Thread: What the Ted Cruz Filibuster Really Means – It’s the End of the GOP as We Know It

What the Ted Cruz Filibuster Really Means – It’s the End of the GOP as We Know It

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Michael Krieger

There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.
- Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

A misguided, decrepit, corrupt, warmongering, and surveillance-happy Republican Party was already stumbling around the room; hammered drunk on its decades old power trip, led by mindless cronies with zero direction when Ted Cruz came by gave it a charitable push to the ground. It fell swiftly with a pathetic thud. The establishment Republican Party died this week. Good riddance.

Personally, I haven’t put in enough time to look into Ted Cruz to say how I feel about him, but I can certainly support his efforts to destroy the current GOP leadership. More importantly, I can see when political winds are a changin’ and they are blowing with a typhoon’s tempo in 2013.

It all really started in back in March, when freshman Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky started the recent GOP filibuster trend by standing up against Barack Obama’s (and indeed bipartisan Congress’) drone policy. I spent a lot more time writing and commenting about the Rand Paul filibuster as opposed to Ted Cruz’ because it is far more significant for a Republican to stand against aggressive, unconstitutional military action than for a Republican to stand against ObamaCare. The latter they are expected to do, the former not so much. At the time, I wrote a post that got a huge amount of traction titled:

#StandwithRand: The Filibuster that United Libertarian and Progressive Activists.

Back then I wrote:
What Rand Paul did yesterday was finally bring the public debate to where it needs to be. In doing so, he united activists that are quite opposed on many issues (less than they think, but that’s for another day). This is extremely significant and we need this momentum to continue. Those of us that care about the core principles that made this country great need to stick together, find common ground and not allow the establishment to control the debate any longer.

It’s quite fitting that as Rand Paul stood for 13 hours in an impassioned attempt to call attention to the systematic dismantling of The Bill of Rights occurring in America, President Obama was having dinner with many establishment Republicans. These included the two Senators that have done more to destroy the GOP than any one else; John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Two guys who would drone their own grandmothers if it made them feel tough for a minute.

Fortunately, the momentum of libertarian and progressive activists to defend the Bill of Rights has continued, largely thanks to the revelations of Edward Snowden, as decent folks from both sides of the aisle have stood up to protect the 4th Amendment. ObamaCare is not one of those issues, nor should we expect it to be. While I think many Democrats understand the bill was basically written by insurance companies and is another crony capitalist handout, many in the party feel they need to support their puppet President Obama on something and they’ve decided ObamaCare is it. Everyone gets that. What is really significant about Ted Cruz’ filibuster is that it has finally exposed the Republican establishment for what it is. A rotting carcass of nothingness. No matter what happens with the cloture vote later today, it doesn’t really matter.

It’s already over. The knives are in. The GOP leadership is dead.

The best article I have read on the subject of what the Cruz filibuster really means was written by Michael Walsh in the National Review. He wrote:
In the aftermath of Senator Ted Cruz’s epic performance on the Senate floor, a few observations:

• After his disgraceful attacks on Cruz, including his reach-across-the-aisle, dog-in-the-manger response today, this should be the end of Senator John McCain as a voice of influence in the Republican party. Ditto his mini-me, Senator Lindsey Graham. Indeed, the entire Old Guard of business-as-usual “comity” fans passeth. When you care more about what the other side thinks, it’s probably time either to switch teams or step down.

• There is new leadership in the GOP, whether the party wants to admit it or not: Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Jeff Sessions, and the others who stepped into the breach to spell the senator from Texas.

• Win or lose, the battle is now joined: First the struggle for the GOP and then the battle for control of Congress and the presidency. Cruz just struck at the kings he could reach — the Republican “leadership” — and has most likely dealt them a fatal blow. Now the Tea Party hordes must back him up by eliminating his opponents (who tend to be geriatrics, and thus “leaders” by longevity rather than talent or commitment) through the primary process wherever possible. If he can carry off this coup, he and Senator Paul will very quickly find themselves elevated from back-benchers to commanders.

Some may read my comments above and the observations of Mr. Walsh and think that we are exaggerating. We are not. Evidence of the Republican Party leadership’s total panic at the moment is apparent in various ways, but can be seen most poignantly in their response to criticism from their own base. For example, WND reports that:

WASHINGTON — Following the epic, 21-hour speech by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, supporting the defunding of Obamacare, either voters made so many calls to establishment Republicans that their phone lines melted, or those GOP leaders took their phones off the hook.

Even in this age of digital wizardry and limitless voicemail, callers could not get through at all to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

A message said the senator was experiencing a high volume of calls and directed members of the public to call back later or visit his website.

It was the same story with the man who was the face of the GOP in the 2008 elections, former GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
His phone was off the hook, too. Callers got a message stating his voicemail box was full.

The Arizona senator apparently had other matters on his mind during the Cruz speech, tweeting, “Final episode of #Broadchurch tonight – one of the most entertaining shows on TV right now.”

Well on a positive note, at least crony McCain wasn’t caught playing video poker again.

How about our favorite GOP fascist crybaby Peter King. What’s he up to during all of this? From WND:

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who has called Cruz a “fraud” for his efforts to defund Obamacare, said Thursday supporters of the Texas senator have been bombarding his office with “vile” phone calls.

“The vehemence of the phone calls coming into the office. I don’t care, people can call me whatever they want … I haven’t heard such vile, profane, obscene language,” King said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday.

“I’m not saying Ted Cruz is responsible for all his supporters, but he has tapped into a dark strain here in the American political psyche here, and again, the most obscene, profane stuff you can imagine all from people who say they support the Constitution,” King said. “I think what we have to do is reach out to his people and let them know that they’re following a false leader here.”

A false leader huh? I suppose a real leader keeps the balls of the national security state firmly in his mouth at all times, a position that makes Mr. King feel most at home. This reminds me of an epic video from late last year when Rep. Peter King was confronted by Luke Rudkowski of WeAreChange. The guy can’t answer a single question and squirms away from Luke while acting like a total mafioso thug.



The tide of American politics has shifted and the corrupt cronies in the Republican Party are set to be swept out to sea. If the Democrats can now also move to take out their garbage we may be on the verge of something special. If not, then it will have to be done with alternative parties. Either way, it will be done. The game is changing. The grounds are shifting. The opportunity for real change lies straight ahead.

In Liberty,
Mike

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http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2013/09...as-we-know-it/

The GOP was formed with the three founding precepts of 'God, Family, Country.'

The Republican Party has been dead for at least 20 years, and God, Family, and Country left a long time ago ..

Pelosi: George Washington Warned Us About People Like The Tea Party…



Washington last seen rolling over in his grave.

Via Washington Times:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday that the “tail is wagging the dog” in the Republican party in the ongoing debate over spending on Capitol Hill.

Mrs. Pelosi told reporters on Capitol Hill that Democrats are prepared to work with Republicans to pass a continuing resolution that keeps government operations running past Monday, but that it has been a heavy lift because of the infighting within the GOP.

“It is impossible for Democrats to negotiate with Republicans because they can’t even negotiate with themselves,” the California Democrat said. “Instead of legislating responsibly, they want to live dangerously.”

The GOP-controlled House is waiting on the Democrat-led Senate to act on a spending bill that would keep the government open through Nov. 15 and strip funding for Obamacare.

[COLOR=#0F0F0F !important]The Senate is expected to strip out the Obamacare provision and send the bill back to the House as early as Friday.

The process, though, has been bogged down by a breakaway group of conservative Senators led by Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas who are calling on their colleagues to do everything they can to gum up the legislative process and stop funding for Obamacare.

“This is silly,” Mrs. Pellosi said. “Maybe they did not get some orientation on how serious the work is that we do here. Clearly they are a manifestation of what President Washington cautioned against when he left office, which is political parties at war with their own government, and that is what we have: the tail wagging the dog of the Republican party.”


http://weaselzippers.us/2013/09/27/p...the-tea-party/

GOP Rep. Gowdy: Nancy Pelosi ‘mind-numbingly stupid,’ recommends doctor visit
gopthedailydose.comBy Joe Newby Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) lashed out at Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), calling her recent comments regarding Fast and Furious

THE WEEK THAT WAS



By: Teresa Mull
9/27/2013 06:00 PM

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” -Albert Camus

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.” Ted Cruzbelieves this, so he stood for 21 hours on the Senate floor to filibuster-but-not-really the House bill from which Harry Reid will strip the language about defunding Obamacare. It’s complicated. Cruz and fellow filibuster-er Rand Paul also made momentous strides for the Stand Your Ground law with their efforts, but neither Repub succeeded in attaining their ultimate goals.
IRS official Lois Lerner is looking to do something less taxing and is going to retire soon. She will leave to follow her life-long dream of opening a catering company that specializes in Tea Parties. This business venture promises to be a success as Lerner has already stamped out all of the competition.
Islamist terrorists from “one of the world’s great religions” stormed a shopping mall in Kenya and brutally gunned-down dozens of innocent people. Refusing to blame the “religion of peace” for the massacre, leftists called for more Kenyan gun control to quell the violence.
Obama spoke today about the government’s budget and blamed the Republicans for something that hasn’t happened yet. He said if the GOP-controlled House causes the government to shut down, vital services will cease and desist. Barry O. needs to read more Human Events because we all know this isn’t true.
Topless protestors from the Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN ran onto the catwalk of a Parisian fashion show. Hollie-May Saker, a willowy model from Liverpool, did what should be done to all feminists: punched her in the face.
Teresa Mull is the managing editor of Human Events.

http://www.humanevents.com/2013/09/2...k-that-was-10/