Posted on 10/12/2013 5:08:48 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Tensions between Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other potential 2016 presidential contenders over the government shutdown were visible just beneath the surface at Friday's Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.
Cruz fired up the conservative crowd with a demand that they double down in their fight against ObamaCare, ripping establishment Republicans as well as Democrats for opposing him in his quest.
But even in the aftermath of Cruz's fiery speech, others shied away from any discussion of the high-profile confrontation.
The shutdown went unmentioned by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), both early champions of the defunding battle.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who is working toward a compromise with the White House on the shutdown and debt ceiling that does not erode ObamaCare, made a short argument for his alternate plan in Friday afternoon video message to the group.
The GOP leaders' avoidance of the high-profile battle at the conference was an important illustration of the delicate position in which they find themselves.
The conservative base loves Cruz for his defunding push and "with us or against us" mentality, but polls show the effort is hurting the Republican brand.
Paul's and Rubio's dodges, and Ryan's implicit rebuke, demonstrate that they are seeking to avoid being tainted by the fight's fallout while avoiding any confrontation with the party’s base.
Cruz used his speech to frame the debate over ObamaCare and the government shutdown in stark terms, painting it as a key battle in the larger war for individual freedom.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
They will let Cruz get as far out on the branch as possible, then they will cut off the branch.
Make no mistake, everything the GOP is doing is to destroy Cruz.
The reason the “Republican Brand” is being hurt by Cruz is because he has demonstrated that the Republicans by and large are just a bunch of gutless hypocritical cowards.
The liberals hate the GOP because they are not democrats. Conservatives hate the GOP because they are not Republicans.
Except for Peter King R(NY). He was on MSNBC bashing Cruz and speaking like a repub candidate for 2016.
I would like to know if these are the same “polls” that show how much everyone loves obamacare? Communist aholes
I think the elitist appeasing Republican establishment has pretty much sealed its fate. They aren’t going to get those ‘independent’ moderates, they aren’t going to get blacks, nor are they going to get Hispanics no matter how much they appease. They are forever relegated to second-tier power and status because they as a national party have lost conservatives pretty much forever at this point.
I really couldn’t give a rat’s patootie about he GOP any more. Only to the extent that we can extort actions like this shutdown, etc. will I tolerate them. No money, not votes, no nothing for any GOPe anymore.
My vote, support and money are now only for Conservatives.
King is auditioning for the token Republican seat in the next Democrat cabinet and like many out here in fly over country, he knows Cruz is probably the only Republican that stands a snowballs chance in Hell of winning
Yesterday on CNN saw him riffing and heard the favorable crowd reactions while I had a breakfast sandwich at McDbag, he was definitely on the vik’!
[snip] Paul’s and Rubio’s dodges, and Ryan’s implicit rebuke, demonstrate that they are seeking to avoid being tainted by the fight’s fallout while avoiding any confrontation with the party’s base. [/snip]
If Cruz or Palin are not eh presidential candidates at this point in time I guess I will be writing in a name.
None of the others impress me a bit.
I agree with your assessment about the demise of the “elitist appeasing Republican establishment.” Just one thing to note: the RNC continues to fund raise using voices like McCain in letters to rail about the far-left Dem agenda. The disconnect between the fund raising letters and their actual rhetoric in DC is astounding. They now how the base feels, but are completely unwilling to represent the base in DC.
Sometimes people are more interested in what a politician doesn’t do than they are about what they say they will do.
By the time 2016 rolls around history will have validated that attempting to stop Obiecare will have been worth the shutdown and many will wish that the battle had been more vigiorusly engaged.
Rush put it so well Friday: The GOP should be doing everything to make their best customer base (conservatives, grass roots, Tea Party) happy and coming back, but they aren’t.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
So do we vote for the balless and the gutless?
So I guess we know who we have to vote for, CRUZ 2016
Nah, GOP is the right wing of the Democratic party.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.