So, Ted Cruz won the runoff in the Texas senate race.
Congratulations to him and to the Tea Party for putting another feather in their tri-corner hat.
But here's the thing: The ascendancy of Tea Party candidates like Cruz, while impressive, comes at a cost to the Republican Party: the loss of moderate Republicans who have been knocked off or have resigned. Other Republicans have simply moved farther to the right in order to placate the absurd demands of the Tea Party extremists.
Mitt Romney is the perfect example: He seemed like a moderate governor, but now he can't wait to board the Tea Party Express to Crazytown. As Michael Tomasky said on my show last night, he's such a pandering, weak-willed wimp that he's basically outsourced his brain to the Tea Party and the Koch brothers who fund it. Whatever they want, he'll do. As the Tea Party takes the Republicans further to the right, he's got to move along with them. He's got to chase the base -- a base which is getting smaller and crazier and Koch-brothers-ier.
Whether it's their Sharia law and birther conspiracies or their unwillingness to buck Grover Norquist's no-tax pledge, the Tea Partiers have hijacked their party and carried it all the way to the right.
Don't believe me?
Think back to the Republican presidential debate when the moderator asked Republican candidates to raise their hands if they would reject a budget proposal that that offered ten dollars in spending cuts for every one dollar in tax increases. Ten to one! Ten bucks of what they want for one measly dollar of what's actually fair. And how many of them rose their hands? Every. Single. One.
That's insanity! But that's also the Tea Party. Because who are the puppeteers pulling the strings lifting these candidates' hands? Why, of course, it's the Koch brothers. And as the Tea Party moves further to the right, the Koch brothers' strings get tighter and more controlling.
Tuesday night's primary was a victory for Ted Cruz, but it also should be a victory for the Democratic Party. Because as the Republicans run to the crazy Tea Party right, they leave behind the huge mass of genuinely moderate and independent Americans that make up the majority of voters. The ones that used to consider themselves now-extinct moderate Republicans. They're up for grabs. And the Democrats have to grab them! Not just with their with their lack of Tea Party insanity and Koch brothers strings, but with their solid, forward-thinking ideas. With their vision for middle-class resurgence. With their plans to invest in the people and future of America.
So congrats, again, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, David and Charles Koch and the whole Tea Party gang. Thank you for the opportunity for the Democratic Party and progressives to reclaim the votes of the sane citizens of these United States.
Cross posted at "The War Room" blog. "The War Room with Jennifer Granholm" airs weeknights at 9/8c on Current TV. Follow Jennifer Granholm on Facebook and Twitter and "The War Room" on Facebook and Twitter.
Follow Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JenGranholm
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 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
Gov. Granholm wrote "Think back to the Republican presidential debate when the moderator asked Republican candidates to raise their hands if they would reject a budget proposal that that offered ten dollars in spending cuts for every one dollar in tax increases. Ten to one! Ten bucks of what they want for one measly dollar of what's actually fair. And how many of them rose their hands? Every. Single. One. "
Flashback 1982
Ronald Reagan’s statement in his autobiography, “An American Life,” that he would happily compromise with Democrats if he could get 75 or 80 percent of what he wanted — implying that today’s Republicans were nuttier than Reagan if they’d refuse a dollar in tax hikes for $10 in spending cuts.
As Reagan explains a little farther in his autobiography: He did accept tax hikes “in return for [the Democrats'] agreement to cut spending by $280 billion,” but, Reagan continues, “the Democrats reneged on their pledge and we never got those cuts.”
Instead we should back the party of Gov Granholm who managed to reduce Detroit to rubble over the course of their 50 years of governance.
Politicians, known for their willingness to break campaign promises (see Barack Obama for an apt example), should be mocked and declared insane for sticking to a pledge to not increase taxes.
Signing on to something and actually following through, who would have thought that was possible?
BTW - you need to cut spending and reform entitlements to get out of this mess. There is no way around that.
The tea party is out of its frikin mind and has damn near lost me to ralph nader....
I wont vote for Obama because I dont like the way he bombed Libya, killed American citizens, signed a law that allows indefinite detention of Americans and a few other serious problem.
I wont vote for romney because hes just a puppet who obviously just saying what he has to to win the base...
repeal obamacare... why? If you go item by item everyone seems to agree with it.
When I vote its just going to be for local politicians who I can actually call and bitch too if need be.
He dropped bombs on another nations capital and then said were not at war because we have no troops on the ground.
He ramped up the war in afganistan
He tried to keep us in Iraq but they wanted to be able to put Soldiers on trial and then he said no.
he authorized killing US citizens by missiles without trial.
He signed a law that makes it legal to detain american citizens without trial indefinably.
He has shown a lust for war that rivals Bush's
its not the presidents job to create jobs... so that not a concern of mine.
Presidents enforce laws... not create them. And this president has shown that he only picks and chooses which laws he wants to enforce.
And i haven't even got to where he gave a trillion to the bankers who crashed it all....
he would never get my vote.
Yes, absurd and, according to polls, Congressman's Ryan's budget isn't very popular either.
I'm surprised the Romney campaign isn't running to the center. I thought both parties only had 40-something percent and it was the centrist vote they were trying to get.
I hope he's listening to you governor. Clearly, HE'S ALL EARS.
There are too many to be mentioned. too many to be mentioned!