Senator Ted Cruz (R-Dalek) has pushed a scorched earth agenda of attempting to nullify the 2012 Election cycle. He said this was the last chance to strangle Obamacare in the cradle. Cruz, Senator Rand Paul (R-Klingon Empire) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Romulan Empire) along with Senator Mike Lee (R-Sith) worked hard to whip the tea party base into a frenzy advocating defund or shut down. I doubt that it is coincidental that the first three have Presidential ambitions. After all when a Senator looks in the mirror they see a President.
Joining them were groups like The Heritage Foundation, FreedomWorks and the Senate Conservative Fund. These big money outfits launched ads targeting Republican House and Senate Members that were not on board for a Charge Of The Light Brigade gesture. The implication was vote to defund or face organized opposition in the next election cycle. Sarah Palin joined in making similar veiled threats.
The Right Wing nonsense machine climbed on board surprising no one.
Anyone who is even slightly sentient knows the Tea Party forced Speaker Boehner to fold and shut down the Federal Government.
Immediately the GOP tried to spin this as the Democrats in the Senate and The President shutting down the Government. Well, I guess it is standard to blame the victim of extortion when the hostage is injured. The spin was fast and furious. Fox News ran their usual fact challenged stories. The blogisphere chimed in.
Republican after Republican tried to convince the public that they didn't want the shut down. If only The President would be reasonable and undo his signature accomplishment from the first term. After all it was a central issue of the 2012 Presidential Campaign. The Republicans told everyone this election was a referendum on Obamacare. The people hated it and would show their distaste for socialism by electing Mittens Romney. Didn't quite work out the way they planned. Mitt had his bright white ass handed to him.
Since the Tea Party has never let facts get in the way of their beliefs, they decided the majority of Americans were in their camp. They thought this because the House stayed in Republican control. Gerrymandering had nothing to do with it. The President was reelected only because Mitt Romney wasn't conservative enough. They were once more betrayed by the Establishment Republican party. It was time to mutiny.
They did so.
Since January this Congress has concentrated on repealing and not replacing The ACA. They liken it to slavery. To Stalinism. To the Holocaust. After all healthcare is so like being bought and sold, or living under a bloodthirsty tyrant or being gassed to death by Nazis.
So, the self deception and political posturing the Tea Party brought us to where we are now.
A funny thing happened though. These Radical Republicans found a shut down also shuts down shit their constituents like. So they were outraged parks and memorials were closed. WIC, not so much. So a new plan sprung into being.
The new plan: It's the President's fault. That socialist is intentionally hurting Americans by shutting down the parks and memorials after we shut down the Government. So, we saw the parade of the outraged Republicans having photo ops on the Mall. One berated a National park employee for not opening the WW II Memorial. It was as if it was her fault it was closed, as if she took pleasure in turning away WW II veterans in wheelchairs. This Rep acted like shutting down the Government would only affect things he didn't like. A bystander called him out for asshatery.
So, this weekend Ted Cruz and his pal Sarah Palin spoke to a very tea party=ish protest on the Mall. The crowd cheered with every slam at the President and Democrats. They cheered as the ACA was assailed. The crowd carried the usual flags and placards. This time though the Confederate Stars and Bars battle flag waved to prove just how patriotic they are.
Patriotic? When last I checked, The Confederacy lost. They also lost in the Sixties as the Federal Government rejected cries of State's Rights, ended blatant segregation and overturned Jim Crow. Somehow these people have come to look at the Confederacy as heroes in the fight against Federal Supremacy which is set forth in the Document they claim to revere and study.
Citing State's Rights falls back on the political strategy of pro slave States in 1860. This resurgent drive to nullify Federal law is also an antebellum point of view. Post Reconstruction Jim Crow also relied on the claim of State's Rights. sorry, it didn't work out so well in the 1860's or 1960's. It shouldn't work now. But the current SCOTUS gives me pause.
So, the"patriots" marched to the White House carrying their flags and the barricades from the WW II Memorial.
Once there the called on President Obama to drop his Koran and come out with his hands up. This manages to toot every right wing racist dog whistle out there. Impeachment. PBO is a secret Muslim. He's anti American. He's guilty of being President while Black.
Ted Cruz is being vilified by his own Party. He doesn't care. This is all about 2016. At the Value Voters Summit he declared this rule by extortion was the plan for the next two years. He wonders why the GOP is tanking in the polls. He sees this pan as a path to the White House. He feels a majority of Americans are as racist as the Tea Party. That they are gullible enough to follow him. Well there are people who still think Sarah Palin is relevant.
So with Cruz saying he wants to make the current situation a plan of Government PBO and the Dems have no choice but to stand strong. Cruz wants to nullify the last election and make the President irrelevant. This can not be allowed.
Allowing nullification of elections would cripple any future POTUS and enact a dictatorship of the House Tea Party Politburo.
Just say NO!
Let's see what kind of damage we can inflict in 2014. Gerrymandering can only take you so far. Eventually you go too far for even your electorate. We need to find that line and shove these guys over it.
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