(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
… and in every year, suffer a million pains, as the old curse goes. Tailgunner Ted’s grandstanding has been a great argument — against his own party.
Here’s ‘The Fix’ in the Washington Post:
… “In an effort to help him run for president, he has done some stuff that’s really damaging to our country,” Reid told Univision, according to an advance transcript. “He’s been attempting to raise money. And who has he hurt? He has hurt average Americans. The government being shutdown for 14 or 15 days, that has been very hurtful to people. Not only the people that work for government, but the people who work around government.”…
Reid also said that if Republicans go down the same road again in future budget talks, they will imperil their House majority — which is otherwise considered relatively safe — in 2014.
“The American people will not put up with that” approach, Reid said. “And if this happens again — I don’t think it will, but if it does — I think the House of Representatives will go Democratic.”
And Greg Sargent:
… It’s easy to make fun of GOP Rep. Peter King, but he was one of the few to call out GOP insanity from the inside early in this process. Now, in an interesting and entertaining interview with Capital New York, he’s calling for Republicans to wage war on Ted Cruz. King predicts the Texas Senator will try do this all again in a few months, and crucially, he points out that it’s on the non-crazy Republicans to prevent this from happening… [Cruz] will claim that victory was at hand, if only the corrupt GOP establishment hadn’t gone all weak-kneed at the last minute. Remember, Ted Cruz’s strategy to liberate the country from Obamacare can’t have failed; it was failed…
But if the Cruzites do demand another round of crises, it will put rank and file Republican officials and candidates in a quandry. It’s unlikely that the Cruzian zeal for confrontation — or the anger at the insufficiently zealous GOP establishment – will have diminished. Rush Limbaugh is already excoriating the GOP for trying too hard to make people “like them.” (Dude, if that’s true, it ain’t working.) Erick Erickson is muttering darkly about primary challenges. As Francis Wilkinson explains: “The Republican Party is an object of contempt to many on the far right, whose adamant convictions threaten what they perceive as Republican complacency…they demand a higher level of fealty to their goals than pragmatic middle-of-the-roaders can bear.” …
And yesterday,(via Billmon) Democracy Corps is maybe just a little gleeful:
Keep in mind, Ted Cruz is mainstream in the Republican base. According to the latest national survey conducted for Democracy Corps and Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund, which fielded just last week, Ted Cruz is right at the center of a Republican Party that is majority Tea Party and Evangelical. Combined, these groups make up over half of Republican partisans, and comprise over 60 percent of the GOP when you include the religious observants.
Cruz is immensely popular with Tea Party adherents. Among this group, 75 percent give him a positive rating and half give him an intensely positive rating (over 75 on our 100-point scale.) His average rating among this group is a stunning 81.8 out of 100. While he is less well known among Evangelical Republicans, he is no less popular among those who identify him—40 percent give him a positive rating, a third are intensely favorable toward him. On average, Evangelicals give Cruz a rating of 75.9 out of 100…
[E]ven as pundits label Cruz as “fringe,” it is critical to remember that this is only true when talking about the national electorate. In his own party, there is nothing “fringe” about Ted Cruz. He is right at the center.
************
Apart from schadenfreude, what’s on the agenda today?
NotMax
Cruz d’etat?
Ain’t gonna happen. Reid & McConnell have sufficient Senate support to defuse Cruz.
OzarkHillbilly
To be honest? After reading the above I have no sense of schadenfreude, only a growing foreboding in the pit of my stomach for what we will have to endure these next 1-3 years. Maybe beyond. These people are not lucid. They are angry and full of hate. Ask them of what and they will be unable to give a coherent answer, other than the opposite of what ever your position of the moment is.
And they are the GOP right now.
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: not enough coffee yet. other than of what ever your position of the moment is.
geg6
What has given me hope in the last couple of days are the poll numbers that Kilgore has been teasing out regarding the senior vote. The GOP is tanking with that demographic. My guess is that contingent is quite concerned about fiscal responsibility and any threats to their SS and Medicare and what the current GOP has been playing at is not amusing to them. If those numbers continue or get worse, we could possibly see a miracle next fall.
Jeffro
So Ted Cruz walks up to the 2016 GOP convention and goes, “Hey Christie, I think got a few million ground troops here who’ll stay home if I’m not on the ticket…”
WereBear
If Cruz is the vehicle for people to see what the Republican party has truly become, we might yet reap some good out of this.
It is immensely frustrating to me to be surrounded by people who shrug off the Crazee with variations on “Oh, they are just saying that to get attention.”
Me: “But they are actually doing it.”
Them: “Well, that’s not MY Republican party.” And then they go out and vote for the latest farm animal molester served up by the primary system…
billgerat
Christ, if Cruz is the Republican center, I hate to think about those that are to the right of him. He’s the worst thing, next to Palin, that has happened to the Republican party, and the best thing ever for the Democrats. I can hardly wait for the Cast of Crazy that will be the Republican primaries in 2016.
Poopyman
@Jeffro: Christie would call his bluff in a heartbeat.
ETA – Not that I believe that Cruz is bluffing, but Christie seems the kind that gets belligerent at the first sign of someone trying to push him around.
Ben Cisco
Staving off disaster is dependent on the common sense of the American electorate.
If you’re not comforted by that thought, you’re not alone.
raven
@billgerat: Mornin Joe don’t think so.
Poopyman
Looks like we’re going to be putting my theory that Peak Wingnut is asymptotic to the test.
Poopyman
@raven: This is good news for Democrats, if they can only see it.
A Humble Lurker
Sort of OT, but is anyone else unable to play clips from Maddow since they changed the website? The player just loads in perpetuity. It’s annoying the crap out of me. First world problem I know, but I live by the ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ philosophy, and this was definitely in flagrant disregard of that.
WereBear
@raven: That’s why he’s “Morning Ho”!
John O
@A Humble Lurker:
Totally with you on that. I used to read Benen religiously but now I can’t be bothered with the freaking webpage. It’s like they went out of their way to hide him, and makes any criticism they happen to present about healthcare.gov seem a little bogus, at least to me.
Anya
Was BJ down this morning in solidarity with healthcare.gov?
Raven, can you verify if what twitter is telling me is correct. Did the morning joe crew compare Obamacare to Katrina and the Iraq war? If so, as preamptive fuck you to these over privileged assholes. How many people died because of obamCare
JPL
@John O: I blame Obamacare…
JPL
OT.. There might be a slight frost later this week in GA. I assume the kale will be okay, but what about the arugula?
eric
@Anya: duh, none, but that is only because the Death Panels come on line in Jan 2014.
Linda Featheringill
@geg6:
Losing the Seniors:
Good point and cheerful thought. As a group, we oldsters have a very good memory about fears and resentments [if nothing else]. A pervasive feeling that the Republicans are dangerous could change voting patterns.
MomSense
@raven:
OT but I recently learned that my stepmom’s friend’s husband Bob was Bob Rheault. I had no idea. He died last week at his home in Maine. It is really weird because my dad was a big organizer against the Vietnam war and they all became good friends late in life. Well my stepmom and Bob’s wife were childhood friends but it is still an interesting twist.
Mr Stagger Lee
@Poopyman: Christie vs Cruz, how will Rush, Hannity and others cross this minefield? Savage, Levin and Beck will back Cruz as will Red State and Free Republic. Town Hall may be fun reading soon.
Linda Featheringill
I suppose that if Cruz took the question of being born out of country to a US citizen to the Supreme Court, they would probably rule in his favor.
munira
@JPL: Arugula will be ok, too.
MrSnrub
@John O: I read Benen via RSS feed, those problems go away.
sparrow
@Anya: I wish I could say history will be unkind to these asshats, but most likely they will just be forgotten. This kind of false equivalence is incredibly maddening, and I hope, ridiculous in its face to anyone with a brain.
amk
@geg6: If the dems had any backbone, they would beat the gop voting seniors with that SS/Medicare scare stick till they come to their senses. But then, dems are boneless.
Cacti
I support Ted Cruz’s quest for the 2016 GOP nomination.
Cruz vs. Christie could be the event that irreparably fractures the Reagan coalition.
jeffreyw
Mrs J spent the evening gathering kittehs someone dumped next door.
Fred
@A Humble Lurker: I had the same problem. Yeah, the dam site is FUBAR.
I loaded “Google Chrome” and it works marginally. Sometime segments load, other times I get to watch a commercial and then get a “this segment not available at this time” notice (whatever that means).
Bon Chance
NotMax
@Cacti
As Cruz has demonstrated he is someone who recognizes no boundaries, I suspect he’ll flame out long before 2016, and the yokels will move on to some other shiny object.
Ash Can
The state of the GOP is way too unsettled for any serious GOP presidential handicapping for 2016 at this time. However, if Democracy Corps is right, and Cruz really is at the center of the GOP’s voting base — and stays there — then he will be the nominee himself, because he’ll get the votes in the primaries and, therefore, the convention delegates. What’s more, the GOP establishment would then be pleading with him to put someone more moderate on his ticket as VP (e.g. Christie), and he’d tell them to go pound sand and pick Rick Santorum instead. At that point I might be persuaded to believe that peak wingnut could actually be attainable.
the Conster
@Cacti:
Agreed. The clash of egos will be Greek Mythology epic and will bring out the worst in both of them, and their supporters. I think Cruz will end up like Jimmy Hoffa, ultimately. You just can’t piss that many powerful people off forever.
Omnes Omnibus
@Linda Featheringill: Two things: 1. He can’t just take to the Supreme Court; someone would need to file suit to keep him off the ballot and it would need to go up through the courts. 2. If that does happen, the courts will and should decide in his favor.
Ash Can
@jeffreyw: What a handsome bunch! It’s good to see that they’re in out of the cold. Did Mrs J manage to get them all?
Southern Beale
I have a Columbus, OH dog bleg …. I have a photo if anyone wants to see it, send me your email.
Sophia is a 1 year old Golden Retriever. Her mom was just diagnosed with a serious illness and is sadly looking for a new home for her little girl.
Sophia is dog-friendly, house trained, spayed, current on vaccinations. She does have papers. Her mom is not asking for a rehoming fee, but does want to meet with any potential families so that she knows she is making the best decision. If interested, contact jhindman – at – caninesocialclub.com.
The Red Pen
Rand Paul doesn’t understand that Congress and staff are not exempt from Obamacare, but uniquely forced to use the exchanges. He’s sponsoring a Constitutional Amendment making laws that apply only to lawmakers illegal. There are a lot of problems with this, the first of which being that he’s doing this to “fix” a problem that doesn’t exist — and shouldn’t he of all people know that?
rikyrah
Health gap between states could reshape US
Rachel Maddow looks at the difference in degrees to which states are embracing Obamacare and wonders about the future of states that offer inferior coverage.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/health-gap-between-states-could-reshape-us-55320131507
MrSnrub
@John O: I take it back. The RSS feed for Maddow Blog is completely missing right now. I haven’t seen an update since 10/15.
jeffreyw
@Ash Can: She found three kittens and the momma right away, and three more later.
The Pale Scot
@A Humble Lurker: it’s easier to just get the podcast, go here if you don’t use iTunes.
Ya the new site sucks, when it does work it’s stopped the cross pollination between shows that the old player enabled. Can’t just easily watch ALL the shows with a click now, you have to go to each show’s website. And they just ironed all the bugs out of the player last year. another example of IT change for the sake of ITchange
MomSense
@jeffreyw:
That picture is so cute it just might break the internet. Oh my I just want to scoop them all up!
Southern Beale
@The Red Pen:
That’s a favorite right-wing talking point. Also, that Obama “bypassed Congress” to change Obamacare. My troll loves that one. I’m not sure what he’s talking about other than the delay of the employer mandate, they keep talking about hundreds of changes Obama made without going through Congress so IMPEACH. Regardless, the House has voted to repeal Obamacare eleventybillion times and just shut down the government for two weeks and brought us to the brink of default over the healthcare law. So why the fuck would anyone let alone Obama go hat in hand to Congress to ask permission for whatever needed tweaks the law needs?
Do they think we’re stupid?
aimai
@Ash Can: This looks right to me. Cruz is neither to hold nor to bind. If he is the nominee he won’t pick someone that pleases the moderates and he won’t pick someone who competes with him.He’ll pick someone he thinks of as “completing” him, either a mini me or a high class subordinate. It could be someone African American to assuage what they always assume is a liberal “need” to vote for a minority. It won’t be a woman because I’m sure he is just uncomfortable with women. It might be someone from the Mountain West because I think the GOP still can’t count, and it looks like Cruz is one of them in that way. So he might pick someone who satisfies a kind of cowboy populism and assume that that will appeal very broadly–like picking someone whose home state offers only three electoral votes and saying “but its so big in terms of land and cattle!”
Crashman06
Yes, they think he’s stupid; they think he’s an unworthy foreigner who’s gotten this far through some obscure combination of nefarious plotting and affirmative action.
The Pale Scot
@MrSnrub: Dollars to donuts the site developer created a site that runs best in IE, I thought that went away around 2006.
The Red Pen
@amk:
Can we put this on the list with “both sides do it” as “things on BJ that invite mockery”?
According to Free Republic, the Republican are spineless capitulaters who give the Democrats everything they want on a silver platter. That’s a ridiculous claim. What isn’t the flip side an equally ridiculous claim? Is this part of the “if the dems had a backbone, we’d have single payer” fantasy?
Belafon
@aimai: So, the sheriff from Blazing Saddles.
NotMax
@Linda Featheringill
Unnecessary to make use of the courts. The State Department is darn clear about such cases, as are similar previous legal precedents..
The Red Pen
@Southern Beale: I know it’s a favorite RW talking point, but since Rand Paul actually works in Congress, I assumed that he knows that the talking point is false.
Then again, a Constitutional Amendment is a total Cruz — a bold move that looks good to the Idioti, but has no hope of going anywhere. I guess it’s just a cynical play for attention on Paul’s part.
aimai
@Belafon: Herman Cain will Rise Again! Maybe Alan Keyes.
NotMax
@aimai
Nein, nein, nein!
/quasi-Godwin
Roger Moore
@Omnes Omnibus:
If somebody is seriously threatening to sue and stop him, he can preempt by suing them and asking the courts for a declarative judgment. It would presumably be a good move for him, since he would be able to choose the venue.
AxelFoley
@Anya:
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
SiubhanDuinne
@jeffreyw: A Kitteh Bouquet!
amk
@The Red Pen:
Nope, it’s “if the dems had a backbone, they would take it to the rethugs’ territory” fantasy.
CaseyL
@jeffreyw: What a lovely family! and what a great good deed, rescuing them all! Er… how many of them will you be able to keep?
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: Okay, fair enough. I was looking at it from the point of view of seeking an advisory opinion from the Supreme Court. Also, the more important point is that the fact that Cruz was born in Canada does not make him ineligible.
The Red Pen
@amk:
Take what to the rethugs?
amk
@The Red Pen: Read the first post again. I am done.
Omnes Omnibus
@amk: Obama is a Dem. Do you think Obama is boneless? Pelosi is a Dem. Is she boneless? Like The Red Pen, I find this meme tiresome, unhelpful, and exaggerated.
shelly
And Rick Santorum,
shelly
And Rick Santorum. The 2016 primary clown car is gonna outdo 2012
gnomedad
@Crashman06:
The one thing Obama most obviously is NOT is stupid, but they insist he is anyway (e.g. teleprompter meme) because
1. “Stupid” is bad, and all bad things apply to Obama
2. Many of their other accusations would make no sense applied to anyone with an ounce of intelligence.
The Pale Scot
Cybermen vows GOP upgrade
aka
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
ruemara
@amk: you mean like when they totally caved over the debt ceiling and the shutdown? look, you may not like everything they do, but you can’t say they haven’t had spines and been “taking it to the republicans”.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@MrSnrub: There is no Maddow Blog feed any longer, just a combined MSNBC feed. Not sure I want Benen and Mornin’ Ho and “top headlines” all mushed up together.
jeffreyw
@CaseyL: We have four cats and three dogs now. Mrs J says she will try to place them in local shelters. There are several no kill shelters in the area so I think they can be placed fairly quickly. We will see how it goes.
catclub
I saw this quote from Pope Francis on Pierce’s site:
Just wow.
“The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology,” he said, according to Radio Vatican. “And ideology does not beckon [people]. In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid. “And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought… For this reason Jesus said to them: ‘You have taken away the key of knowledge.’ The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements. The faith becomes ideology and ideology frightens, ideology chases away the people, distances, distances the people and distances of the Church of the people,” Francis added. “But it is a serious illness, this of ideological Christians. It is an illness, but it is not new, eh?”
Paul in KY
@shelly: How about Rick Perry? He’ll have had 4 years to work on not sounding so stupid.
Paul in KY
@catclub: Heh, heh, heh. Would like to see that Donovan asshole read that! I do like this Hippy Pope Francis.
rk
@Ash Can:
If Cruz is the nominee he will get all the republican vote. Just look at Romney. Everyone predicted that no way were the evangelicals going to vote for a Mormon. Republicans hated Romney (just look at the how they voted for one clown after another to avoid Romney). But when all was said and done all of them got in line and voted for Romney. The same will happen for Cruz.
Mike in NC
Five years from now he’ll be called a RINO…
MrSnrub
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Yeah, I just figured that out. =(
Frankensteinbeck
When Cruz fails to stop Obama, he will be dust and forgotten. His popularity is no different from their previous line of messiahs. They’re desperately hoping that this grandstanding asshole has the strength to beat Obama, and when he doesn’t they’ll move to the next.
The Red Pen
@catclub:
There is now a cottage industry of conservative Catholics explaining “what Francis really meant.” Another RWNJ talking point is that Francis is sending out dog whistles to flush out the Catholic liberals so they can be purged. It’s just a cornucopia of wingnut butthurt.
@Paul in KY: Do you mean Donohue of the Catholic
PlagueLeague?Steve S
Cruz/Santorum 2016…god, that would be so awesome. I’d immediately go buy all of Winn Dixie’s buttered popcorn.
Paul in KY
@The Red Pen: Yes, that asshole. Thanks for the correction.
Groucho48
@Paul in KY:
In other words, he’s gearing up for 2028.
Gretchen
@humblelurker: yes, I’ve quit reading Maddow since they changed the site. It just doesn’t work.
Anne Laurie
@Paul in KY:
It’s in the Constitution that the nominee and his veep can’t come from the same state. That’s why Cheney moved his legal residence from Texas to Wyoming, more-or-less meeting the requirements if one wasn’t too fussy & had five SCOTUS justices to concur. But Cruz and Perry are both invested in being Texans — it’s a big part of their “appeal” — so I don’t think either one would be willing to renounce the Lone Star State just for a chance to lose to whichever Democrat is running.
Paul in KY
@Anne Laurie: Good point, Anne. Thanks for reminding me about that.