BiasedGirl @BiasedGirl
Ted Cruz stayed awake for at least 21 hours to debate Obamacare. Obama couldn't even stay awake to find out what happened in #Benghazi
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Dear Readers,
Near the end of Cruz's 21 hour filibuster-like speech, it was certainly amusing to see the irritation on Harry Reid's face as the heroic U.S. Senator from Texas had granted Reid the opportunity to ask a question. Of course, Senator Cruz was careful to say that he would do so without giving up the floor. Reid's body language showed how much he despised Senator Cruz and how annoyed he was when Cruz cut him off for not asking a question. Cruz was not about to allow Reid to bloviate during the last 15 minutes of his 21 hour ordeal. It was so delicious to observe Ted Cruz's epic verbal takedown of Dick Durbin and Harry Reid in the Final Moments of His Anti-Obamacare Speech! [Note: if you missed it, you can view several videos at link.]
That encounter said a lot about the liberal elites in Congress. What's more, when Senator Cruz left the podium and Reid took to the microphone, the old geezer could not resist insulting the Senator from Texas by claiming that he (and by association, all of We The People who supported Cruz via our phone calls, emails, texts, and tweets) was an "anarchist."
I continue to find great blog posts that reveal just how impressive and important Cruz's efforts were. The media of mass deception can try to disparage Cruz all they want - but the people who have watched this epic adventure in the Senate chamber on C-Span all know the truth. Senator Ted Cruz has done something great that I personally think will go down in history as one of the most positive and successful filibuster-like speeches, EVER.
Senator Rand Paul's 13 hour filibuster was terrific, too! In fact, when you read the following excerpt from Net Right Daily, you will see how great an impact that Senator Paul's filibuster ended up having against the current government drone policy. After Paul's filibuster, seventy-nine percent of the people agreed with Rand that the nomination of CIA Director John Brennan was a disastrous choice. During his speech, Paul explained and exposed how dangerous the Obama Administration's drone policy was, and 79% of the people ended up agreeing with the Senator!
We still do not know the full effects yet of Senator Ted Cruz's speech. However, I would venture to guess that it will mostly be positive from millions of us who supported all that he stood up for during that 21 hour speech! Time will tell what will ultimately be the results of his sublime talking points. He was there for those of us who previously did not feel that we had any voice in Washington D.C. Now, we have an advocate whose worthy goal is to MAKE D.C. LISTEN!
~ Christine
Excerpt:
Ted Cruz’s real filibuster
By Brad Tidwell
Many in the D.C. establishment misunderstand Ted Cruz’s real goal in speaking for 21 hours straight — his goal is to Make D.C. Listen.
After Ted Cruz’s speech came to an end, 21 hours and 19 minutes after it began, the very next speech that was heard came from Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid. Reid’s summary of the speech (which he’d authorized Cruz to give): a “waste of time”.
Even before the speech, the objections from the usual D.C. corners had come fast and hard, claiming that Cruz’s speech was not a “real” filibuster, that it was merely an elongated speech that happened to last all night, that it wasn’t going to accomplish much, that it wouldn’t stop the vote, and that nobody would care. But what merit do these criticisms have?
The accusations from inside the Beltway that Cruz’s speech would fail because it would be unheard by anyone outside the Beltway are particularly ironic. For the talking heads to claim that speeches unheard by the unpolitical masses aren’t useful is the greatest critique of their existence ever devised. One would hope their newfound focus on utility would result in less chattering, but that’s pretty unlikely.
Cruz’s speech invites comparisons to Rand Paul’s 13 hour filibuster against the Obama nomination of CIA Director John Brennan. Much of Paul’s speech centered around the use of drone strikes rather than the nomination of Brennan, which was an opportunity to bring these important issues into the national conversation. After Senator Paul made his case, a poll showed 79 percent of Americans supported Paul’s position.
Was Rand Paul’s 13 hour speech a “waste of time” because it didn’t defeat the nomination of Brennan? It’s clear that defeating Brennan’s nomination was never Senator Paul’s ultimate goal. The filibuster rallied people around a sense of frustration they felt with the government that they saw as broken and needing change. Obamacare creates a lot of those same tensions, and there is also a clear majority of people who oppose the legislation. But their voices are not being heard.
It seems that despite the hand-wringing about procedural process, Cruz’s speech was, in fact, heard. And the reaction was strong — but not in the way that Democrats might have hoped for. In the physical world, 1.6 million people signed a petition to defund Obamacare. Cruz made constant mention of the phone lines and switchboards in the Senate that were being shut down with calls of those opposing Obamacare.
Online, there were also reports of unprecedented levels of email traffic going in to Senator’s offices. At one point, the hashtag #KeepCruzing was the second highest trending tag worldwide on Twitter. Other tags that also trended were #StandWithCruz, and the very telling #MakeDCListen. That last hashtag is particularly insightful, because if Cruz’s 21 hour speech had to fit into three words, “make D.C. listen” would make a perfect summary.
There has always been a physical goal to Cruz’s speech — to encourage Senate Republicans to vote no on cloture, and to say as he has for the last few days, that a vote for cloture is a vote to allow Obamacare to continue. But Cruz’s real motivation was exposed in the last few hours of his speech — his real goal, in his words, is to “change the broken ways of Washington, and start listening to the American people.”
The problem Cruz is directly addressing is the fact that while a clear majority oppose Obamacare, D.C. seems to be all about business as usual. There are in fact policy bills being proposed by the GOP to replace Obamacare that will likely never get past Harry Reid’s desk. The problem isn’t that the policies aren’t being proposed, the problem is they never get debated because of the partisan politics of the Senate.
That’s the real filibuster in this debate. Like Rand Paul’s filibuster, Cruz’s speech focused on something larger than just the question at hand. Cruz was given a bully pulpit to talk about the human cost of Obamacare, and he did so eloquently. He escaped the noise, procedure and talking points, and went to the heart of the matter. While the Senate fails to act, he’s standing — and speaking — for those with no voice.
Read more at Net Right Daily.
Hat tips to all links.
P.S. Please go to the following link to add your signature to the over 1,814,621 patriots who have already signed the "Do Not Fund Obamacare" petition!
DON'T FUND OBAMACARE
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Posts
3 comments:
”Ted Cruz’s Real Goal is to Make D.C. Listen.”
Except that it isn't.
His real goal is to make himself a Tea Party hero, and to leverage that into making him a viable GOP candidate for 2016.
Harry Reid was wrong to refer to Cruz as an 'anarchist', though. Yes, the senator from Texas does want to extort the government into shutting down next week if he doesn't get his way; yes, he is riding on a wave of both public ignorance about the ACA and resentment of what some people believe it represents; yes, it will lionize him in the public eye and steal a march on Sen. Rand Paul's similar rant last spring; but it was still wrong to call Cruz an anarchist.
The proper word is “demagogue”.
How many potential customers of Obamacare reside in his state? Texas isn't nearly as healthy as, say, Massachusetts. Is Cruz listening to them?
Let's see how much of a 'hero' he is after D.C. closes down and the economy crashes again. Fortunately, that's not likely to happen. There are still more United States Senators than Tea Party ones.
The fact of the matter is, GM, that Ted Cruz accomplished several things with his speech.
1. It resulted in coverage on media outlets (the next morning)that normally wouldn't give any conservative a voice.
2. It alerted millions of the train wreck that is Obamacare.
3. It has encouraged the TEA Party people so much that the leftist media of mass deception came out with LIES and propaganda claiming that the TEA Party is "dead." [Translation: They are obviously worried of a resurgence and repeat of the 2010 election in 2014, therefore, they have to LIE to make people think (again) that they have no voice in this matter as well as other concerns.]
4. As a statesman, Cruz took the high road and avoided any name-calling [unlike the Dimwits and Obammy]. Yes - I CAN AND WILL name call because they DESERVE IT!.
5. Ted Cruz had a huge audience on C-Span; and the next morning's news coverage probably led many to the website to review the taping. Again, because of what he did and the fact that even more people have now been educated about the terrible ObamaScare Hellcare bill, they are coming to realization of what the elites in Washington D.C. REALLY think of them and their grievances.
6. Ted Cruz ENCOURAGED D.C. to LISTEN TO WE THE PEOPLE. Whether they will LISTEN or not still remains to be seen.
7. Ted Cruz exposed the FACT that many Senators are only worried about themselves...and the next election... so they DON'T LISTEN in order to keep their own "Cadillac" health care plans and their taxpayer funded jobs as Senators. So many hypocrites on the Hill!
8. There are probably plenty more examples that I could list about what Cruz accomplished with his 21-hour speech, but time is short for me today so this will have to do for now.
Why should you care that Cruz's speech 'resulted in coverage on media outlets that normally wouldn't give any conservative a voice'? According to you, ALL of them lie. On this blog, for years and years, you've been calling them the “media of mass deception” (and worse). If what you believe is true, Cruz's escapade won't make any difference—they'll lie about him, too. That includes your beloved FOX.
Speaker Boehner (and you, and Rep. Phil Roe) describe the ACA as a 'trainwreck'. This must be the buzzword of the week:
“Unfortunately, during the Obamacare debate, no one asked me or any of the other Republican doctors what we thought despite requesting several meetings with the president because I saw this train wreck coming,” Roe said in the RSC’s statement.
What has the GOP to propose in its place? Oh, right: nothing. Not in 2009, not during the 2012 campaign, and not today. The Republicans don't have a train wreck for health care--they don't even have a train, and no track to run it on, either. Herein lies the true purpose of a modern-day conservative: to preserve something that never existed in the first place. Any GOP alternative to Obamacare will never emerge; Republicans have spent so much time and effort ranting against it partly because they have none. Everyone remembers how last year Rmoney had to back away from his own healthcare initiative, because it was so similar to Obama's (just a decade or so earlier). 'Cause...well, that would lead to socialism, right? That's what we keep being told by the gentlemen across the aisle.
As the ACA exists now, there is a loophole: a state may bypass Obamacare completely, IF the state has an alternative plan that will expand health care coverage and cuts the federal budget deficit at least as much as ObamaCare would. Since nearly all the states that won't fund the ACA are governed by Republicans, this would be a chance for the GOPpers to show that there is a better way. Governors usually have a better feel for their states than Senators do; surely a governor or two out there has ideas they think are better...just like Romney did. Or don't they?
You claim that the real goal of Ted's Cruzade is to “make D.C. Listen”. It could be that they already have. No, the Tea Party is not dead, but it does have less support than it did in 2010, and it is fast becoming a fringe party. Anyone remember Ross Perot, or Lyndon LaRouche?
I agree, hostess, that Ted Cruz accomplished several things with his speech. But de-funding Obamacare isn't one of them. Shutting down the government isn't one of them. Proposing something better isn't one of them. He put on a grand show, but in the end it was all fire and vapor. I don't think he even changed very many minds—most people were firmly in one camp or the other before, and they still are.
CJW: ”As a statesman, Cruz took the high road and avoided any name-calling [unlike the Dimwits and Obammy]. Yes - I CAN AND WILL name call because they DESERVE IT!.”
Remember what I once told you about respect? If you don't give any, you don't get any. It's called reciprocity, more commonly known as “payback”. And you know how payback can be...
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