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Daily Dose of Ted:
2/27/14
"I am absolutely convinced that we are going to repeal every single word of Obamacare"

Daily Dose of Ted:
2/20/14
SARASOTA, Florida�The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) winter meeting:
Cruz opened his remarks here with one his signature phrases.
�I spent all of last week in Washington, D.C.," he said. "It is great to be back in America.�

Make no mistake. The Tea Party terrifies the establishment...Republicans, Democrats and the MSM alike. They are doing everything in their power to minimalize us.

Yes, but they only wish we were dead. It has to be a terrible disappointment to know we are alive.

Yup, George "Himmler reincarnated" Stephanopolous on ABC this morning was commenting about how the Tea Party had been shut down, marginalized by mainstream Republicans in this primary because Cornyn won the primary.

They would love for the Tea party to go away. We can't let that happen.

Ed

Ted Cruz Wins Big in Texas
March 5, 2014 | Erick Erickson


Wow � we all knew John Cornyn was going to win last night. He had no significant opposition. His opponents never got tea party or conservative support. His most significant opponent was�well�eccentric to put it politely. Cornyn managed to get 60% in his primary.

Ted Cruz was not on the ballot in Texas last night. After the Cornyn race was called, Brian Walsh, a paid adviser to the NRSC, took to Twitter and, as many including myself interpreted it, obtusely attacked Cruz, who is Deputy Chair of the NRSC.

Cruz did not endorse Cornyn, who himself did not endorse Cruz in 2012. As a friend of mine who saw that tweet noted, �Walsh is like the professional gay lobby. He has Cruz nominally supporting the establishment by sitting in the NRSC post and not causing trouble. He has Cruz staying out of primaries � not picking against the NRSC candidates. That�s not enough though. He wants to have his cake and eat it too, by having Cruz kiss Cornyn�s ring.�

But this was all a distraction.

Ted Cruz showed just how powerful he is in his home state last night. Cruz endorsed 5 candidates. Four of the five won outright and the fifth is the heavy favorite going into a runoff. Cruz did not endorse in the Attorney General race in Texas, but he said some pretty glowing stuff about Ken Paxton. Several people tell me Paxton got strong momentum after Cruz�s kind words and now he finds himself in the lead headed into a runoff against a guy who spent $5 million. GET MONEY TO KEN PAXTON NOW. We need him to win. Paxton�s opponent is still heavily funded.

Paxton, by the way, features himself with Ted Cruz on the homepage of his website. Consider the Cruz effect in Texas in other races.

Konnie Burton is headed into a runoff in Wendy Davis�s State Senate District. Konnie was behind, but after Cruz�s support found herself in first place.

Donna Campbell, running against a well funded establishment pick for the State Senate, won without a runoff after getting a positive reference from Ted Cruz.

Wayne Christian, an early support of Cruz in 2012, is leading a race for Texas Rail Road Commissioner now. Christian is also the former head of the Texas Conservative Coalition.

And then there is David Dewhurst, the Texas Lieutenant Governor. He ran against Tex Cruz in 2012 as the establishment pick and front runner until Cruz beat him. He has high statewide name ID. And now he finds himself in a runoff with Dan Patrick to keep his job.

Cruz is showing his ability to not just get himself across the finish line, but get other Republicans through their own primaries. Perhaps if Walsh and Senate GOP staffers and Senators keep attacking Cruz, it�ll finally dawn on Cruz that he needs to collect some scalps on his own side in his own chamber to change things. Ted Cruz needs to stretch his legs in Republican primaries outside Texas.

That's funny, and a good example of the contempt the media has for us. Cornyn ( Incumbent senate Republican Whip, "2nd Most Conservative Senator) was almost forced into a runoff (60%)by one guy that had nothing but debt and another that had a station wagon full of yard signs. Trust me. They're scared.

Big weekend coming up for Cruz, Palin, and Paul at CPAC.

Cruz and Palin. Palin and Cruz.

Sarah Palin
Politician � 4,013,981 Likes
It was a great night for conservatives in Texas last night � despite what the D.C. media would have you believe.
Voters wisely selected many Tea Party candidates across the board.

Congratulations to Greg Abbott, we�ll work hard to make sure he is the next Governor of Alaska�s little sister state.

We were proud to support Katrina Pierson as well � a bold conservative woman who has overcome bigger challenges in life than election results.
Katrina has a bright future ahead, and we know she will continue her fight for conservative values � after all, you don't need a title to make a difference.

We need more bold women like Katrina in the GOP. 2014 is just underway, and together we�ll continue to give a leg up to grassroots conservatives, despite the odds, who embrace inspiration, ingenuity, and integrity.
We�re just getting started!

WASHINGTON, D.C. � Ten Democrat senators � none up for re-election this year � killed a measure to prohibit political discrimination by IRS employees.

The Senate Judiciary Committee defeated an amendment by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Titled �Intentional Discrimination by Employees of the Internal Revenue Service,� the measure stated:

�(a) Offense. � It shall be unlawful for any officer of the Internal Revenue Service to, regardless of whether the officer or employee is acting under the color of law, willfully act with the intent to injure, oppress, threaten, intimidate or single out and subject to undue scrutiny for purposes of harassment any person or organization of any state �

�(1) based solely or primarily on the political, economic or social positions held or expressed by the person or organization; or

�2) because the person or organization has expressed a particular political, economic, or social position using any words of writing allowed by law.�

The senators � all Democrats � who voted to kill Cruz�s amendment were:
�Patrick Leahy of Vermont
�Dianne Feinstein of California
�Charles Schumer of New York
�Richard Durbin of Illinois
�Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
�Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken of Minnesota
�Chris Coons of Delaware
�Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut
�Mazie Hirono of Hawaii

�They must like IRS employees, or they must like discrimination, or both,� Christian Adams told Watchdog.org.

The Northern Virginia lawyer has worked with the Texas-based True the Vote, an election-watch group targeted by the IRS with extensive audits.

The IRS inspector general reported the agency gave extra scrutiny to 298 groups applying for tax-exempt status from spring 2010 to spring 2012.

The vast majority � 248 � were conservative/tea party organizations. Twenty-nine were rated liberal and 21 were neither, according to the Republican staff of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Former IRS Director Lois Lerner, again taking the Fifth Amendment, declined Wednesday to answer questions from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Ted Cruz's Winning Weekend

C. Edmund Wright

As has been reported, Rand Paul indeed won the Washington Times CPAC straw poll.

Ted Cruz, however, was the big winner coming out of the conference -- and the weekend. No doubt about it.

I say this because just minutes after some 750 mostly young CPAC straw voters had given Paul his numerical win and outsized vocal salute, a pair of very significant speeches -- talks that will live on virally for much longer and to far more voters -- changed the entire atmosphere of the weekend. In started in the very hall where Paul�s win was announced, as Sarah Palin electrified the room and conservatives everywhere with a presentation that heaped praise on Cruz and �Cruz control� tactics � while virtually ignoring the junior senator from Kentucky.



This not so subtle pro-Cruz flavoring was not lost on dozens of red-clad Rand Paul supporters, who walked out of the hall during Palin�s speech. Paul�s supporters had spent the weekend decrying social issues, intervention in the Ukraine, and Cruz� shutdown filibuster. Palin spent the first few minutes of her talk praising all of the above, using the filibuster as the centerpiece of her thesis and the foundation of her entire talk, even resorting to a Cruzlike use of Dr. Seuss.

Say what you want about Palin and her speeches, but there is no doubt that they are very carefully crafted and have been for years. In the past, she has very clearly laid to rest the notion of third-party fantasies. Saturday night, she made it clear that the direction conservatives should take is Cruz control.

To clarify, this is not to say that Palin has any antipathy towards Paul. It�s clear she thinks very positively of him. It is equally clear that she prefers the tactics and moreover, the emphases of Cruz. She is more worried about ObamaCare than drones and she thinks the filibuster was a move of genius that has been validated by history. This would not be considered an endorsement of any candidate for 2016 necessarily, but it was clear that the Cruz message was her prescription for the 2014 midterms.

A little later Saturday evening, across town at the annual Gridiron Dinner, Cruz himself impressed those from all over the political spectrum with a stunning and at times very funny speech that skewered many of his critics and adversaries with a rapier wit. Politico�s Mike Allen, no fan of Cruz or his filibuster tactics, said Cruz �crushed his speech� and that �even Dems said he knocked it out of the park.�

And while an endorsement from the Politico and the Democrats is normally an indictment for a Republican, understand that Cruz did not win this praise by being Democrat lite. That may be how John McCain or Lindsey Graham get praise from the left, but that�s not at all how Cruz rolls.

Far from it. Cruz went hard core, eviscerating former Florida Governor Charlie Crist by referring to himself (Cruz) as the anti-Crist. He devastated GOP establishment figures who have criticized him in the past, including McCain, who Cruz bragged �this week has only once demanded an apology from me.� He also went after a favorite of the liberal media, Elizabeth Warren, by saying that by her standards he (Cruz) is an Algonquin Indian -- a jab that also left a mark on establishment figures floating the notion that Cruz is really a Canadian citizen.

Of course, President Obama was not immune to Cruz� sharp attacks either. �We are still a nation of laws,� Cruz said. �You just have to check with Barack Obama every day to see what they are."

These remarks at the Gridiron Dinner appearance capped off what would be considered, by Washington standards, a homerun appearance. Cruz�s conservative philosophy will never win over the elites, but his Gridiron performance validated his credibility. He was clearly the hit of the evening, dwarfing all other speakers. This success, along with remarks that Palin had made earlier at the National Harbor Gaylord Hotel, make Cruz the weeks� biggest winner.

FWIIW: 2014 CPAC straw poll vote was down 16% since just last year and 34% since 2011.

At Least Canadian Immigrant Ted Cruz Can Never be Presidente




Texas teabagger Ted Cruz is already making an effort to be the most revolting badass in town. And it's working. He was the first senator out of the box to attack fellow Cuban-American wingnut Marco Rubio and other Republicans for working with Democrats on a comprehensive immigration policy. And yesterday he was one of only 3 reactionaries to vote against confirming John Kerry as Secretary of State. A chickenhawk and spawn of Joe McCarthy himself, Cruz went out of the way to smear two decorated war heroes, Kerry and Chuck Hagel.

And on top of all that, Cruz picked a fight with Rahm Emanuel. I immediately thought of the crocodile vs shark video but I found something else instead that makes the same point (down below). Cruz doesn't want Emanuel coming around Texas. Who could blame him-- and who could care?

Emanuel is working with NYC Mayor Bloomberg to get dangerous firearms off the streets and out of the schools. Cruz, of course, is an ardent advocate of violence, mayhem and lots and lots of dead children-- as long as they're not Catherine Christiane Cruz or Caroline Camille Cruz.

Cruz sent a letter to Emanuel and the heads of two banks and two gun manufacturing companies on Tuesday in response to a call by Emanuel, President Obama's former chief of staff, for the banks to stop lending to the gun makers.

"Your continued anti-gun crusade may well cause some to wonder if the interests of the citizens of Chicago are being sacrificed in pursuit of a partisan agenda," Cruz writes. "Regardless, directing your attack at legitimate firearms manufacturers undermines the Second Amendment rights of millions of Texans. In the future, I would ask that you might keep your efforts to diminish the Bill of Rights north of the Red River."

On Thursday Emanuel wrote to the top executives of Bank of America and TD Bank, respectively, urging them to stop lending to gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. In Cruz's response, the junior senator from Texas urges the bank CEOs to come to Texas.

"Both of your companies do considerable business in the City of Chicago, and you may be understandably concerned that there are risks to refusing to comply with the demands of a politician who has earned the nickname, 'The Godfather,' " Cruz writes to the bank chiefs. "In Texas, we have a more modest view of government.

"We do not accept the notion that government officials should behave as bullies, trying to harass or pressure private companies into enlisting in a political lobbying campaign. And we subscribe to the notion, quaint in some quarters, that private companies don't work for elected officials; elected officials work for private citizens.

"In light of the reception you have received in the Windy City, please know that Texas would certainly welcome more of your business and jobs you create," Cruz adds.

And to the gun manufacturers, Cruz offers to introduce their companies to banks in Texas.

"Should Mayor Emanuel's bullying campaign prove successful, I am confident that there are numerous financial institutions in Texas that would be eager to earn your business. And in the event that it might prove helpful, I would be happy to introduce you to their leaders," he writes.



Emanuel has recently been active in pushing stricter gun laws, both in his hometown and at the federal level. He recently appeared at a panel at the Center for American Progress alongside Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on a House task-force for reducing gun violence, to discuss passing new gun restrictions. Only a vicious political hack like Cruz would consider the fight for gun safety "a partisan agenda." But Texans are long aware of what this guy is all about. As for Emanuel, maybe he ought to slap down his erstwhile ally, NRA shill Debbie Halvorson right there in his own city and running for Congress on a pro-assault weapons platform, before he takes on Cruz.

Cruz is going to piss off a lot of people and that is a good thing.

Uh oh... looks like Paul and Rubio are officially part of the establishment team now. Watch your 6, Senator Cruz.

___________

WASHINGTON � Earlier this week, Sen. Ted Cruz revealed that he�s taken a timeout from his role as vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, where he was supposed to serve as a sort of liaison to tea partiers.

On Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn � Texas� senior senator and the party�s deputy Senate leader � noted that Cruz isn�t the only tea party senator around, and others are clearly more cooperative.

�He is not the only one that is providing that kind of outreach and connection. There are a number of other senators that enjoy tea party support who are actively engaged in helping incumbent Republican senators,� Cornyn said on his weekly call with Texas reporters. �I�m thinking of Rand Paul in Kentucky, Marco Rubio, just to name a couple.�

Back home, Paul has been actively working to help Minority Leader Mitch McConnell fend off a tea party challenger.

As envisioned by McConnell, Cruz�s role was to bridge any gap between Senate Republicans and tea party activists.

Rather than a team player, Cruz turned out to be a huge irritant for McConnell. He�s used his visibility to pressure �establishment� Republicans. He complains regularly about �Republican leadership� � for instance, when McConnell and Cornyn killed his effort to block a hike in the federal debt ceiling by filibuster.

At the NRSC, Cruz has long been a VCINO (Vice Chairman in Name Only).

Cornyn led the campaign committee for four years before his elevation to deputy leader, just after Cruz won his seat in 2012. He shrugged off Cruz�s move to strip any pretense from his role there, given his refusal to help incumbents who draw a primary challenge.

�This is just a personal policy of Sen. Cruz,� Cornyn said, �and isn�t one necessarily shared by other people who enjoy that support from that part of our party.�

The NRSC�s central mission is to maximize the number of Republican senators. Incumbents are the main constituency and source of financial muscle. But Cruz says he never signed up to help incumbents and so far, has stuck by a personal policy of staying out of incumbent primaries.

That�s something Cornyn knows first-hand, having survived an 8-way primary last week. Cruz remained adamantly neutral. National tea party groups and Texas activists took that as a signal that he wouldn�t object to seeing Cornyn ousted, or at least given a run for his money.

�Sen. McConnell didn�t consult me before he made that appointment,� Cornyn said. In any case, �Sen. Cruz had made his position pretty clear on involvement in contested Republican primaries.�

Ted Cruz ✔ @tedcruz
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Saw this, but noticed an error. So I wanted to make one thing clear: I don't smoke cigarettes http://bit.ly/1nqK08i

Ted Cruz, Rand Paul Crush Jeb Bush, Chris Christie in Latest Tea Party Presidential Poll

While the mainstream media has already designated their preferred 2016 Republican nominee as Chris Christie or Jeb Bush, the grassroots in the Tea Party movement sent a strong message as to their preferred nominee. The Washington Examiner reported today on a new poll released by TheTeaParty.net, the nation�s largest group, and the highly influential conservative group Contract from America. The online poll boasted 62,000 respondents who sent a strong message to the GOP establishment.


In keeping with the principles of the movement, grassroots activists overwhelmingly selected Senator Ted Cruz from Texas and Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky as their choice for the GOP nominee. Showing up strongly in third place in the poll is retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson who became popular among conservative circles following his speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast.

These staunch conservatives performed far better among the grassroots activists than moderates New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.


The poll provided 11 different matchups. From there, the support for each were totaled. Texan Cruz was at the top with 84 percent supporting his candidacy, followed by Kentucky�s Paul at 80 percent and Carson at 77 percent. Last of the 22 candidates polled was Christie at 15 percent.

While not as scientific as standard polls, it gives a strong indication of where the primary state activists are because they were the group targeted.

�There�s a resounding message in these poll results for the Washington establishment. This is not a survey of casual Republicans or sometimes voters. These are activists who pound the pavement, make the phone calls, and cast their votes in every election every year,� said Todd Cefaratti, founder of TheTeaParty.net.

�They have a message for the candidates of status quo Washington: We are coming for you. We will beat you. And we will send you packing from the halls of power,� he added.