Take this for what it’s worth.
Not Ted Cruz
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is preparing Texas Republicans for a turbulent election year amid super-charged Democratic enthusiasm — including in his own re-election campaign.
Traveling the state for GOP events this weekend, Cruz portrayed an uncertain midterm environment that could go down as disastrous for Republicans if they don’t work to counteract Democratic energy throughout the country. Cruz has spent previous election cycles airing similar warnings against GOP complacency in ruby-red Texas, but this time it hits much closer to home for him — he is facing a well-funded re-election challenge from U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso.
Addressing the Fort Bend County GOP on Friday night, Cruz warned of an “incredible volatility in politics right now,” calling Democrats “stark-raving nuts” in their opposition to Trump. He pointed to Trump’s recent State of the Union address and Democrats’ reluctance to applaud, saying the scene “underscores the political risk in November.”
“Let me tell you right now: The left is going to show up,” Cruz said, delivering the keynote address at the party’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner. “They will crawl over broken glass in November to vote.”
As a general rule, one should be wary of assigning a truth value to anything Ted Cruz says. Be that as it may, he’s right that Democrats are fired up, and Republicans need to be worried about it. That’s especially true for counties like Fort Bend and Harris, where Republicans don’t have a numerical advantage and need an edge in enthusiasm to make up for it.
What the likes of Cruz say in public to their core supporters, who seek inspiration from their standard-bearers, doesn’t tell us much. I’m much more interested in what they’re saying behind the scenes, with their consultants and pollsters, but for obvious reasons that information is harder to get. We can take inspiration from Cruz’s “we’re under siege” message as well, but we need to work at making that message an accurate one.
The left (American lovers) is not showing up the traitorous Russian loving Republicans, Cruz included, have lost the sensible people in the Republican Party, now known as the Trump Party. The party of racists, environment haters, women abusers has reason to worry. The Tea Party is exposed as being racists and the deficit was a ruse to hate on Obama, they love the deficit now that Trump who is a white racist is pushing for them.
It’s ironic that the half-brown, son of a Cuban immigrant voted AGAINST bringing the fate of the Dreamers for a vote in the Senate.
Cruz is always the first to sound alarm bells, but my sincere hope is that this will finally be a year in which they ring true. If Democrats are able to take the 2016 results and build from them, Texas could finally be a serious changing point.
And as for Cruz himself?? Well, let’s just say that if I had spent more of my time speaking on the Senate Floor about Green Eggs and Ham than I have talking about education, infrastructure, and other REAL issues that matter to Texas families, I’d have plenty of reason to worry as well.
I’m interested to know what you folks think about the tax cuts and the stimulated economy that is adding more jobs. Typically mid term elections are bad for the incumbent party, but I wonder how voters seeing more pay in their pay envelopes will reflect in voting. Do people still vote with their pocket books?
I’m sure the question will come up to Beto during the campaign, “would you have voted for the tax cuts?” That answer will be no, so there’s a pretty clear difference there. Of course, nobody thinks Beto was the Zodiac Killer, so there’s that.
Trickle down is a con job. Maybe you are content with a few crumbs tossed in your direction, but many of us aren’t going to let that distract us from all the damage this clown show is dojng.
Today’s agreement is a victory for the American people-they spoke out clearly & $ 40 dollars each paycheck will make a difference.
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) December 23, 2011
Crumbs are crumbs, no matter who throws them.
Also can we expect the Tea Party to protest Trump’s budget and the expanded debt as vociferously as they against Obama?
I also see the upsurge in activism at the grassroots level by Democrats in my region, and a couple of different strains of GOP deflation. Some Republicans are angry at officeholders for not delivering on repeal of Obamacare and other promises. Some longtime primary voting Republicans, well-educated, inside the loop mostly, are telling door to door campaigners that they no longer identify as a Republican, and are hostile to Trump. Another group is angry at Governor Abbott and less so Ted Cruz for endorsing in local races against their own preferred candidates. But unless Cruz or Abbott fail to get 85% on March 6, I don’t think there will be any statewide losses on the R side of the ticket. (barring indictments or some scandal or theft of government funds). On the other hand, Republicans deserting Abbott or Cruz could cause lower totals for downballot GOP judicial candidates in Harris County, as ticket splitters often do not finish the whole ballot.
Bill Daniels where do you get the $40 per paycheck, is it fact or fiction?
Mainstream, if not this year, it will be coming soon as the Traitorous Clown still sits in the office that he and the Russians conspired to take over. All those that support the Clown and his supporters are just as much traitors to this country and Democracy.
Manny,
That was a tweet from Pelosi. Her number, not mine. She seemed to think it was significant, before she subsequently described lower taxes for working people as crumbs.
Beto is in the House and you can look up his voting record.
Jules,
I just did. Beto voted against the workers of Texas getting more pay in their pay envelopes. He’ll have to run on that record.
Pelosi tweeted $40 about Obama’s payroll tax cuts. So what does that have to do with the Trump’s handouts to the billionaires and millionaires? I remember getting a lump payment under Obama, where is the lump payment that the traitorous clown and the corrupt traitorous Republicans gave us? Hope you enjoy all those new tolls that you will have to pay to get to job sites.
Beto can run on his record all day. The voters have been listening to ClusterF**k/Clown Car reports coming out of the White House for a year now and it’s not going to (my prediction) stop anyone for voting for a Democrat, regardless of their voting record, if a Republican is the incumbent. I’ll gladly trade my extra $1.25/paycheck increase for a fully functioning Federal Govt. not run by a bunch of crooked GOP’ers and cabinet officials.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/va-secretary-shulkin-under-fire-for-europe-trip-to-appear-before-house-panel/2018/02/14/0c65702e-11c2-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.8c94ec9bdc96