Republican Senate candidates Ken Buck and Owen Hill have made no secret that they are big admirers of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Both Buck and Hill supported Republican maneuvers that eventually led to the government shutdown last fall — a shutdown that was orchestrated in large part by Cruz. The October shutdown was politically disastrous to Republicans, but for Cruz, it was a chance to show Tea Party types that he should be their guy for President in 2016.
For Buck and Hill, their support of Cruz is about trying to make it out of a June Primary as the GOP's nominee to take on Sen. Mark Udall in the fall. In order to win the Primary, they need the support of many of the same Tea Party Republicans who think Cruz is the greatest Canadian since Justin Bieber. But that unabashed support for Cruz comes with a price — one that may be increasingly steep. Check out this blistering editorial in the Wall Street Journal, which Sen. John McCain tweeted out to his followers:
The Senate passed the House debt-limit increase on Wednesday, but not before some needless drama that helps to explain why Republicans remain a minority.
Democrats had enough votes to pass the increase with a simple majority, which means they would have owned the debt increase. But then Senator Ted Cruz —the same fellow who planned the GOP's shutdown fiasco in October—objected on the floor and insisted on a 60-vote majority. This is exactly what Democratic leader Harry Reid wanted because if the bill failed he would have sent the Senate home on recess and returned later this month to join President Obama in flogging the GOP as the debt-ceiling deadline neared…
…We're all for holding politicians accountable with votes on substantive issues, but Mr. Cruz knew he couldn't stop a debt increase the House had already passed. He also had no alternative strategy if the bill had failed, other than to shut down the government again, take public attention away from ObamaCare, and make Republicans even more unpopular.
There are probably safer ways to ingratiate yourself with Tea Party supporters than to hitch your wagon to Sen. Cruz, but Buck and Hill are too far gone into Cruzland now; they can do little more than just hold on tight and hope Cruz doesn't crash everyone into a guardrail. Of course, given the increasing rancor towards Cruz and the rising star power of other ultra-conservatives such as Sen. Rand Paul, this ride may come to a messy end sooner rather than later.
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Frankly, I don't think Buck and Hill could possibly ingratiate themselves to failure more than Mark Udall has:
I'd like to give credit where credit is due. Senator Udall is to be commended for a handful of initiatives that have had a dramatic, positive effect on rural Colorado.
1: He co-chaired the 2004 bi-partisan effort, Amendment 37, with Speaker Lola Spradley that delivered the first citizens-initiated renewable portfolio standard in the United States. It set Colorado on a path to having the second-highest RES in the nation and sparked the New Energy Economy successes we enjoyed between 2006-2010. This series of events has been solely responsible for the billions in clean energy investments in rural Colorado.
2: He was instrumental in ending the Piñon Canyon expansion. 'nuf said.
3: His DC office has been instrumental in supporting the reintroduction of industrial hemp to American farms.
4: He is the Senate co-sponsor for a bill that would require utilities to follow our Colorado model and generate 25% of their energy from renewable resources by 2025.
5: As someone with a pre-existing condition I'm thankful for ACA and the fact I can now get insurance at a price I can afford. Thanks to the Heritage Foundation and Governor Romney for blazing the trail. (and the Roberts Supreme Court for upholding the law).
Don't think Romney cares to be thanked about that. Still, nice gesture.
That's because Dem legislation is always better than GOTP legislation but he's been kind of a pain in the ass to Obama on NSA stuff. Keep those hopes up, though.
PS: Even crappy D legislation isn't anywhere close to as crappy as the best R legislation.
Good Point. If you like being lied to, Mark Udall is your guy:
“If You Have An Insurance Policy You Like, Doctor Or Medical Facility That Provides Medical Services To You, You’ll Be Able To Keep That Doctor Or That Insurance Policy.”
(Christina Salvo, “Sen. Mark Udall Talks On Health Care Reform,” KXRM, 9/2/09)
He doesn't hold a candle to my Congressman "my insurance premium was cancelled and my premium has nearly tripled" Gardner. When you're done reading there…peruse this.
I get it. Your liar lies more than my liar.
Your liars lie pretty much all the time. So glad you're ready to admit that. Since we all know that politicians and saints are two very different things, I'm happy to see you admit that the ones on your side really are worse. Bravo.
BC very rarely do politicians lies hurt hundreds of thousands of voters in such a personal way. Udall is a much more talented liar than most.
It's like a stupid turing machine. Feed it a question, and it makes up an incoherent answer. Maybe you can say it is grammatical, but the content is pretty much unhinged from the world as it exists.
You mean by costing a TRILLION DOLLARS and DESTROYING 2.5 MILLION JOBS leading to 300,000,000,000 cancellations?
You mean like "we know Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?"
You can get technical about exactly what "canceled" means but there's no way you can argue that hundreds of thousands of people are getting hurt by Udall. The vast majority are being offered policies that comply for affordable prices and many are "losing" phony insurance that they "like" only because they have no idea that it doesn't offer meaningful coverage at all. You don't find that out until you've been paying your bargain price for a year, have a serious medical issue and get nothing but a couple hundred bucks off the tens of thousands it costs you.
But really, AC, your point in harping on this same meme over and over is in hopes that it will defeat Udall and elect one of your clowns. It won't. You may as well be banging your head against a wall. So please…. (use Jon Stewart voice here) go on.
Haven't we been over this before?
Get that source for the 335,000 to me and do it without fucking around any more.
One catch.
I don't care that gardner said it. Get me his source.
That's not a request. If you fail to get the EXACT source gardner "got it from", you'll be pretty much the new laughing stock here.
Oh wait, you are now.
If you can quote me a source, I'll apologize to you immediately.
Get it done.
Rocco,
The 335,000 is low. It is an old number. The number keeps growning and growing. You may not understand it, and your echo chamber is in denial, but here is what the former Chair of your party put together:
Do you think all these pissed off voters are just an abstraction? They are real people Udall hurt. If you don't think so, you are in for a surprise. Rocco, I have seen the emails from the Department of Insurance about the 249K number and we both know the 335K number came from Garner and a later date than the original Department of Insurance number. I don't care and it doesn't matter if the number ends up being 400K or 500K,these are real people who are literally waiting to kick Udall and every boot-lickin' Dem in the ass in 9 months.
You are operating under the mistaken belief that these people are happy that they lost the policies which they purchase on their own. You are wrong about that too.
Save the Eggs! Tax the Gays! Guns in Pre-K!
Colorado Democrats run against Colorado Republicans, and you all pick people like Rick Santorum as your BFF.
So you don't have a source.
"I've seen emails"? Dept. of Insurance?
Kinda like sarah palin's "Susan Rice was Ambassador to Africa".
You can put up all the bullshit graphs and charts you want. I require the source of gardner's 335,000 number
You hack
I realize I'm arguing with a fool, so I hope people can tell the difference. The cancelled insurance policies didn't provide the basic coverage mandated by the ACA. Rather than provide that coverage, insurance companies chose to stop offering those policies. did I use small enough words this time? I hope so, and that this is the last time we'll have to listen to that tired canard.
I think you underestimate the vapidity of our newest crop of trolls.
Not skinny. Let me help you. The law precluded them from selling the policies. Mark Udall knew what the people needed because he is so much smarter than they are so he stopped the insurance companies from selling people what they wanted. Then he lied about what he did. That is why the insurance companies stopped offering those policies.
Were the words too big again? I am so sorry.
Not too big. Just stupid.
Insurance policies get cancelled and re-issued every year; Nothing new there. Obamacare prohibits descrimination for gender or pre-existing condittions, which is having a huge and beneficial impact on the insurance market. YAAY! I am able to get insurance for the first time as an independent, small business owner!
Thank god for Obamacare.
So, Republicans want to take away my insurance? Me and over 10 million other Americans (so far)?
Knock yourself out. See you at the polls.
Ya know, I don't mind so much about the Tea Party's penchant for self-destruction; it's always a self-correcting condition (Darwin Award territory).
I just really get annoyed that they want to take rest of the world down with them.