Ted Cruz Kicks Off the Obama-As-Dictator Movement

[DonViejo]

PHILIP BUMP

It wasn't President Obama's State of the Union call for "opportunity for all" or new tools to help the unemployed that's gotten Republicans riled up: it was his declaration that he would "take steps without legislation" to solve the problems he thinks the country faces. That, according to Sen. Ted Cruz and others, is all but a declaration of dictatorship.

Cruz didn't wait to hear what Obama said during his speech on Tuesday night to draft his rebuttal, which ran in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday morning. Pivoting off the president's declaration that he had "a pen and … a phone" with which to take action even when blocked by Congress, Cruz declared that the "president's persistent pattern of lawlessness" and push to work around Congress "should concern every citizen."

Most of Cruz's argument, as might have been predicted, centers on Obamacare, the fight that made Cruz's career. But he also isolates Obama's announcement that he would unilaterally raise minimum wages for federal workers, which Cruz mistakenly says happened on Monday. An "imperial presidency threatens the liberty of every citizen," Cruz writes in conclusion, "because when a president can pick and choose which laws to follow and which to ignore, he is no longer a president."

Cruz doesn't specifically call Obama a dictator, opting instead for a sort of "I'm not saying he's a dictator, but" route. National Review's Victor Davis Hanson doesn't do the same tip-toeing. "If Obama used to sigh to supporters that he was not a dictator who could just implement progressive agendas by fiat," Hanson writes, "he now seems to have done away with the pretense of regret." Hanson, who writes about the dictators of ancient history when he's not opining on modern politics, points out Obama's decision to emphasize children. "Note as well that Obama says he will bypass Congress for 'our kids.' Politicians usually cite the 'kids' when promoting something that is either illegal or unethical." Or when running for office or basically doing anything.

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http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/01/ted-cruz-kicks-obama-dictator-movement/357489/

[kwolf68]

1. Jesus loves you Ted

One of the most important things Jesus worked for was preventing folks from getting access to health care. You will without a doubt be a star in heaven.

[Aristus]

8. Yes, Ted: Jesus loves you.

Everyone else thinks you're an asshole.

[demigoddess]

2. evidence:

the color of his skin.

[msongs]

3. 5 years of appeasing republicans has paid off big time lol nt

[yellowcanine]

4. Some people might say Obama is a dictator, right Ted? But not you of course. Nah.

[Half-Century Man]

5. We now know some of the contents of the latest GOP "regergatation orders" flyer.

Link the words Obama, Dictator, Lawless, Imperial, as often as possible.
as exemplified by Sen. Cruz (R) Fundimentalistan, and Rep. T. Huelskamp (R) West Horse's Ass Kansas.

[jmowreader]

6. That should concern us but not the way he means

Obama is faced with a situation unique in American history: an opposition party that simply refuses to accept anything except Exactly What They Want Exactly The Way They Want It. It's like a kid who won't eat sandwiches unless they're peanut butter and sauerkraut and who won't eat his favorite sandwich if it's sliced diagonally - but the consequences are far greater than a hungry kid and a wasted sandwich. Put into legislation, if the Democrats were to advance an Obamacare repeal bill the Teabaggers wouldn't accept it if it didn't also contain a tax cut and a defunding of at least one social program.

Because the tea party has decided it controls the country (even though it is a subset of Republicans, Constitution Party members, Libertarian Party members, and assorted "I refuse to affiliate with a party because they're all too liberal" types) and refuses to allow the country to do anything, Obama has to go around them.

[freshwest]

7. It's called 'crazy making' like when an abuser is trying to keep someone off balance. Each act is

Last edited Tue Mar 4, 2014, 10:18 PM - Edit history (1)

escalated until there is no way to work with them. It's their way or the highway, all in their hands, because they will *anything* to keep in control, to have power.


It's harder than someone who keeps changing the goalposts, much worse. When bullies are confronted for their crazy making routine, they run away or go for violence.

PBO is confronted with almost the same forces Lincoln had to face, willing to destroy the entire country to get their way, and they tried to. We do not want that, but it is their perennial ace in the hole.

[EuellG]

9. Politics 2014

I'm agree with your opinion, respect you!

[nolkyz]

10. Obama's not a dictator

But Cruz is a dick.

[polynomial]

11. We need him

This guy Ted Cruz has to be the best gage of cultural stupidity in a political situation. At my last reading the Wall Street Journal is a combination ownership of Richard Murdock and the Arabs. Murdock owns the paper the Arabs pay for the adds  The perfect legal money laundry system for the right wing spiral to chaos.

However, the who’s who in money gets a front row story even if they are stupid and rich. Ted Cruz has a legion of stupid nitwits that follow and worship every word he says. Cruz has that hubris in counterarguments that his followers feel in an intellectual and complex motive to success. Then the reality in time the bottom drops out in more stupid comments than Bullwinkle could poem out.