"Ted Cruz is Still Not Here to Make Friends"

[applegrove]

Ted Cruz is Still Not Here to Make Friends

by Jamelle Bouie at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/26/ted-cruz-is-still-not-here-to-make-friends.html

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With that said, it’s worth noting the extent to which Cruz reflects the GOP base. According to recent data from the Pew Research Center, Tea Party Republicans don’t see the GOP as especially conservative, despite its hard right turn—44 percent of Republicans and Republican “leaners” who agree with the Tea Party say that the GOP is conservative or very conservative. Indeed, just 28 percent of Republicans overall say that the party does a good job of “standing up for its traditional positions.”

To outside observers, this is ludicrous. Between its crusade against the Affordable Care Act, its cuts to social services (like food stamps), and its continued push for lower taxes and regulation, the GOP seems as conservative as ever.

But this, it seems, isn’t enough. The conservative base doesn’t want representation as much as it wants to hand defeats to Barack Obama, even if—in the case of the debt ceiling—they cause massive shocks to the global economy.

Which leaves Republican leaders in the same spot they’ve been for years. Beholden to a base that, like a capricious autocrat, will turn against them at the slightest provocation.




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[Deep13]

1. He is succeeding. nt