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Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
When House Republicans passed a temporary spending bill to keep the government running through September -- its "continuing resolution" -- they picked a small fight over sequestration, but left the bigger fights for another day. Some on the far-right pushed GOP House leaders to go further, but Speaker John Boehner demurred, unwilling to push towards a government shutdown.
Soon after, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he hopes to block the stop-gap spending bill unless Congress delays funding of the Affordable Care Act. The reaction from nearly everyone, including Republicans, was a whole lot of eye-rolling -- not just because Cruz has positioned himself as an unserious crank, but also because no one seriously believes GOP lawmakers will shut down the government in order to block "Obamacare" implementation.
But in a curious twist, Cruz now has an ally: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Greg Sargent reports this morning:
This just in, from Rubio's office: RUBIO TO OPPOSE STOP-GAP GOVERNMENT FUNDING BILL -- UNLESS IT DEFUNDS OBAMACARE
In so doing, Rubio joins Senator Ted Cruz, who has said he'll object to any bill that continues to fund the government unless it cuts off funds from Obamacare. One imagines that continuing to feed the Obamacare repeal fantasy is a requirement for anyone who wants to be competitive in the next GOP presidential primary.
Quite right. Rubio, responding to the wishes of right-wing activists, is now saying he'd rather see a government shutdown than see the Affordable Care Act continue to be implemented over the next six months.
The Florida Republican justified his posturing during an interview on a far-right radio show, telling Hugh Hewitt that he wants to "defund this health care bill ... that is going to be an absolute disaster for the American economy." Rubio made the comments before this morning's jobs report, which helped show the law isn't a disaster for the American economy.
Wait, it gets worse.
To put this in some additional context, Rubio, fresh off his votes against the Violence Against Women Act and against disaster relief for Sandy victims, is now to the right of House Republicans when it comes to funding the government. Sure, Cruz is just as foolish, but Rubio wants to be taken seriously as a credible national leader of his party.
What's worse, Rubio is likely engaging in this right-wing posturing because he hopes to advance his national ambitions. Instead of becoming more serious about policymaking and improving his stature, Rubio is convinced he's more likely to succeed in national Republican politics by becoming more extreme.
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So, TIME, do you still think Rubio is the republican savior? Instead, Rubio is returning to his tea-party roots at a time when the tea-party is descending. Rubio, the rube: I live in Florida and I have always thought of Rubio as a dim bulb.
The only real tea party I ever went to was under the water with Princess Diane, she always won because she could hold her breath longer. I don't know what kind of tea party these guys are playing? All I know is that it's boring, monotonous and downright depressing.
Anybody notice that both of these gusanos are Cubans? I have to say it fits, I have yet to meet an anti-Castro Cuban who isn't an itgnorant fascist piece of something I scrape off my shoes.
The tea-party is completely able to foul up a two-man parade. Idiots and sycophants all.
As we all know, Norma Jeane Baker was responsible for ending the Cuban Missile crisis.
These fellows can't find time to do their jobs, but always find time to beat dead horses.
These two guys are a really bad joke. Let Rubio continue his drift to the right. It will only make him more unelectable on the national scene.
Here we go again. Possible GOP candidates jockeying to be crowned "Most Severely Conservative". I guess Bachmann, Santorum, Gingrich et al didn't teach them a darned thing. As much as they'd love to believe that it was the messenger and not the message, you'd think history would have taught them otherwise. Ok, bring on the crazy since it worked so well in 2012. Democratic Three-peat, anyone?
The only ones who will suffer from a government shutdown are the American people. It's not gonna happen.
Yeah but you are forgetting that Republicans generally support suffering...they file it under buzz words like 47% and personal responsibility
Um, wasn't the conventional wisdom that the sequester couldn't happen? That's worked out well so far.
Nevermind.
Rubio has the same problems that Dubya had. He might be a little charismatic, but he's no good at giving speeches and he's dumb as a post.
Typical Alva... Wrong again... Actually... public speaking is Rubios greatest strength, by far. And he is no dummy, he made a career out of being a wingnut, and he will continue to drink from the same well...
Maybe he's smart, but he still does not realize that in general elections ALL the people get to vote.
Winning a primary as the "biggest loon" is a pyrrhic victory.
I will go with Alva on this one. These guys are not smart; certainly not wise. They are clever. The American Heritage Dictionary lists synonyms for clever: cunning, ingenious, shrewd. They all imply a narrow wit or nimbleness. They are good at slight of hand tricks.
They exhibit no wisdom. They do not know themselves or their limits. They have only "vaulting ambition which or leaps itself and fall i the other." (Macbeth)
Shakespeare would have a field day with these guys. He always saw the dangers of narrow self-seeking ambition: Macbeth, Edmund (King Lear), Julius Caesar, Richard III.
Agreed Alva , That dude is impressed with Rubio , and his last performance , says a lot LMAO
Yeh, one of the reasons why I say he's dumb is because he's obviously scientifically illiterate. That's nothing new with Republicans, but I think they realize that being scientifically illiterate is more of a liability than a badge of honor these days.
And if his Republican response at the SOTU was any indication, Rubio is an incredibly weak public speaker.
Rubio is not interesting in governing, he is interested in his own bottom line which is on the upswing. And look at Ted Cruz during the Brennan hearing, the guy is a darn good lawyer who decided he can make great coin being a liar/wingnut. You fellas go ahead and pretend these guys are dumb, they will laugh at you on the way to the bank. I guarantee their colleagues across the aisle won't make that mistake.
So they can milk the winger crowd and make money , and this impresses you as BEING SMART .....then you must think limbaugh is a genius also , there is more to being smart than just being able to cash in , apparently you do not know this , maybe you should go back to fox entertainment.com where they agree with such limited thinking ?
Pat: I look at alot of angles, so it's ironic to hear you accuse me of "limited thinking". Diversity of thought and opinion is a left wing strength, so the fact that you constantly try to denigrate and boot me off these boards makes you look very uncomfortable. Combine that with your constant all-caps yelling and you get a picture of someone who is not hitting on all cylinders. Sounds like you and Alva have alot in common, except Alva is way more calm.
Sorry, but here comes Harry Reid's filibuster decision again.
Budgets can be passed with reconciliation, so the filibuster is moot. Slandering Harry Reid is the new in thing...
Keep going boys...and then whine and snivel when America is NOT like the one you grew up in! It wasn't bad enough that your predecessors raped the country for 8 years...you want to finish the job. You dumb SOBs.
Rubio the great Right Hope!
smell a Rubio/Cruz 2016
LOL
What is with these Cuban Americans. Maybe they are sleepers whose mission is to destroy the U.S. Just saying...
A Latino friend has ventured the opinion that if the Republicans really think that Mexican, Central American, and other Latino immigrants are going to support Rubio just because he has a Hispanic name, they're in for a BIG surprise.
lets talk about reality. does anyone out there think that the prez and the dems would continue to pursue a strategy that would hurt america. bankrupt the country. come on! that doesn't even make political sense. so whats the real issue. who gets affected the most. doctors will not make quite as much. but wait, wouldn't the biggest losers be the insurance companies? why yes i think so! the insurance companies would be forced to cover people that they deny today. they have to cover children living at home until they are 26. wow! im sure there are many other suprises waiting. so what it comes down to is the gop has become the talking heads for the insurance companies. imagine that! we are the only large country in the world that does not have universal heath care. is that system perfect? no! is it expensive? yes! so the other options are to depend on a profit based system to administer our healthcare. i know a couple in their early 40's that pay over 20,000$ annually for health care. i dare anyone to tell me that it is ok for insurance companies to be that greedy!
Really, again? Do these people actually understand anything? I thought that they have Congressional Staffers, people that have reading for comprehension that can and will explain to them what all those BIG WORDS in those legislative bills mean. I get it, they are "tea-bagger" know nothings, but I thought that at least they had Staff that understood what is going on, jeesh! SMH!!
Obama say--I guess Senator Rubio fears that the Affordable Care Act will affect our economy in the way way all my other initiatives have affected it. (obamasay.com)
The best way to describe Rubio and Cruz is, they are home grown terrorists. They are threatening to blow up the government because of their ideology. To me that is similar to what al-queda and the taliban would like to do. The only difference is the gang of three (include Rand Paul) want to destroy the country from within. In other words the worst kind of terrorism. If any of these three have dreams of becoming president they can forget it, it's not going to happen. The tea party vote alone wont get them there.
so affordable care will kill the economy but not the sequestration? i think he's dehydrated or something because he's speaking nonsense.
It still stuns me that 'strip me of access to healthcare and make sure insurance companies can abuse me to the hilt' would be anyone's litmus test for giving someone their vote.
These are people who won't know what they've got til it's gone.
So for everything the Republicans have lost on they are no going to shutdown the Government unless we do as they say. So Republicans do not believe in a Democratic Government or the laws of Country and they do believe in a Republican Regime. Perhaps Rubio and Cruz miss their roots and if so they should return to Cuba where there form of Government would be respected.
who really sees Rubio as someone serious to be us president one day, he is just so weak as a candidate, because he' s Spanish and he's a senator, three years from now he will fighting for his reelection for being too extreme. he's against Government assistance for the poor but favor the same government assistance for Cubans immigrants. we should give credit to his mate Cruz, for helping to to unmask this fake future us president.
These budget hawkes, who is paying for the 7 offices Mitch McConnell has, the 9 offices Rubio has and the 5 offices Cruz has? How much staff is in each of these offices?
A government shutdown is going to work against the Republicans so the leaders are not going to let a shutdown happen. Boehner will pass the resolution with Dem votes and then enough Republican senators will help Dems stop the filibuster. Personally, I would prefer a shutdown to draw attention to the fact that Republicans are incapable of governing. Dems should not rescue the Republicans from their own stupidity. This will be another manufactured crisis that Dems can use for the 2014 elections. A shutdown would make people forget about the sequester for a while. This is an opportunity for Obama and Dems to flog the Republicans and extract concessions from the Republicans when public opinion slams them. It may even push the Republicans into an all out war with the Tea Party because they are ideologues who are not going to heed public opinion.
There you go. Rubio is just another right wing tea party guy who happens to be Cuban. Bet he loves all his benefits that we pay for. Hey Rubio, will you cut your own salary and healthcare. Sure, when hell freezes over!
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