According to Salon‘s Alex Seitz-Wald, the Teahadists have a new Great Off-White Hope, and the Southern Strategists’ Fortunate Son does not approve:
Ted Cruz is off to a fast start. After just six weeks in the Senate, he’s already managed to earn a rare bipartisan condemnation for stealing the show at Chuck Hagel’s confirmation hearings in a performance that got him compared to Joseph McCarthy and profiled by half the major media organizations the country…
Even as the Tea Party movement, per se, may be waning, the activists remain and they will need a voice in Washington. The rapid ascent of the well-spoken Cruz has pleased many conservative activists hungry for more. “We salute you, Senator Cruz, and we’re calling for backup,” a much-shared RedState post read.
But it may not put any smiles on the face of Sen. Rand Paul, who is himself trying to become the de-facto leader of the very same movement and who helped get Cruz where he is today….
Paul has been openly considering a run for the presidency in four years, following in the footsteps of his father, and has set a reasonably cautious course to get there. “I would absolutely not run unless it were to win,” he told Fox News host Chris Wallace Sunday. “You know, points have been made and we’ll continue to make points, but I think the country really is ready for the narrative coming, libertarian Republican narrative.”
While a win for Paul seems impossible, he could still put up a solid showing to solidify himself as a national movement leader, just as his father did….
The horse-race narrative seems to be that Rand “If I Were President” Paul would salve his political ambitions by treating his Senate seat as a properly glibertarian small-business inheritance from his more ambitious old man — a sinecure that would keep him moderately prosperous and in the public eye, while still allowing plenty of time to work on his golf handicap. But if the Villagers are going to gin up Ted Cruz as the right-wing Obama, can we hope that Paul’s wounded lèse-majesté will force him to defend his inherited prerogatives?
Paddy
Just for fun- Squirrely Graham Thinks He Found Nut In Hagel Inquisition… Basic Reading Skills Needed.
I swear they’re just idjits playing other idjits.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Ryan went nuts when Rubio did the rebuttal to the SOTU, so much so he had to do one of his own. Rand has been chomping at the bit as well. How dare the party of white people promote these little brown babies to the front of the line? That shit is AFFIRMATIVE MOTHERFUCKING ACTION, and those unworthy brown borderjumpers need to get back to mowing lawns while the Serious White Folk, privileged scions of generations of Serious White Folk, go about the business of running the nation.
Mustang Bobby
Small problem for Mr. Cruz’s presidential hopes: he was born in Canada.
Of course, we haven’t actually seen the birth certificate….
Hill Dweller
@Mustang Bobby: And he is bat shit crazy.
Trollhattan
Meanwhile…Michelle “Long-Con” Rhee takes her roadshow north.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020389383_rheeeducationxml.html?cmpid=2628
She’s a “reformer” in the same sense I’m a nuclear physicist. In that I’ve met a few and can spell it.
jl
@Mustang Bobby:
” Small problem for Mr. Cruz’s presidential hopes: he was born in Canada. ”
Invade Canada, annex it, and make his natural born citizenship retroactive.
SATSQ!
The poor Canadians, oppressed by socialism and dying so tragically young due to their commie health care system, will greet us as liberators.
As Jefferson said about the last try in the War of 1812, “it will be a mere matter of marching.”
Since we did march in 1812… not sure why Canada isn’t annexed already, but that is all egghead airy-fairy history stuff that a practical man of affairs like myself don’t have time to waste bothering about.
Ted & Hellen
By BJ Kool Kid standards, isn’t this kind of racist?
Trollhattan
@Paddy:
Without reading it, I’m gonna guess this “nut” is Benghazi flavor. Or is it the French Hezbollah Brownie Troop again?
NotMax
Cruz? Paul?
Pfeh. Flash-in-the-pan showboaters, who wouldn’t recognize politesse if it slapped them upside the head.
Open Thread?
Goody.
The silence enveloping the decades-old Oscar bomb has at long last been broken.
Chris
I’ve grown up hearing “Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line,” but I really don’t think you can say that anymore. Nowadays, it’s the right wing that seems poised to tear itself into smaller and smaller groups divided over comically incomprehensible ideological differences, Judean People’s Front style.
Meanwhile, I don’t think Democratic voters will be too keen to rally around any Naders in the future, not after the absolute disaster that happened last time. The lesson of hanging together so as to not hang separately appears to have been processed.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Mustang Bobby:
Cruz and Rand Paul are vying for the position of Grifter-In-Chief of the Teahddists. The phrase “Paul has been openly considering a run for the presidency in four years, following in the footsteps of his father…” is the tell. Ron Paul has always had about as much chance as a fart in a hurricane to be elected POTUS. On the other hand, running added gravitas and staying power to his grifting.
JPL
@Mustang Bobby: His mother is from Delaware and his father is from Cuba. Birth Certificates only matter if your father is from Kenya and the place where you are born, only matters if you are black.
Eric U.
I’m always surprised that Rand Paul has managed to survive another month without fatally injuring himself somehow
jl
@Chris: The sane serious white daddy GOP leaders have no exit. The GOP base that dominates the primaries won’t allow any sanity at all. Thus, a fanatic fire breather like Cruz.
See what happened when McCain tried to sell immigration reform to his primary base of support.
McCain Jeered At Town Hall After Opposing Mass Deportation
TPM, Benjay Sarlin
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/mccain-jeered-at-town-hall-after-opposing-mass
TPM Editor’s Blog
Josh Marshall
Video of that McCain Townhall
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/02/video_of_that_mccain_townhall.php
bemused
The Villagers haven’t exactly had a good track record of long lasting success in elevating right-wing Obamas.
amk
paulturds won how many states exactly for him in his perpetual prezzie run?
MikeJ
@Chris:
They *hated* Mitt Romney, but they voted for him anyway. The Mormon “centrist” won in a primary dominated by fundegelical teahadists because it was his turn.
Republicans will always do as they are told. They wouldn’t be Republicans if they could think for themselves.
Baud
@Eric U.:
He does seen like someone who ate too much lead paint as a child…
jl
OK, here are the quotes from McCain’s AZ townhall on immigration reform. Sounds like McCain’s counsel regarding our national religion went unheeded by the crowd of maniacs that showed up.
TPM Editor’s Blog
Beginning of a Trend?
Josh Marshall
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/02/beginning_of_a_trend.php
‘ Some audience members shouted out their disapproval.
One man yelled that only guns would discourage illegal immigration. Another man complained that illegal immigrants should never be able to become citizens or vote. A third man said illegal immigrants were illiterate invaders who wanted free government benefits.
McCain urged compassion.
“We are a Judeo-Christian nation,” he said. ‘
Litlebritdifrnt
@JPL:
I just love that three of the “contenders” as it were all have birther problems, Cruz (born in Canada), Rubio (born in US when his parents were not yet citizens) Jindal (ditto). I have to give some of the birthers credit they have been consistent on this, and have seen several of them post stuff about Rubio and Jindal not being qualified because they were not born in the US to two citizens. While their theory is bullshit you have to give them credit for at least sticking to their theory (unless of course it has something to do with the fact that Rubio and Jindal are not exactly white).
Robin G.
Was there already a discussion about the Downton finale?
gogol's wife
@Robin G.:
There has been utter silence on that score, as far as I’ve been able to tell. But then we were told to go find a Downton Abbey chat room when we tried to discuss last week’s episode after it aired on PBS, so maybe people are cowed.
Suffern ACE
Ah. I’m off to a very unexpected visitation. My work mentor retired a few months ago and now I need to stand in the line. Didn’t want the retirement party, but said we’d get together after the holidays when he felt more comfortably retired. I think I’m going to ask him how retirement is treating him. I’m sure he’s comfortable and settled into the new stage.
AA+ Bonds
“libertarian Republican”? Christ, you’re about ten years too late for that line dude
aimai
@Litlebritdifrnt: They didn’t stick to their theory when McCain “born in the Panama Canal” was running. I’ll give them credit for consistency when they demand the long form birth certificates ++ local newspaper announcements for a white guy.
NotMax
More Open Thread goodiness:
Clean is a relative term. The combustion is dirty by nature, but there does seem to be some promising movement to better containment and capture of the worst of the produced bad stuff.
Interesting was that the system was shut down solely because the 9-person crew was simply too dog tired from working shifts with no break for more than 200 hours, not for any technical reason.
More here: New Coal Technology Harnesses Energy Without Burning, Nears Pilot-Scale Development
Hard to find data, though, on whether this is readily (and efficiently) applicable to just certain strains of coal. But there is this tidbit:
AA+ Bonds
I mean what on God’s green Earth indicates that libertarianism is on its way up
Redshift
There was a New Yorker profile in the fall about Texas Republicans, contrasting a guy (congressional candidate?) who could see that their demographic future required appealing to Latinos and was working on it, and Cruz, a leader of the “hate them illegals, but vote for me!” faction.
Cruz won, the other guy lost. The ship of yahoos isn’t turning around any time soon.
MattF
Thing about Cruz is that he’s an asshole. A smart asshole (perhaps… depending on exactly which chapter-and-verse of the Asshole Scriptures you take as gospel), a verbally competent asshole. Wingers luuurves them that.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Redshift:
When you’re leading a horde of zombies you don’t want to stop and tell them not to eat brains.
Paddy
@Trollhattan: It’s “OMG!1!! Were you REALLY mean to Israel?? I heard you were… Prove it’s a lie” version.
Redshift
@AA+ Bonds: Libertarianism is always on the way up, just like chocolate rations are always up.
Ben Franklin
OT; Biden recommends a shotgun…..I assume with rifled slugs…..for defending the spouse and household.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-joe-biden-shotgun-20130220,0,1822293.story
ricky
Wise warning from elsewhere in the Reality Based netroots.
“The Keystone XL Pipeline, which, if completed and used, scientists say, would effectively end the ability of the Earth to support human life.”
Redshift
@Paddy: And even if Hagel had said exactly those words, the outrage amounts to “how dare Hagel say things that are undeniably true and have been said in print by many prominent Israeli politicians!”
But it’s not like we didn’t already know that in American politics, “anti-Israel” means “anti-Likud.”
Litlebritdifrnt
@aimai:
True but that entire issue was put to bed for them because he was born “on US soil” ie., at the Naval Hospital, and it was actually declared by Congress. Believe me I am not defending the birthers by any manner of means (I have been fighting them for five years now), but I am simply giving them credit for being consistent (some of them), there are still those who are now making all sorts of excuses for Rubio and Jindal, but there are those who are not.
Eric U.
I count myself lucky that my first exposure to libertarianism was a prof that explained that the issue of nuclear waste should be solved by the people harmed by it suing. Nothing I’ve seen from libertarians since then has made any more sense.
Trollhattan
@Paddy:
Ah, the old “When did you stop beating Bibi?” trope. Always good for a spittle bath.
These guys are unbelievable. I forget, when does the Knesset vote on our SecDef, again?
schrodinger's cat
Ted Cruz only appeals to the 27%. He has crazy eyes like Bachmann. I don’t see his appeal.
schrodinger's cat
I am having a crappy week. I have to decide whether to go for FIL’s one year death anniversary in India. There are apparently four days of rituals to go through. Kitteh was sick and had to take her to the vet this morning. She is OK now.
jl
I guess google glasses can do wonderful things, but some of the still pics in the story do not show impressive applications.
One shows a horizon at dawn and the glasses tell you it is dawn.
Another, the glasses to tell you the Brooklyn Bridge is the Brooklyn Bridge and about a mile long.
And a third, the glasses tell give you an airline flight’s schedule, in an airport, where there are signs all over the place.
These kids today and their garboyld glasses or whatever the heck. You damn clouds get off my lawn, right now!
TPM
What Using Google’s High-Tech Glasses Looks Like
http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/what-using-googles-high-tech-glasses-looks-like.php
jl
@Eric U.:
” I count myself lucky that my first exposure to libertarianism was a prof that explained that the issue of nuclear waste should be solved by the people harmed by it suing. ”
People who glow in court enough to light it up all by themselves tend to be successful in their lawsuits. Any libertarian can tell you that.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@bemused:
Watching The Villagers trying to find and promote a right-wing Obama is like watching Mr Gumby demonstrate flower arranging. Except that in this case the flowers have it coming.
Chris
@Eric U.:
My first exposure was in the comments section of what would become a part of PJMedia, where it was explained to me (I was still apolitical-leaning-right) that the Gilded Age robber barons were entirely right to use violence against workers who went on strike, because it was the only way to break union leaders’ reign of terror.
I think that was the first time it occurred to me that there are people who really and truly worship wealth and power for their own sake and are willing to justify anything the Master did and believe any fantasy the Master said.
AA+ Bonds
@Redshift:
What’s LOL to me is how 2012 demonstrated that “libertarian” issues (pot, immigration reform, etc.) only get traction when young Democrats vote for them because of overall high Democratic turnout, causing Democratic victories up the ticket. Even when “libertarian Republicans” win, they lose.
Rand Paul and company have cause and effect backwards. There’s no votes for them to peel off, because the people going to the polls with coincidentally “libertarian” views on popular issues are already voting for Democrats even when those Democrats are pro-drug war, etc. And in return, opposition to “libertarian” opinions becomes a litmus test for every Republican candidate among older Republican primary voters. Which is why Rand Paul won in Kentucky as an ultra-rightist repudiating his father’s views for the convenience of his campaign.
Is America ready for a pro-pot President? Yeah, just like they’re ready for a black President – he just has to be a Democrat, because the majority are not voting for a Republican, no matter what.
NotMax
@ Litlebritdifrnt
Rubio is almost too easy to deflate.
As rubio is Spanish for blond, just global replace into every blond/blonde joke.
Q: How many Rubios does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: I don’t think a Rubio can fit in a light bulb.
Q: How many Rubios does it take to make popcorn?
A: Five. One to hold the pan and four to shake the stove.
Roger Moore
@MikeJ:
No. The one remotely organized and well-funded candidate beat a field of grifters, idiots, and lunatics. Which of Bachmann, Perry, Paul, Cain, Gingrich, or Santorum was a remotely serious candidate?
Robin G.
@gogol’s wife: Hmmm. Is it still on spoiler-hold? I mean, seems to me that after it’s aired it’s fair game.
lojasmo
@Ted & Hellen:
No, it’s RAAAAACISM. Isn’t that how you wingnut fucktards roll?
Roger Moore
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Really? Which of them have suggested McCain wasn’t qualified because he was born in the Panama Canal Zone?
gogol's wife
@Robin G.:
That’s what I would have thought, but somebody got really angry last Monday because a few of us made a few not-terribly-specific comments on the last night’s episode. Anyway, what did you think? I thought it could have been handled better. But I’m still addicted.
Ben Franklin
Is America ready for a pro-pot President? Yeah, just like they’re ready for a black President – he just has to be a Democrat, because the majority are not voting for a Republican, no matter what.
Oh, I thought you said Pol Pot President, because that would surely happen first.
bemused
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Ha, that’s about right.
Jibeaux
I think before eyeing the preznincy ol’ Rand should take a crack at getting optometry licensure from a board he didn’t start. You know, show ’em you’re serious.
Robin G.
@gogol’s wife: I’ve known for ages, so it wasn’t a surprise, but I think it’s a pretty devestating blow for the show. I mean, it was that character’s story, really; that was the narrative thread that guided the show from the beginning. I’ve been growing steadily more “eh” as time has gone on, but I’m in it for as long as the Dowager Countess is snarking. (Also, I want to see Carson babysitting. I imagine he kept an informal eye on Lady Mary when she was a wee one, and that’s how their relationship developed. Then I cry. Fave. Relationship. Ever.)
ranchandsyrup
While Rubio, Rand and Ryan spend time bickering, Ol’ Jeb is biding his time and using Poppy and Bar’s contacts to consolidate the old guard and wrangle the rubes under his tent.
schrodinger's cat
@Robin G.: Is it just me who finds Mary insufferable?
Robin G.
@schrodinger’s cat: Probably not, though I grew to like her. It’s Sybll and Tom I could never stand.
AA+ Bonds
@Ben Franklin:
Don’t look now but the President is black.
NotMax
@ranchandsyrup
The – uh, er – complexion of Jeb’s wife and kids should not be underestimated in raising the hackles of the 27% nationally.
Ben Franklin
@AA+ Bonds:
The Hell, you say. So, why is he anti-pot?
ranchandsyrup
@NotMax: At some point, I believe that they’ll set that aside and use Jebby’s wife and son as a selling point so they can get the voting coalition they need. Just speculating, though.
Keith G
@Mustang Bobby:
@Litlebritdifrnt:
And others.
Senator Ted Cruz’s mom was a US citizen working in Canada when lil Ted was born. He is eligible to run for President.
gogol's wife
@Robin G.:
I love Mary. I guess it’s my inner snob (in real life I’m about as un-snobbish as can be, but for some reason I sympathize with her). I never got into the Sybil-Tom relationship. Unlike Mary and Matthew, they had zero chemistry as far as I could tell. But he’s been growing on me since the disaster. And of course Carson is our absolute favorite character. Just that voice!
quannlace
So, grandstanding blow-hards it is! I guess the GOP really learned a lot from the 2012 primaries.
Ruckus
@Eric U.:
How do you know that he isn’t a hologram?
That would explain how unlifelike he is, though it still wouldn’t explain that long haired rat on his head.
muddy
@Ruckus: Probably someone told him the ladies like curls. Or his mommy told him how beautiful it was every day when he was little.
AxelFoley
@bemused:
They think they’ve got something with Ben Carson.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Robin G.:
I thought the show went completely to hell after the Titanic sank.
AA+ Bonds
@Ben Franklin:
Because he sucks, I don’t know? The President sucks? He ain’t your friend? He’s the top cop in cop town?
WereBear
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: No spoilers.
:)
Higgs Boson's Mate
@WereBear:
Killjoy. Then I’ll leave out what happened with the suitor and the stump broke calf.
Joel
@Ted & Hellen: please, lanny, elaborate.
xian
@lojasmo: well, we got to 42 more comments before someone had to feed the troll
handsmile
ATTENTION: THIS IS A COMMENT ABOUT THE FINALE OF DOWNTOWN ABBEY. AVERT YOUR EYES IF NECESSARY.
@gogol’s wife, @Robin G.: , @schrodinger’s cat:
I’m afraid that my disenchantment with the series has only deepened with the conclusion of this third season (and I was an absolute zealot after the first, an enthusiasm I had never known for any previous television melodrama on the British aristocracy).
Too many extraneous subplots, too many thinly-sketched characters, fleeting attention to major characters (e.g., Lady Grantham), some rather too tidy and unconvincing resolutions of conflicts. And will the Crawley family ever risk another childbirth? This sad repetition a real creative failure on the part of Julian Fellowes.
Of course, even with these demurrals, I will continue to watch Downton Abbey upon its return next year. The literacy of its writing and the overall quality of performances surpasses any other current television series. But I now rather hope that its conclusion is not long postponed.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
The horse-race narrative seems to be that Rand “If I Were President” Paul would salve his political ambitions by treating his Senate seat as a properly glibertarian small-business inheritance from his more ambitious old man — a sinecure that would keep him moderately prosperous and in the public eye, while still allowing plenty of time to work on his golf handicap.
Rand Paul – the Prince Joffrey of the US Senate…