The Fiscal Cliff

[Jeff Lebowski]

Republicans have become obsessed with strategy and messaging and have completely forgotten about forming actual policy. Quick- what's their proposal for replacing Obamacare?

Cruz put the nation through a shutdown and threatened a default for personal aggrandizement. He knew it wouldn't work. And he didn't care. Still doesn't. He's a very smart man, but he's a psychopath. He shouldn't be in charge of anything. He's hurting the country, hurting his party, but increasing his standing amongst a small group of radicals who happen to control GOP primaries right now. He's set up to win the 2016 nomination. It's mind boggling what is happening to the Republican Party. The nation works best when there are two legitimate parties vying for votes. We all need the Republican Party to reassert itself by moving towards rational centrist ideas. Heritage Foundation and Cruz are dangerous.

Anyone on the left who loves Cruz after this is a fool. The absence of a rational presence on the right may turn to more wins in the short term for Dems but it also doesn't force Dems to work for the wins (both through policy and strategy). It can create a lazy party that shoots off in equally radical directions.

I have no idea what post of mine you are responding to here. Can you help me out? I have been critical of Cruz and Lee all throughout this fiasco.

[Uncle Ted]

Republicans have become obsessed with strategy and messaging and have completely forgotten about forming actual policy. Quick- what's their proposal for replacing Obamacare?

Cruz put the nation through a shutdown and threatened a default for personal aggrandizement. He knew it wouldn't work. And he didn't care. Still doesn't. He's a very smart man, but he's a psychopath. He shouldn't be in charge of anything. He's hurting the country, hurting his party, but increasing his standing amongst a small group of radicals who happen to control GOP primaries right now. He's set up to win the 2016 nomination. It's mind boggling what is happening to the Republican Party. The nation works best when there are two legitimate parties vying for votes. We all need the Republican Party to reassert itself by moving towards rational centrist ideas. Heritage Foundation and Cruz are dangerous.

You think Cruz's college buddy, Obama, had zero blame with all of this when he said he would not negotiate? That comment goes to show that BOTH dems and republicans (even McCain) are to blame. Both the dems and republicans knew that this deadline was coming but they put it off and now they have kicked the can down the road until the first of the year. Both are hurting the country. It is time for a new party.

Let's not forget what Obama said about raising the debt limit...

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government’s reckless fiscal policies.
[...]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2iJ2f4Z8G

So now that Obama is the president and the leader of this country it is no longer a "sign of leadership failure"? LOL.

[Jacob]

Of course it's a strategy. What are you talking about?

Win elections! Cut spending! These are about as much strategy as Win the war! Replace the regime!

[UVACoug]

Win elections! Cut spending! These are about as much strategy as Win the war! Replace the regime!

Now you are just being obtuse. If the goal is to get rid of Obamacare, the strategy is to win elections, take over both houses and the White House and repeal it. Of course there are smaller strategies that have to be followed to accomplish the general strategy, but electoral success is still a strategy. It is the only realistic strategy that Republicans have for getting rid of Obamacare.

Cruz and Lee's scam never had any shot of accomplishing anything, and they knew it. Worse yet, while the scam will help them raise money and get reelected, it detracts from the overall goal of winning in 2016 to accomplish repeal. Makes you wonder what the really want to accomplish here. As has been noted, these guys aren't stupid. They know exactly what they are doing.

[Uncle Ted]

All we need is a super duper dot-com bubble... That will fix everything.

[byu71]

Anyone on the left who loves Cruz after this is a fool.

I actually agree with you here. I don't like being harsh when commenting on other people so instead of "fool" I might use a term such as naive or better yet misguided.

Perhaps you will also agree with me that anyone left who loves Obama or Reid has their heads so far up their butts they need a glass stomache installed so they can see where they are going.

[Uncle Ted]

[myboynoah]

Where'd all the white people go?

[myboynoah]

In Utah, tea party favorite Sen. Lee faces GOP backlash over government shutdown

“This fight was worth fighting,” said Lee, 42, a lawyer whose father served as U.S. solicitor general during the Reagan administration. “The country wasn’t built by fighting only those battles where victory was certain.”

This battle has taken a toll on his popularity, however. A Brigham Young University survey conducted during the shutdown found that 57 percent of Utahans wanted Lee to be more willing to compromise. The senator’s approval rating dropped to 40 percent — down from 50 percent in June — with 51 percent disapproving.

......................

In the budget debate, Lee championed repealing a medical-device tax that is part of the health-care law. So, one might imagine the senator would find support at Merit Medical, an international device manufacturer based in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan.

In an interview at Merit’s headquarters, chief executive Fred Lampropoulos called the tax “egregious” and “unfair.” But he also said Lee’s crusade went too far.

“I’m an Army officer and I’m a businessman,” said Lampropoulos, a major GOP fundraiser. “Tactics and strategy are very important. You’ve got to pick your fights.”

Asked whether he would back Lee’s reelection, Lampropoulos leaned back in his leather chair and sat silent for about 20 seconds. “He has to convince me to vote for him again,” he said.

[Moliere]

Anyone on the left who loves Cruz after this is a fool.

http://poorrichardsnews.com/post/646...n-eight-minute

[Uncle Ted]

In Utah, tea party favorite Sen. Lee faces GOP backlash over government shutdown

Let me get this straight... Utah gets rid of their long time senator Bob Bennett because he isn't tea partier enough. Now that they have a tea partier in the senate they ain't happy with him either? Maybe Utah should try the liberal candidate next time.

[Uncle Ted]

http://poorrichardsnews.com/post/646...n-eight-minute

Unlike Utah, most of the folks in Texas didn't even notice that 17% of the federal government had shutdown. For example, around 70% of the land of Utah is federal government land. If you shutdown the fed (even when it is only 17%) then you pretty much shutdown the state in Utah. In Texas, even the "national forests" are only "national" in name. Most of them are privately or state own actually.

[UVACoug]

Let me get this straight... Utah gets rid of their long time senator Bob Bennett because he isn't tea partier enough. Now that they have a tea partier in the senate they ain't happy with him either? Maybe Utah should try the liberal candidate next time.

Utah got rid of Bennett because a few hundred people at the convention prevented him from getting a primary. I have no doubt he would still be in the senate if he were a candidate in the Republican primary.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Let me get this straight... Utah gets rid of their long time senator Bob Bennett because he isn't tea partier enough. Now that they have a tea partier in the senate they ain't happy with him either? Maybe Utah should try the liberal candidate next time.

Utah voters never got to choose between Bennett and Lee. Those Tea Party bastards rigged the caucuses and Lee got enough votes to avoid a primary. All the polls showed that Bennett would have won. Champion of the constitution, my ass.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Unlike Utah, most of the folks in Texas didn't even notice that 17% of the federal government had shutdown. For example, around 70% of the land of Utah is federal government land. If you shutdown the fed (even when it is only 17%) then you pretty much shutdown the state in Utah. In Texas, even the "national forests" are only "national" in name. Most of them are privately or state own actually.

Yes, the outdoors in Texas totally sucks compared to Utah.