Thursday, September 19, 2013

Ted Cruz and Teapublicans Trapped in "Box Canyon" with Obamacare ~ Updated

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source: democratic underground

I oppose Obamacare as much as anybody in the Senate, but it's just difficult for me to see how this leads us anywhere but a boxed canyon.
~ Senator Bob Corker, R-Tennessee


For those unfamiliar, a “box canyon” is a canyon that’s essentially a trap with no way out. (Sen. Ted) Cruz went to both Ivy League schools mentioned.
~ Roll Call

In the United States Senate, we will not repeal or defund Obamacare. We will not. And to think we can is not rational.... To somehow think we are going to defund it is simply not going to happen at this time, and it will, in my opinion, as it did before, harm the American people's view of the Republican party,
~ Senator John McCain, R-AZ on CNN

They have this hard-nosed, adamant, almost surreal tea party saying go ahead and do it, and the tea party doesn’t even know how it’s going to end.
~ Senator Chuck Schumer, D-NY

We voted on Obamacare ... and it's the law of the land. It's been through the Supreme Court. It's not perfect, but let's work to make it better.
~ Senator Mark Pryor, R-Arkansas





Huffington Post
On Wednesday, after House leaders said they'd go forward with the defund strategy Cruz had been pitching with ads on Fox News, his response boiled down to 'Thanks, you're on your own.'

"Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so," Cruz said in a statement. "At that point, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American people."

On the surface, House Republicans were seething. Members openly accused Cruz and his allies, Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), of waving the white flag before the fight had even begun. One House GOP aide even called Cruz a "joke, plain and simple."

. . . "Cruz officially jumped the shark this week," said one GOP operative allied with House leadership, who, like others, requested anonymity to speak critically about fellow Republicans. "He's doing for the House Leaders what they couldn't do for themselves. House rank-and-file members are uniting with Boehner, Cantor over Ted Cruz's idiotic position."

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What a shame all this melodrama is a mirage, a farce, a game.
The choice is not, and never has been, between those willing to defund ObamaCare and those willing to fund it. That supposed choice is in fact an illusion. To defund the ACA would require the House and Senate to pass new legislation, which Barack Obama would have to sign. And no one, not even Senators Cruz, Paul, Lee and Rubio, believes the president would do that.
All the posturing that’s being done to present this as a battle between Intrepid Republicans versus the Surrender Caucus is nothing more than political theater.
It also appears that Captain Courageous himself, Ted Cruz, and some of his colleagues are now engaging—at least for now—in a premature surrender. House Republicans are incensed at Cruz for going wobbly on the filibuster he once seemed to favor, putting all the responsibility back on the House.
~ Peter Wehner on Commentary





























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