Texas needs a Democratic Party messaging operation

Home states and districts are usually loyal to their senators and representatives in times of political crisis. But the continued support for Mr. Cruz among Texas Republicans illustrates something larger: the cultural and political divide that continues to widen between a red state that President Obama lost by nearly 16 points in the 2012 election and the blue or even purple parts of the country where Mr. Cruz’s tone and tactics have caused outrage and consternation.

“Texas is not America,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican political consultant in Austin and the former spokesman for Mr. Cruz’s Republican predecessor in the Senate, Kay Bailey Hutchison. “It’s in America, but it’s not America. National polls don’t mean anything. Democrats haven’t won a statewide office in Texas since 1994. There are no Peter Kings in Texas.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/us/politics/texans-stick-with-cruz-despite-defeat-in-washington.html?hp

Mitch McConnell's Tea Party Opponent Endorsed By Senate Conservatives Fund

The GOP primary challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) received an endorsement Friday from the Senate Conservatives Fund, a PAC founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).

The endorsement of Kentucky businessman Matt Bevin escalates the effort by outside conservative groups to back primary challenges next year against those congressional lawmakers who finally voted for the bipartisan budget deal. On Thursday, the Senate Conservatives Fund, the Club for Growth and the Madison Project all endorsed Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel, a primary challenger to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). The Madison Project had already endorsed Bevin.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/18/mitch-mcconnell-matt-bevin_n_4122484.html


I do not know if McConnell will survive the Republican primary or not. But I do think the people of Kentucky deserve to get a Democratic Senator to represent them in the Senate. That is the best way to move Kentucky toward a better future.

Cruz argues in favor of Government run health care

Extremist 'Tea Party' Republicans like to pretend they are patriots --- so much so that when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) complained this week that the government shutdown he helped engineer had forced the elimination of Veteran's Administration healthcare services, he belatedly discovered that he had painted himself into an impossible corner.


Well, he didn't discover it on his own. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) helped him to notice that he was ardently advocating on the Senate floor for the Veteran's Administration health care system, which, unlike "ObamaCare", is an actual government run healthcare system of the type that Cruz pretends to abhor so much he was willing to lead his party to shutting down the entire government to block it.


http://www.bradblog.com/?p=10300

Rachel Maddow Sums Up The Shutdown In One Incredible Graphic

The GOP cost US over 24 billion dollars

The Republicans keep saying, "Leave the sequester in place and cut all those budgets." They keep trying to cut funding for the things that would help us build a future. But they are ready to flush away $24 billion on a political stunt.

The two-week shutdown has trimmed about 0.3 percentage point from fourth-quarter growth, or about $12 billion, the forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, based in St. Louis, recently estimated. Standard & Poor’s is more pessimistic, estimating that the shutdown will cut about 0.6 percent off inflation-adjusted gross domestic product, equivalent to $24 billion. Most analysts are predicting that growth will remain subpar, at an annual pace of 2 percent or less.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/17/business/economy/high-cost-to-the-economy-from-the-fiscal-impasse.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131017

Cruz: It was a ‘remarkable victory’ until Senate Republicans caved on the shutdown

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday blasted members of his own party after he said that they wasted a “remarkable victory” by making a deal with Democrats to re-open the government and avert a default on U.S. debt by raising the nation’s credit limit.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/16/cruz-it-was-a-remarkable-victory-until-senate-republicans-caved-on-the-shutdown/


Self serving idiot throws other Republicans under the bus.....

Republican can’t figure out why government shutdown shut down government parks

For nearly six minutes on Wednesday morning, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) angrily berated the head of the National Park Service for closing down parks and memorials in Washington, D.C.

During a joint committee hearing, the Republican congressman asked NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis why protesters associated with Occupy Wall Street were allowed to camp in McPherson Square in 2011 but World War II veterans were not allowed to visit open-air monuments amid the government shutdown.

Jarvis told Gowdy that D.C. parks and memorials must close during a shutdown under the Anti-deficiency Act, which prohibits federal employees from spending money that has not been authorized by Congress.



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/16/republican-cant-figure-out-why-government-shutdown-shut-down-government-parks/


People wonder why congress is so messed up? The Congress people do not even understand their actions have certain obvious results.

Cruz will not delay timing of vote

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who staged a 21-hour filibuster earlier in the process, said he would vote no, but would not delay the timing of the vote.

“Of course not, never had any intention to delay this vote,” he told reporters as he exited the meeting. “Delaying this vote would not accomplish anything."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics-live/liveblog/live-updates-the-shutdown-9/?id=b701bf7d-f23f-4cbc-ae7c-5f7ab815ed28

Just like his Senate term does not accomplish anything of worth.

How is the GOTV going in the NJ election?

Just wondering.

Poll: New Jersey Senate race tightens

Newark Mayor Cory Booker still holds a double-digit lead over his Republican challenger in the New Jersey Senate race, a new poll shows, but his lead continues to shrink with the election two days away.

Booker leads Steve Lonegan by 10 points, 52 percent to 42 percent, among likely voters in a poll out Monday from Monmouth University.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/cory-booker-steve-lonegan-new-jersey-election-98255.html#ixzz2hmWxYtnW



How is the GOTV effort being run?