On the surface, at least, Sen. Ted Cruz appears to agree with Markos Moulitsas that the best way to win midterm elections is to fire up the base.
Moderation isn’t going to win more seats for the GOP in Congress in 2014, Ted Cruz told Iowa Republicans on Friday. Instead, the junior senator from Texas told them, the answer is firing up the conservative base.
“For everyone who talks about wanting to win elections in 2014, particularly in an off year, a non-presidential year — nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing matters more than an energized and active vocal grassroots America,” Cruz told the crowd of about 600 people at the state GOP’s annual Reagan fundraising dinner. “That’s how you get elected.”
The problem for Sen. Cruz is that his brand of partisanship is only firing up part of the Republican Party. It’s infuriating and alienating the other part. In particular, it’s pissing off the faction that has all the money. A lot of people on the left wish that Democrats would alienate their wealthy supporters, but even the Sandanista-loving New York City mayoral candidate, Bill de Blasio, seems to be doing just fine (pdf) with a 45-point advantage in the polls.
Divisions may open up on the left, but right now the Democratic Party is much more united than is usual during a Democratic presidency. The main reason is that the radicalism of the right is holding people together and forcing them to mute their criticisms of the administration.
So, the Ted Cruz brand of conservatism may fire up a segment of the Republican base, but that advantage appears to be overwhelmed both by the division it is creating on the right and the unity it is creating on the left. And, if you prefer moderation in politics, there really isn’t any question about which party is more moderate right now. So, Cruz is costing the GOP votes in the middle, too.
All in all, his is a losing strategy.
In a nutshell, there are no Republican moderates.
No conservative politician rejects hostage taking or even forcing the country into default as a means of smashing American social democracy and the entire legacy of progressivism, as a matter of principle.
Not one.
Some of them reject it, but only because they fear it won’t actually achieve that goal and will most likely hurt the party and the movement at the polls, or because their very rich supporters, fearing major personal economic loss, refuse to pay that price.
KEEP ON SAYING IT!!!
Mod or Winger misses the point, I think. The talk of politicians is endless. The one thing that gives me great hope is that there are still plenty of good politicians among the Repugs. After all, that’s why they have conquered so much while in the minority on many issues. But now they are bucking some serious trends and the good politicians amongst the Repugs are continuing to monitor the fallout. The choice of death by primary or death by the general is the squeeze play here.
And a good politician will make the right call in the end.
The problem with living in a bubble is that you never see the flip side of any argument. Of course it makes sense for Republicans to fire up their base. But if the effect of that is to unite and fire up the larger Democrat base, you are rather doing Democrat leaders work for them.
And it gives the Democratic establishment cover to run DINO’s.
If they’re a good match for their district what do you care? We need numbers right now to get anything, without a majority in the House it won’t matter who the Democrats are that are elected.
If they’re a good match for their district what do you care?
How do you know who can get elected in what district? I don’t pretend to know. However, I’m also not blind to the fact that the DCCC(or DSCC) gets away with running the most conservative candidate they can. And they’ll do anything in their power to sabotage more Progressive candidates. Why you ask? Do you really think the DSCC and DCCC want to make life unpleasant for their Wall Street patrons?
I’m just saying, you’re not going to go from a tea party republican to progressive democrat in one election cycle
Not without a revolution… but hey, didn’t you guys have one of those before?
revolutions are never good for liberals, even the one in 1776
Actually, I think it could be a very common happening, if we get progressive candidates, because the dynamic of Tea Partiers ousting RINOs thereby opening up otherwise generally considered unobtainable races has not abated at all, although now there is increasing pushback from some RINO old guard factions.
This is why it can be so galling that the DCCC and DSCC often hinder the very candidates that can gain traction with the new paradigms emerging in the public mind.
Howie Klein at DownWithTyranny has been covering this angle forever it seems.
the opening will be in the center at best
The problem for Sen. Cruz is that his brand of partisanship is only firing up part of the Republican Party. It’s infuriating and alienating the other part. In particular, it’s pissing off the faction that has all the money.
Not all the money, only some of it. The Koch Brothers are loving Ted Cruz. And there are enough fellow travelers of the Koch duo to drive everyone nuts.
And so the Republicans move from the war on science to a war on arithmetic. All it takes is a basic understanding of fractions to see that “vocal grassroots America” is a shrinking minority. They’re down to at most a third of the people, and it’s not like their going to grow their numbers by being even yet still more hostile to the other two thirds.
You know there is a concerted effort from the top to insert a new meme into the political discourse when the AP starts running stories on it.
“Business, GOP establishment: Tea party is over”
http://news.yahoo.com/business-gop-establishment-tea-party-over-163718915–politics.html