Year: 2013

Reid: Cruz Wants to Run for President

Buck Banks

In an effort to help him run for president, he has done some stuff that’s really damaging to our country. 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.

— Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), telling the Washington Post in a forthcoming interview that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) did what he did during the government shutdown because he wants to run for president.

It’s GOP Deja Vu All Over Again

Buck Banks

If this sounds all too familiar, it’s because Republicans were licking their wounds around this time last year after being blindsided by a presidential election whose outcome they should have seen coming a mile away. But ignorance was bliss as conservative politicians and talkers pushed bogus polls and political fairy tales to angry voters who were once again on the losing side of history. Media outlets that released polls showing President Obama winning were attacked as biased and conservatives who warned of Romney’s weaknesses were rhetorically burned at the stake as heretics.

— TV personality Joe Scarborough, in a opinion piece for Politico.

Most Americans Think a GOP-Controlled House Is a Bad Thing

Buck Banks

54%


Of Americans say it’s a bad thing that the Republican party controls the House of Representatives, up 11 points from last December, soon after the 2012 elections when the Republicans kept control of the chamber, a new CNN/ORC poll finds. Only 38% say it’s a good thing the GOP controls the House, a 13-point dive from the end of last year.

More on the Inability of Conservatives to Take Responsibility for Their Actions

Buck Banks

There’s nothing in this for conservatives. Not even a bright or shiny object. I don’t know how you negotiate up from this capitulation. I think the long faces are a result of the realization, if not the vocalization yet, that this sets the precedent for this Congress.

— Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY), quoted by TPM, on the deal to end the government shutdown and lift the debt ceiling.

A Possible GOP Diagnosis: ‘Hysterical Delusional Affirmation’

Buck Banks

Charlie Cook has a fun piece in the National Journal that makes a good case for the GOP to get its collective head examined:

Here’s a question for conservatives and Republicans: Going into the 2012 Election Day, or even in the last few days before Election Day, did you think Mitt Romney was going to win? A couple of months ago, did you think the strategy of threatening to shut down the government or prevent raising the debt ceiling, to force the outright repeal or defunding of Obamacare, would really work?

So the question is whether conservatives and Republicans should begin to worry if their instincts—specifically, their judgment on matters of politics and policy—are a bit off. Maybe “spectacularly wrong” would be more accurate. Does that worry anyone on the right or in the Republican Party? Are they concerned that continuing to follow such awful political instincts could lead to catastrophic consequences for their movement and their party?

“Hysterical delusional affirmation” and “delusional synergy” aren’t terms normally associated with the political process, but after the spectacle of the past few weeks, they seem pretty apt. While many Republicans—those who are clear-eyed about today’s political realities—are exempt, these terms apply to enough of them that it may be time for the GOP’s Non-delusional Caucus to stage an intervention. Otherwise the party may be headed for some voter-administered therapy.

Read more here.