Norquist Slams Cruz: He Has No Plan on Shutdown

Newsmax ^ | Thursday, 03 Oct 2013 03:27 PM | Jim Meyers and John Bachman

[Olog-hai]

Sen. Ted Cruz has “no plan, no strategy” for resolving the conflict over Obamacare and the government shutdown—and should apologize to the Republicans he misled, low-tax crusader Grover Norquist tells Newsmax.

And Republicans are now “weaker” as a result of Cruz’s actions, the party strategist says.

But he believes Democrats may be willing to delay implementation of the healthcare reform act for a year so that its shortcomings won’t become evident before the November 2014 election. …

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Lol. The plan is Obama caves.

What don’t you understand?

We are on the verge of an historic CONSERVATIVE victory.

What’s not to like?

[Ann Archy]

Hey Norquist....STFU....Cruz is WINNING!!...Ah, maybe that’s why he THREATENS you.

[Ann Archy]

Cruz brought ATTENTION to the problem....geesh...if oly we had 50 OTHER SENATORS like him!!

[Ann Archy]

This is Obama and REID’s SHUTDOWN!! THEY PWN IT, LOCK, STOCK, and BARREL!!

[trebb]

Never had a strategy for the shutdown - put forth numerous compromises/solutions which the Dims rejected. What plan did/do the Dims have might be the better rant.

[MasterGunner01]

Now what does the old Sharia loving, Muslim lobbyist Grover Norquist get from slamming Sen. Ted Cruz? He wouldn't defend the Republic if his very life depended on it. This fraud needs to be deported to some Muslim-run dung heap in the Middle East...Syria comes to mind.

[SkyPilot]

Apologize, I was unable to post the article earlier as I have not yet mastered the art of HTML formatting while on an iPad.

Here it is:

Ted Cruz faced a barrage of hostile questions Wednesday from angry GOP senators, who lashed the Texas tea party freshman for helping prompt a government shutdown crisis without a strategy to end it.

" At a closed-door lunch meeting in the Senate’s Mansfield Room, Republican after Republican pressed Cruz to explain how he would propose to end the bitter budget impasse with Democrats, according to senators who attended the meeting. A defensive Cruz had no clear plan to force an end to the shutdown — or explain how he would defund Obamacare, as he has demanded all along, sources said.... But as the government shutdown heads into day three, a number of Republican senators privately blame the Texas freshman for contributing to the mess their party finds itself in. And now that they’re in it, they say it’s up to Cruz to help find a solution. “It was very evident to everyone in the room that Cruz doesn’t have a strategy – he never had a strategy, and could never answer a question about what the end-game was,” said one senator who attended the meeting. “I just wish the 35 House members that have bought the snake oil that was sold could witness what was witnessed today at lunch.”

Let me first say that I do admire Cruz for his willingness to fight. ObamaCare is an evil endeavor, far more evil than most Americans realize. It is not about health care, it is about control - and it will be deadly to not only health, but to our freedom.

Yes, Poltico leans left, as does most media, but it is one of the most insightful newsites regarding what is really happening in Washington, and it is clear that Cruz has no exit strategy. The "piecemeal" approach to funding this or that never had a prayer of a chance in the first place: Reid said he would not allow it and Obama said he would veto it if it came to his desk. The same goes for ObamaCare.

I have been on FR since 1998, and I am a conservative, military veteran, and evangelical Christian. But I don't like being lied to, and I also don't chase the "rainbows and chocolate fountains" fantasies about Washington DC political outcomes. The harsh reality is that the Republicans don't control the White House, and they don't control the Senate.

Any path out of the mess we are in will require some form of a compromise by all sides, as Newt Gingrich so eloquently wrote in his article 2 days ago.

Cruz stated (before his famous "filibuster") that there was no real way to repeal of defund ObamaCare. In fact, he repeatedly said it, here is just one:

Cruz: We Don't Have Votes in House or Senate to Defund Obamacare Now

So, what is the end game?

A good General does not lead his men onto the field of battle without first concluding that: A) there is a way to win, and B) no deserting his men on the field once the swords are unsheathed.

King Leonidas he ain't.

Cruz has no battle plan now. His 21 hour speech was his whole game plan.

So what do we do now?

The debt ceiling expires 16 Oct. I predict the markets will be rattled enough before that date where we will start to see some real damage. Bear this also in mind: our continued status as the world's Reserve Currency is already in decline, and this crisis can and will accelerate its demise. That means we will not longer be able to borrow as we have, and certainly not at our current interest rates. The interest we pay on current debt held will skyrocket, and that means less in the entire budget for everything, including mandatory spending programs (entitlements).

There is only real way out of this, and Boehner and Ryan seem to be gravitating towards it - the elusive "Grand Bargain" that is akin to the Simpson-Bowles compromise on tax and entitlement reform.

Again, I applaud Cruz for fighting. I know the score: we don't have the White House or the Senate. That is reality. Pretending that isn't reality isn't true is great to make oneself feel good, but the next day the hangover arrives and we are right back where we started. This will only be solved in the political arena, or it won't be solved at all.

[N. Theknow]

Hey Norquist!

The time has come for Republicans to make a choice.

It is time to either...

Stand up and be counted....

OR

Lie down and be mounted!

[Free Vulcan]

What Cruz handed you was A GIFT. If he hadn’t of stood up, things would have proceeded along their merry way without a whimper. The end game was not about getting out of this mess, because there’s no way out when you got guys like Boner and McConman running the show.

IF they had any cajones, they would have played this like a harp and pasted Obama and Reid for the heartless, calculating bastards they are on the way they’ve handled the shutdown, and the failure of Zerocare and used the polls and the threat of losing in ‘14 as a hammer to intimidate and take the piecemeal bills.

But they don’t and Cruz knew that, and the only card to play was to force it to a high profile standoff to wake up the electorate, and energize the Tea Party to primary these gutless RINO’s so that we have a TP majority in both houses in ‘14 that WILL do the right thing. He did that by making it high profile and forcing the GOP to take sides so that we now have the RINO caucus and the TP caucus to build on.

He did exactly as he should with no other card to play, threw it back on YOU and ME to take up the sword and make ‘14 happen for our side. It’s time we get off this veneration of leadership crap, stop worshiping icons, and get off our lazy asses and do what the Founders intended - preserve our Republic instead of waiting and whining that there’s no Big Kahuna to elevate to do the heavy lifting.

The heavy lifting is on our shoulders. And no doubt all that will ever happen at Freerepublic will be shouting and hand wringing, but never, EVER action. Nope, they will sit around for their political messiah to rescue them out of their decrepit armchairs.

[SoConPubbie]

Again, I applaud Cruz for fighting. I know the score: we don't have the White House or the Senate. That is reality. Pretending that isn't reality isn't true is great to make oneself feel good, but the next day the hangover arrives and we are right back where we started. This will only be solved in the political arena, or it won't be solved at all.

And Cruz responded to this crap by stating what he had stated all along, the fight has always been in the house, for the house to do it's job CONSTITUTIONALLY, to defund ObamaCare.

If you had been paying attention, you would have known that.

He even suggested that the house should send a series of continuing resolutions to the Senate funding one department after another and dare them to vote the CRs down.

ONCE AGAIN, this was his stated plan both before and after the posted garbage that the weak-sisters in the House responded with that you mentioned above.

[SoConPubbie]

Furthermore, you can allow yourself to be played by a bunch of politicians that had to be dragged to PROVING they really didn’t support Obamacare, or you can believe what Senator Cruz has been stating along.

The choice is yours.

Senator Cruz has done us all a HUGE favor, he has pulled back the veil and unveiled those who are actually for us, and those who were just mouthing words we wanted to hear and in the process, forced many who didn’t want to, to actually make good on their words.