Posted on 02/13/2014 4:51:45 PM PST by SeekAndFind
There’s no man or woman in red-state America these days with more power than Cruz to set a new conservative litmus test. But c’mon: How many of you need to be formally warned at this point by your favorite Republican that the House is looking to sell out border hawks on immigration reform? It’s like blaming Rand Paul for turning libertarians against the NSA. He plays a useful role in bringing attention to the issue, but those people turned on their own initiative ages ago. Same here.
Cruz won’t mind being blamed for this one, though.
House Republicans who supported the “principles” of immigration reform floated by Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, late last month grumbled Tuesday that the plan was dead on arrival because Cruz blasted it as “amnesty,” spurring a blizzard of negative phone calls to House Republicans…
Later that day [on January 30th, when the House GOP released its immigration principles], while Boehner was closeted with colleagues miles from the nation’s capital, Cruz used back-to-back television appearances to invoke the politically charged word “amnesty” to characterize the legalization offered by Boehner’s plan.
By the time the GOP caucus broke up and Boehner headed back to Capitol Hill on Jan. 31, the House speaker was backtracking. Republican lawmakers so distrusted President Obama’s readiness to enforce any immigration law that GOP lawmakers would not support immigration reform before the 2014 midterm congressional elections in November, Boehner declared.
Asked about his influential remarks Tuesday, Cruz said the Boehner plan was “inconsistent with the rule of law” and “a political mistake,” adding that he was “glad to see Republicans in the House agreed.”
Would any tea-party Republicans in the House have embraced the leadership’s immigration plan if Cruz had kept quiet? It’s not pressure from big-name conservatives that keeps them in line, it’s the fact that they come from overwhelmingly red districts and know what backing amnesty would mean for their primary chances. The more interesting thought experiment is what would have happened if Cruz had shocked the world and declared that Boehner’s plan sounded promising. That might have shaken loose some conservative votes for amnesty; there’s no sturdier political cover on the right at the moment than being able to say that Ted Cruz supports your position. I wonder if he’s ever tempted to do it, if only to bigfoot rivals like Rubio and Rand Paul by showing them he can bring righties around on an immigration deal to an extent that they can’t. Or maybe he doubts that he even has that much cachet. If Rubio’s tea-party cred could be incinerated in one stroke by trying to lead on this issue, why on earth would Cruz touch it?
His next conservative venture, incidentally, is the State Marriage Defense Act, which he introduced with Mike Lee yesterday. That’s a response both to the Supreme Court’s Windsor decision last year, striking down part of DOMA, and to Holder’s announcement earlier this week that the DOJ will begin acknowledging same-sex marriages as legitimate for federal legal purposes (e.g., invoking the spousal privilege during federal trials) regardless of whether the underlying state law recognizes them or not. Cruz’s and Lee’s bill would force the feds to follow state marriage law as guidance on that. It’s going nowhere in the Senate, needless to say, but it’s a smart bit of politics in both tackling a subject of social conservative concern and proposing a federalist solution to it that centrists can live with.
“I wonder if he’s ever tempted to do it, if only to bigfoot rivals like Rubio and Rand Paul by showing them he can bring righties around on an immigration deal to an extent that they can’t. ...”
Cruz is a principled guy. I doubt he’d even consider this as it’s betray those principles.
Peter King is Irish.
I hate to tell the “house republicans” this, but the people aren’t with you. They’re with Cruz and they’re against amnesty. They really need to buy a clue.
Yeah, that’s how we get them to leave.
I do admit that it’s from some time back — rusty memory alert [one reason why I voiced confusion]. Cruz has been considistent then?
-— Thank God for the wisdom of Texas voters. -—
And don’t forget Sarah. He couldn’t have done it without her endorsement.
NumbersUSA has 1.3 million members.
Some of the House Republicans also wanted an out like Labrador and Ted Poe.
If Boehner for some reason is not speaker in 2015 Poe, Labrador and Gowdy should be kicked off the judiciary. If McConnell wanted to engage with the GOP base he should kick Graham, Flake, Hatch and Cornyn off the judiciary.
Tom Cotton could take one of the places on the Senate judiciary. Put Enzi, Risch and Crapo on the judiciary. Of course never let Rand Paul near the Senate judiciary.
YOU GOT CHOCOLATE IN MY PEANUT BUTTER!
YOU GOT PEANUT BUTTER IN MY CHOCOLATE!
That reminds me of the old board game for boys, when your opponent says “They Sunk My Battleship!!”. I know Ted Cruz’s father is so proud of son, as are many of us here.
Ted Cruz, I hope you and your staff monitor this site. Keep up the good work. We respect you out here.
Thank the Lord! ...and I find some strong irony in that Ted has Hispanic roots. Cannot call him a racist.
I don't believe in hero worship and I don't care about famous people. I usually don't like any enlisted over E-7 and hate the majority of commissioned officers I've ever met.
General Mattis would come the closest to me as a hero. Hearing that man talk is refreshing. He's No BS. It didn't matter if you were a Colonel or a Private, if you had a smart idea he'd use it. If it was stupid - you knew it.
When everyone was trying to caudal the Iraqi tribal leaders and hold their hands........Mattis looked them in the eye and threatened to kill them if they didn't play along.
When other commanders shied away from confrontation with town leaders, Mattis told them if they stepped out of line, the survivors would "write about what we do here for the next 10,000 years."
When everyone wanted to pretend Fallujah didn't exist - Mattis wanted to go in and kill every terrorist there. I think we placed the muzzie body count at 2K+ after he got his wish.
When 0 et al listed their limp-wristed approach to dealing with Iran - Mattis wanted to know - 'and then what?,' 'And after that, what's next?'
For bothering to care and being concerned with 2nd and 3rd order effects of political decisions and how they impacted military operations - he was relieved.
The last time I'd met Mattis, he'd never been married and still didn't personally own a television. There's no comparison between Mattis and the philandering security leak Patraeus, or the Affirmative Action General.
Now, the above said - I don't know the rest of his politics and whether I'd want him as President.
I know he loves his country. I know watching his approach to foreign policy would be fun.
I know every tinpot dictator and terrorist wannabe would wet themselves for fear he'd wipe them off the map and send in Marines to mop up the puddles.
If he was elected on the promise of securing the border? I can definitely picture claymores, .50s, SMAWs, LAWS, AT4s, M1A2 Abrams, Harriers and Predator drones as threats to Paco and Miguel's well being on their attempts to sneak into America.
I'd like to hear more of his [Mattis] politics and maybe see him run.
I hear ya on wanting the military to be better used and backed up by the CIC here at home. But he sounds like he might be a military version of David Souter.
I understand your enthusiasm for Senator Cruz for POTUS, but I have a different take on this subject. I believe that he is in the right place where he can be more effective at this stage of his career. I think that he could and would be the best Senate Majority Leader this country has ever had and that would be a tremendous contribution.
The job of POTUS is going to require someone that has experience and respect in the International front. Someone that our Allies know that they can trust when (not if) things reach a critical mass with the Muzzies and the Commies.
Conversely, we are going to be required to re-establish the high degree of RESPECT and FEAR that our Enemies had for our military (and National Resolve) that Obama has severely diminished. I do not believe that Senator Cruz has this in his resume’, at least not after serving in the Senate for only one year.
That is why, at this point, I am hoping to see General James Mattis run for the office. Our Allies know this man as well as our Enemies. They have seen his strengths and know that he will not be trifled with by the Bad Guys.
Just my honest opinion.
Amen..... for president, to sort out the mess, we need a governor or even a strong corporate CEO. Strong executive skills are an absolute necessity.
Cruz while a fantastic conservative ideologue, exhibits no administrative credential
A lawyer still damp behind the ears is not my choice.
In any case....I’ll not be offering them a shot of tequila and a burrito.....
Pretty much got that right.
No hobla espanol.
I’ve lived in TEXAS for 40 years and have seen no reason to learn that language.
Just so we are clear on TED CRUZ. I love and respect the man and KNOW that he is the “real deal”.
I just believe that he is perfectly positioned to have the greatest impact in restoring our Country to where we belong.
To use a football analogy, where EDDIE LACY is one outstanding Running-back, I would not want to see him lining up behind Center in a 4th and Forever situation in the final seconds of a 2 point game.
All other countries in the world, many with far less resources, control their borders. Why can’t we?
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