"Cruzification of the GOP"

[applegrove]

Cruzification of the GOP

by Dana Milbank at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-cruzification-of-the-gop/2013/10/11/c50c692e-32b1-11e3-89ae-16e186e117d8_story.html

"SNIP..............................


The poll, confirming earlier results, found the Republican Party and the tea party had both reached all-time lows. Americans now favor a Democratic Congress to a Republican Congress by eight percentage points. And the percentage of Americans who think Obamacare is a good idea is up seven points from last month. Seventy percent say Republicans are putting politics ahead of the good of the country.

The small-but-vocal tea party had been seeking just such a confrontation since the 2010 election, and they opposed compromises by Republican leaders that postponed the showdown until now. Conservative groups that advocated for a standoff spoke openly about their motives. At a breakfast with reporters Wednesday, Michael Needham, chief executive of the conservative group Heritage Action, freely admitted that he was “pretty optimistic” that we will soon see a crackup of the old Republican order.

The lure of martyrdom has always been part of the tea party’s creed. In rally posters, online and in speeches, there are invocations of Thomas Jefferson’s quotation: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

Perhaps now the tea party’s manure can be used to grow a healthier political system. There are encouraging signs that the shutdown has awakened the rest of the electorate to the outsize clout exercised by this minority.




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[flamingdem]

1. Well he tried to find a silver lining

but we may be entering a very dark time economically.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. More like the Cruzification of Democracy.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, applegrove.

[Marie Marie]

4. Politically, I'd say that he is Cruzin' for a bruisin'.