Occasionally people ask me why I don’t support Alan Grayson. Maybe I should start asking people why they do.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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It wouldn’t do any good to ask people why they support Grayson. Their answers will be based on irrational ideals.
Just because he’s the Donald Trump of the House Democrats…and loves to troll the GOP…
That’s a birther attack on Cruz.
The word that best describes it is…cute.
Cruz still hasn’t renounced his Cuban citizenship.
Perhaps he’s waiting to see if he gets Castro’s endorsement.
Fighting stupidity with stupidity.
It used to be popular with folks who were tired of hearing GOP stupidity.
Yeah, satirizing them is one thing. Emulating them is something else.
One man’s red meat is another’s carrion.
I remember when the true progressives on DKos couldn’t decide whether the real Democratic ticket, taking over from Obama/Biden in 2012, should be Weiner/Grayson, or Grayson/Weiner.
I understand why you don’t support him.
You’re very sensible. It’s a good thing everyone’s like you.
I understand that TX has declined to issue birth certificates to children born in TX to undocumented immigrants. So does TX consider Cruz a natural born citizen.
That’s hilarious. As the kewel 80’s kidzz used to say, “Word”.
We know that mama and papa Cruz skipped the States for Canada, abandoning their four children (two each). When they divorced their respective spouses and married is irrelevant to the question of Ted being a “natural born citizen.” (Papa Cruz’ first wife became highly educated and a respected professor.) Whether or not they paid child support speaks to their character but is also irrelevant. Papa Cruz has stated that he became a naturalized Canadian citizen but can’t recall when. Not directly relevant, but “can’t recall when” perks up my ears. Then this Cuban born, naturalized Canadian, took himself back to Texas, leaving his US born SO and Canadian born son in Canada. Mama Cruz and son remained in Canada until papa returned to them and later they all moved to Texas. Again, all irrelevant. There could be many reasons why mama didn’t leave Canada when paps did, but one of those could be that she too had become a naturalized Canadian. That would be relevant.
The purpose of this is to force the birthers to explain why this is a problem for Obama (aside from the fact that it’s not true, but even if it was), but not for Cruz. Of course, the birthers are retired now, but there are millions of people who took that nonsense seriously and forcing them into cognitive dissonance is a good thing. I know many progressives think these people are so irrational cognitive dissonance will not bother them, but I talk to right-wingers sometimes, and I find this is not true. This is why they dispute facts so much. If they were just indifferent to fact, they wouldn’t bother.
The problem with the sort of people who were willing to believe that Obama was not an American citizen is that they avoid cognitive dissonance by denying factual information which is counter to their political views. This denial of theirs is both internal and external. If they are unwilling to accept inconvenient facts, they avoid cognitive dissonance.
Sure, but they aren’t going to deny that Cruz was born outside the US because Cruz doesn’t deny it, so how can they? They avoid cognitive dissonance by avoiding having it brought up to them. That is what Grayson is trying to undermine. In fact, I think he brought it up now for holiday conversation, which is its actual purpose. He achieves what he wants without actually having to go through with the suit unless Cruz gets the nom, which is very unlikely.
“But Obama’s case was different!
How?
IT WAS!!! (bullshit fact-averse justification for anti-Obama racist sentiment follows)”
See, cognitive dissonance avoided. Haters gonna have.
Of course, since Trump was a birther leader, I think Grayson should file the suit now. Cruz is running, so it’s germane. But Cruz never, to my knowledge, promoted the birther nonsense. Let Cruz retaliate by attacking Trump for birtherism. Let’s you and him fight.
I thought this was great. I dont actually support grayson much but on this? Bring it on.
Boo, you are irate because you contend there is equivalency in Cruz and Obama. Not being a lawyer, I cannot say for sure that they are equivalent. There certainly are some persons who are NOT “natural-born”. I think Cruz’ case may be weaker.
Cruz’s case is certainly weaker because he really was born outside the US. But it doesn’t matter. The whole thing is hogwash.
Well, Representative Grayson isn’t spending his time on anything I care about. I’d love to see Cruz make it to the general election so we can crush the fucker there.
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/ted-cruz-says-planned-parenthood-terrorist-was-transgendered-leftist
-activist/
I retract that epithet. After his statement here, I now consider Ted Cruz a motherfucker.
Support is relative thing, isn’t it? I very probably wouldn’t support him in the primary (but it’d depend on who my choices were). I’d almost certainly support him in the general if he were the Democratic nominee.
He first caught my attention back in 2009 with his floor speech in the House with the posters that criticized the Republican plan for health care (roughly): 1) Don’t get sick; 2) Die young. It was attention-grabbing, but summed it up succinctly. Maybe it’s just an act, but I’m sure he could concoct an act that would be more favorable to his chances for elected office in Florida. And from up here in Wisconsin, all I see of Florida politics is that they elected Rick Scott repeatedly for Governor, so it’s at least a little encouraging to see they’ve elected a Democrat that appears committed to the democratic platform (as a liberal, he ranks somewhere in the middle of a pretty mushy-overall Democratic caucus).
OT: What’s a Mega-troll (zero rating)? (Just noticed the new rating option here in comments.)
I think you’ve answered Booman’s question. Most people couldn’t tell you much about Alan Grayson, which is unsurprising. He’s one of 435 members of Congress and likely not their own. They only know him as a guy who vocally challenged Republicans and stood up for Democratic goals when many other Democrats were running for cover.
There are people I respect, Susan Smith head of the Florida Progressive Caucus for example, who really like him.
He has never been my cup of tea. Based on his exchange with Adam Smith, a pretty good report at the St Pete Times, I think Grayson is a bit of a lunatic.
Where in FL are you located?
So Boo, and others, would rather have Patrick Murphy as a Senator? A guy who rarely votes with the Democratic caucus in a swing district. Has Boo seen who any of GOP candidates are for the race to replace Rubio?
Grayson is a loud mouth and a bomb thrower.
Those seem to be his most obvious cons.
His pros seem to be that he’s a solid liberal.
Since I don’t live in his district or state, I guess in a way it doesn’t really affect me, as much as, if the guy is about to get in trouble for something that makes the (D) brand worth less than it is now, I would rather someone other (D) take his place.
All that said, I do enjoy a Democrat who isn’t afraid to give Republicans shit in public. Grayson is basically a troll, and if he isn’t doing anything illegal that will bring down the brand name, then let ’em at it.