Sen. Ted Cruz Fillibusters For Obamacare

[Dave]

Ok as much as I hate the ACA, this shit is getting old. 18 hours....

Long time for a political ploy. He knew it would fail before it started. He's just trying to get more people to hump his leg in the next presidential primary. Like the 40+ other times they try to defund ACA it's going to not pass the senate. I seem to remember a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That many democrats are not about to come to their senses and vote with him.

[merl]

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democ...ding-obamacare

This sort of feedback loop of ever-more-extreme political purity tests is a familiar enough phenomenon. First, you identify a demon, and spend a few years whipping up a hysterical frenzy over the threat it poses. You want to tie it to a few key words that you can repeat in a derogatory, contemptuous tone of voice, over and over, until the very signifier evokes such a feeling of loathing in your audience that anyone associated with it is contaminated. Let's call it Thing X. Now, most people will think your goal here is to drum up a successful campaign against Thing X and against your opponents, who support it, but this is at most part of the mission. Thing X itself may or may not be terribly important, and your opponents are your opponents; there's not much you can do about them. What is crucial here, though, is that once you've firmly established your followers' revulsion towards Thing X, you can use it to annihilate your "allies"—also known as "rivals"—by accusing them of insufficient vigilance against Thing X.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

I seem to remember a definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Yeah, commonly attributed to Einstein, but whomever said it (or repeats it) has clearly never studied biochemistry or genetics.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

Meh. Wants to be able to say he was just as hard core as Rand was when he runs against him for POTUS. That is really all this is about.

I agree but only to some small extent. If they force the vote, it is about making every senator go home and explain themselves. Many ran on the "repeal and replace" platform. Now they get the chance to put their money where their mouth is, and they are attacking Cruz, including many from GOP leadership. I won't quite call it a "purity test" that was all the rage 4 years ago, but it is a line in the sand.

No one expects anything of the democrats but to march forward in their blissful ignorance. But, several are from Red States.

I honestly am not at all bothered by Cruz's little show here. Part of me wants Paul and Lee to get in on this.

[XC700116]

So he's doing this for a bill that will never pass the senate and if by some miracle it did would be vetoed in 2 seconds? All while holding the jobs and pay of 800,000 working class people hostage? Fuck you dickhead.

The simple fact that you're more outraged about their pay possibly being held up, (BY THE DEMOCRATS I might add because they won't fund the government without funding the economically suicidal POS that is ObummerCare) than by the fact that the federal government employs that number of people to begin with says volumes.

Do I feel for out people in uniform that are going to get caught up in this, yes, but Look at what's really going on here. They have a chance to completely fund the rest of the govt by taking out one single piece that a LARGE majority of the country doesn't want. Yet they absolutely refuse to do it. And you're mad at Cruz for playing hardball and doing everything he can to make it happen even when it may be a lost cause. You should be mad at the rest of them for not joining him and making a clear stand. They SHOULD force the Dems into pushing it through 100% on their votes and signatures. The Dems are holding the hostage, not Cruz, Should we start giving Terrorists everything they want when they hold people hostage too because it might be painful? It's the same mindset, and it's the same results. You give in, they do it again and again and again. It's because of people like McCain and GOP leadership not having the balls to stand with Cruz that we keep getting fucked over by the Democrats.

[HoneyBadger]

While not technically a fillabuster, I listened to him for about an hour last night and was pleasantly surprised with the discourse he was having with a senator (D) from Virginia. They were having a constructive conversation, while Cruz was tearing the ACA apart at the seams.

In any case, the minute Congress passes anything into law that does not equally apply to themselves, they have effectively made themselves the ruling class.



Back to hypotheticals, if Cruz was on a white house ticket, his best bet would be to run WITH Rand Paul, not against him. (Yes I understand how primaries work. I don't care what happens in the primary as long at the GOP doesn't fuck over a legitimate candidate like they did to Ron Paul)

The simple fact that you're more outraged about their pay possibly being held up, (BY THE DEMOCRATS I might add because they won't fund the government without funding the economically suicidal POS that is ObummerCare) than by the fact that the federal government employs that number of people to begin with says volumes.

Do I feel for out people in uniform that are going to get caught up in this, yes, but Look at what's really going on here. They have a chance to completely fund the rest of the govt by taking out one single piece that a LARGE majority of the country doesn't want. Yet they absolutely refuse to do it. And you're mad at Cruz for playing hardball and doing everything he can to make it happen even when it may be a lost cause. You should be mad at the rest of them for not joining him and making a clear stand. They SHOULD force the Dems into pushing it through 100% on their votes and signatures. The Dems are holding the hostage, not Cruz, Should we start giving Terrorists everything they want when they hold people hostage too because it might be painful? It's the same mindset, and it's the same results. You give in, they do it again and again and again. It's because of people like McCain and GOP leadership not having the balls to stand with Cruz that we keep getting fucked over by the Democrats.

^Nailed it.

[Gman]

It's over and they're on to "business". BOHICA!

[spqrzilla]

So he's doing this for a bill that will never pass the senate and if by some miracle it did would be vetoed in 2 seconds? All while holding the jobs and pay of 800,000 working class people hostage? Fuck you dickhead.

Ah, the old Democrat "holding XX hostage" rhetoric. As if Obama telephoning Boehner to say that Obama won't negotiate on continuing resolution/debt ceiling is not "holding hostage" but anyone else's tactics are.

Horse manure.

[spqrzilla]

Long time for a political ploy.

What? A political ploy being practiced in a political institution? OMG, I'm shocked.

[DeusExMachina]

And Cruz voted for the measure he was filibustering against.