as much stroke and political moxie as any of the aforementioned loudmouths.

I realize we all have our favorite blowhards. I’m sure to have left out someone’s favorite.

But the main point here is that the collective bodies of both congressional chambers are full of wise men and women of both parties who have as much to say as the clowns to whom I’ve just referred.

It once was said of former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm that the most dangerous place in America was “the space between Sen. Gramm and a TV camera.”

That description clearly now applies to Ted Cruz — and maybe a handful of others.

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Sen. Cruz a moderate? On immigration?

Ted Cruz has developed a small, but possibly dangerous, crack in his hardliner’s armor.

It involves immigration and the junior U.S. senator from Texas may find himself on the outs with the very Republican Party base that helped elect him to the office in November 2012.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/09/13/immigration-cruz-aims-middle-ground/

The tea party wing of the party hates any kind of immigration reform. Cruz, a first-generation American — he was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father — sees immigration a bit differently than those who up to this point have worshiped every word that comes out of his mouth.

Cruz says he supports granting legal status for those already in this country illegally and wants to make it easier for them to gain citizenship. Hey, isn’t that Sen. Marco Rubio’s take on immigration, and hasn’t the Florida Republican gotten into trouble with the tea party base in his state over that very thing?

“I have said many times that I want to see common-sense immigration reform pass,” Cruz told the Texas Tribune. “I think most Americans want to see the problem fixed.”

Sure enough. But the tea party crowd that supports Cruz wants to “fix” the problem by rounding up undocumented immigrants and deporting them. Or, as GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said during the 2012 campaign, make life so miserable here in the United States that they could “self-deport” themselves back to the countries of their birth.

Political reality may be about to smack Ted Cruz right in the face.

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Cruz demonstrates his loopiness

I’ve been following U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s public life for a little more than a year and I learned pretty early on that he was prone to say just about anything to get attention.

Now, though, the junior Republican senator from Texas has really done it.

Cruz was speaking to a conservative audience the other day and said the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body needs 100 members following in the footsteps of the late North Carolina Republican Jesse Helms.

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/09/12/ted-cruz-wishes-more-in-the-senate-would-say-crazy-things/

This is amazing and disgusting all at once.

Helms was known for a lot of traits, most of them — to my way of thinking — weren’t good. He was a segregationist, he espoused homophobic views, he spoke referred often to ethnic minorities in disgraceful language.

The man was known as Senator No, because he voted “no” on virtually every piece of constructive and/or progressive legislation that came before the Senate.

And all along the way, he would make the craziest statements.

Ted Cruz wants to serve with more senators like Helms? You must be kidding.

I’ll give Cruz this much: He said the Senate needs 100 folks like ol’ Jesse, which means he considers himself already to be a political clone of Helms, meaning the place needs only 99 more of them.

Helms never understood that he represented his entire state, which included many individuals who disagreed with his views on racial segregation, gay rights and abortion rights. He listened only to those who agreed with his pronouncements.

Yes, he got elected several times to the Senate from his home state, which means most of those who voted every six years approved of this guy’s incredible mean streak.

However, Jesse Helms was in no way, shape or form a constructive member of the Senate. He was an obstructionist who harbored hateful racist views.

That’s the kind of Senate Ted Cruz wants for America.