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How are u posted:Well looks like Cruz just went and publicly renounced his Canadian citizenship. What a goofus. I find it hilarious that the state of our politics is such that somebody would actually do something like that. Last year, prime minister Stephen Harper called out the leader of the opposition party, Tom Mulcair, for having dual Canadian and French citizenship. Harper implied that it was un-Canadian and said a leader should have only one citizenship. Mulcair told Harper to gently caress off, saying that "I have no lessons to receive about being Canadian from Stephen Harper" and "Let them bring it on." Honestly, I think that sort of response could have played well for Cruz. There are probably millions of dual citizens in America. If anyone brought it up, he could have called them out for being so insecure in their own American identity that they need to attack his. Instead, he's running scared from his own history. It's pathetic.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:22
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Huge Liability posted:Last year, prime minister Stephen Harper called out the leader of the opposition party, Tom Mulcair, for having dual Canadian and French citizenship. Harper implied that it was un-Canadian and said a leader should have only one citizenship. Except for the part where the only people bringing it up are members of his own party's nativist, anti-immigrant base. Cruz doesn't want to alienate those people - he wants to fire them up.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:26
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crowfeathers posted:Maybe Kissinger could be his running mate. Christie provides the popularity, Kissinger the experience (of being a war criminal). A winning ticket! Fat/Phlegm 2016.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:29
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The Entire Universe posted:Fat/Phlegm 2016. Obnoxious/Incoherent 2016
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Aug 20, 2013 21:29
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Captain_Maclaine posted:Obnoxious/Incoherent 2016 Hog/Hague 2016.
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Aug 20, 2013 21:35
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Senator Ted Cruz is still a Canadian. For the next eight months, at least.quote:Senator Ted Cruz, who recently discovered that he is likely a Canadian, must win security clearance from Canada's spy agency, fill in a four-page form and then wait up to eight months to sever his ties to America's northern neighbor. I am very much looking forward to reading Ted Cruz's essay on why he hates Canada.
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Aug 20, 2013 22:15
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What a tricky line to walk. Write an essay on why you hate a country so much that you'd deny their free gift of citizenship, while simultaneously not coming across as a threat. I'm thinking a transcription of the Canada song from MST3k would not meet those standards.
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Aug 20, 2013 22:33
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I can almost allow the Keystone XL, if Obama manages to convince Harper to keep this going into 2016.
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Aug 20, 2013 22:47
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Do read all of the DMR's follow-along with Scotty Brown as he toured the Iowa State Fair.quote:1:40 p.m.: Before ordering food at a corn dog stand on the Grand Concourse, Brown checked to see if the reporters with him wanted anything. (They didn’t.) Of his first taste of the famous fair delicacy, he said: “It tastes like a hot dog with cornbread.” Wicked smaht!
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Aug 21, 2013 01:59
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Joementum posted:Do read all of the DMR's follow-along with Scotty Brown as he toured the Iowa State Fair. It's quite a step up from  "Lemon. Wet. Good."
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Aug 21, 2013 02:02
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Joementum posted:Do read all of the DMR's follow-along with Scotty Brown as he toured the Iowa State Fair. Corn doggin' 
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Aug 21, 2013 04:00
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WampaLord posted:It's quite a step up from Wait, is this real or not? When I google "lemon wet good" the first thing is that joke guy from NY Mag, the second is Sam Seder being unlistenably obnoxious, and the third is a video where he drinks lemonade but doesn't say it.
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Aug 21, 2013 04:18
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Armyman25 posted:Corn doggin' Corn doggin' with Marcus  Is there any chance God will call her to run again in 16?
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Aug 21, 2013 04:19
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Something I don't get about Cruz, why doesn't he just turn into the dual-citizenship thing? Like, how easy would it be to get points with a simple 'of course I'm a dual citizen, because my parents wanted me to grow up in the land of opportunity, but this citizenship just shows that America is a great melting pot yada yada yada everyone is welcome as long as they're from white places yada yada yada'? Doesn't he look worse by going "WHAT? CANADA? NO gently caress THAT PLACE I HATE IT GROSS YOU CAN'T BE A REAL AMERICAN IF YOU HAVE TIES TO ANY OTHER COUNTRY GROSS!"?
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Aug 21, 2013 07:22
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Nice Davis posted:Wait, is this real or not? When I google "lemon wet good" the first thing is that joke guy from NY Mag, the second is Sam Seder being unlistenably obnoxious, and the third is a video where he drinks lemonade but doesn't say it. I don't think there's a viedo, but he did say it to reporters.
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Aug 21, 2013 07:49
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Tatum Girlparts posted:Something I don't get about Cruz, why doesn't he just turn into the dual-citizenship thing? Like, how easy would it be to get points with a simple 'of course I'm a dual citizen, because my parents wanted me to grow up in the land of opportunity, but this citizenship just shows that America is a great melting pot yada yada yada everyone is welcome as long as they're from white places yada yada yada'? Dual citizenship can/does gently caress with US government security clearances, so it could prevent him from serving on certain subcommittees or otherwise hamstring him as a congresscritter.
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Aug 21, 2013 08:07
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Tatum Girlparts posted:Doesn't he look worse by going "WHAT? CANADA? NO gently caress THAT PLACE I HATE IT GROSS YOU CAN'T BE A REAL AMERICAN IF YOU HAVE TIES TO ANY OTHER COUNTRY GROSS!"? Not to the people whose votes he needs to get nominated for president when facing down Chris Christie and the RNC money train.
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Aug 21, 2013 08:12
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He's going to write a 1000 word essay on why Canada is a nation of godless communists and his base is going to lap it up. Since he's chosen this path he should just embrace it fully.
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Aug 21, 2013 08:43
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The standard liberal line on Cruz seems to be that we should all be very scared of him because he's ultra-conservative but also brilliant. I think this is basically horseshit. Sure, he's a very bright guy, and well-spoken. But he's utterly inflexible. Bush was no towering intellect, but he was far better suited to the role of GOP front-man because he put an amiable face on a regressive and reactionary ideology. Cruz's great talent is to fully embrace the sadism, bigotry, and willful stupidity of the Tea Party while giving it an air of grandiosity and solemnity, he flatters the teabaggers by casting them as inheritors of a long and proud tradition of Americans dedicated to liberty, as the inheritors of Jefferson and Adams rather than Calhoun and Davis. But this only works for the Tea Partiers. For most anyone outside the asylum, he comes off as unctuous and smug, more of a McCarthy than a Madison. He's sort of like Gingrich, in a way. There's the same sense of immense self-regard and pseudo-intellectual bombast. Gingrich's schtick was letting conservatives believe they were the Defenders of Civilization rather than a bunch of mean-spirited nihilists. That's incredibly appealing to conservatives who absolutely despise being called racists and idiots. But he had too much baggage, and a tendency to wander off the reservation and engage either in heresy(calling Paul Ryan's plan social engineering) or get wrapped up in his personal obsessions(Newt Gingrich: Moon Emperor). Cruz has got pretty much all of Gingrich's strengths among conservatives and fewer of his weaknesses, but even less crossover appeal.
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Aug 21, 2013 09:24
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Dual citizenship can/does gently caress with US government security clearances, so it could prevent him from serving on certain subcommittees or otherwise hamstring him as a congresscritter. Members of Congress actually don't require security clearance checks. Their election is considered a public mandate of trust and serves as a de facto clearance. You can well imagine the difficulty of requiring security clearances on the kind of people we elect - infidelity and financial wrongdoing are rampant, meaning that they are quite vulnerable to blackmail (which voids your clearance).
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Aug 21, 2013 14:06
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dusty posted:Corn doggin' with Marcus "DAMMIT, I AM GOING TO PUT THIS CORN DOG UP MY NOSE REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THAT'S THE CORRECT WAY TO EAT IT!"
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Aug 21, 2013 15:01
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Is this a real thing? Howard Dean is exploring a presidential run? http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/317993-dean-to-test-presidential-waters-with-stops-in-iowa-new-hampshire
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Aug 21, 2013 15:51
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The Insect Court posted:stuff
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Aug 21, 2013 16:05
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Naet posted:Is this a real thing? Howard Dean is exploring a presidential run? Does he have a new book coming out or something?
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Aug 21, 2013 16:10
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Naet posted:Is this a real thing? Howard Dean is exploring a presidential run? Maybe some sort of "keeping the bastards honest" run?
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Aug 21, 2013 16:15
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Howard Dean ain't keeping anybody honest. Have you seen him on TV over the last few years? He's like a polished diamond, flacking for the admin in any way necessary.
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Aug 21, 2013 16:22
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SedanChair posted:Howard Dean ain't keeping anybody honest. Have you seen him on TV over the last few years? He's like a polished diamond, flacking for the admin in any way necessary. Except when he is criticizing Obamacare for being too harsh on medical device manufacturers that his lobbying firm represents.
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Aug 21, 2013 16:31
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The Insect Court posted:The standard liberal line on Cruz seems to be that we should all be very scared of him because he's ultra-conservative but also brilliant. I think this is basically horseshit. I never believed for a second that Cruz was brilliant. Harvard grad or no, he says dumb poo poo to rile up dumb people. He's a reactionary rear end in a top hat and he's not going anywhere in the party.
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Aug 21, 2013 17:00
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Alter Ego posted:I never believed for a second that Cruz was brilliant. Harvard grad or no, he says dumb poo poo to rile up dumb people. He's a reactionary rear end in a top hat and he's not going anywhere in the party.
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Aug 21, 2013 17:11
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Alter Ego posted:I never believed for a second that Cruz was brilliant. Harvard grad or no, he says dumb poo poo to rile up dumb people. He's a reactionary rear end in a top hat and he's not going anywhere in the party. The second part doesn't really seem to confirm the first part. There have been many insane reactionaries who are clearly quite brilliant (to use another example of someone with origins in the legal field, Rehnquist is generally regarded as being one of the smartest and most capable Supreme Court justices ever, but he was also a totally inflexible ideologue who almost always took as conservative a position as possible).
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Aug 21, 2013 17:13
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He may be book-smart but he's sure as hell not politically smart. If he was, he'd realize that to rise in the party he's going to need friends, and urinating on his Senate colleagues every chance he gets is not a good way to make them.
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Aug 21, 2013 17:32
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Alter Ego posted:He may be book-smart but he's sure as hell not politically smart. If he was, he'd realize that to rise in the party he's going to need friends, and urinating on his Senate colleagues every chance he gets is not a good way to make them. He's politically smart enough to be the junior senator from Texas. I doubt he actually thinks he could win the presidency outside of an extreme conflux of highly unlikely events. A presidential run is a fast way to raise your profile, raise money, and shill for your new book though.
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Aug 21, 2013 17:55
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It's actually pretty politically smart to get yourself a senate seat and stay there forever. Starting salary is $174,000 a year, you get a sweet Federal pension that no one's going to cut after you're in place for a term or two, you of course get all sorts of perks from lobbyists. And your re-election campaigns are probably going to be just easy coasts for the forseeable future - you're an incumbent after all!
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Aug 21, 2013 18:02
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Install Windows posted:It's actually pretty politically smart to get yourself a senate seat and stay there forever. Starting salary is $174,000 a year, you get a sweet Federal pension that no one's going to cut after you're in place for a term or two, you of course get all sorts of perks from lobbyists. And your re-election campaigns are probably going to be just easy coasts for the forseeable future - you're an incumbent after all! This is why a lot of the "ladder climber" Texas politicians weren't actually born or raised there. Bushes are from New England. Cruz is Clearly Canadian, raised in Texas. Rick Perry: fifth-generation Texan. FAUXTON fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 18:15
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Right-wing political smarts are different from normal political smarts. There's no saving the party from destroying itself, so the smartest move is to defend the indefensible publicly and smugly. Cruz is the best at this right now.
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Aug 21, 2013 18:22
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ReindeerF posted:I agree with your underlying point, but Cruz is intelligent in cognitive terms. His head is full of bad knowledge and he comes to all kinds of stupid conclusions, but I can assure you that he is not technically a dumb man. That's sort of what makes him dangerous. With some teabagger like Bachmann or Gohmert or whatever you know you're dealing with a mouth-breathing idiot, but with guys like Paul or Cruz you're in a bit more danger because they're smart enough to carry out complex behaviors and to handle technical tasks like running an organization. I've said it before, but people that've met Cruz and/or know him (he's lived in Houston for quite a while) all consider him to be a fairly intelligent sociopath. It's the behaviors that come along with that which have the left concerned. He knows how to manipulate people so that he can get where/what he wants. I'm not sure he's capable of reaching the presidency, but he sure as hell can cause a bunch of trouble where he's at and he's doing a great job of stealing all the TP spotlight from Paul and the rest of the nutjobs in Congress. Huge Liability posted:Honestly, I think that sort of response could have played well for Cruz. There are probably millions of dual citizens in America. If anyone brought it up, he could have called them out for being so insecure in their own American identity that they need to attack his. Instead, he's running scared from his own history. It's pathetic. If Cruz had been born in the US, then I think this could have possibly worked, but he wouldn't have done it anyway. edit Joementum posted:Do read all of the DMR's follow-along with Scotty Brown as he toured the Iowa State Fair. Scott Brown, Mr. Salt-Of-The-Earth himself, has never eaten a corndog? Sir Tonk fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 18:35
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SedanChair posted:Howard Dean ain't keeping anybody honest. Have you seen him on TV over the last few years? He's like a polished diamond, flacking for the admin in any way necessary. I actually haven't, because I don't live in the US  I probably should have added an "I have no idea what Dean is up to these days" caveat to my post.
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Aug 21, 2013 19:34
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Leaving the Senate to run for President is the D.C. version of an actor leaving a smash hit TV show to try and make it in movies. For most, the smash hit TV show is the best gig they could ever get or aspire to, and the smart move would just be to stay there. Everybody thinks they're going to be the next The good thing about the Senate is that you can keep the gig while you try out the Presidential waters. If your Presidential movie flops, you're right back in the cast of "Friends" like nothing ever happened.
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Aug 21, 2013 19:55
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I just doubt that when push comes to shove, Cruz won't implode on the national stage like the rest of the far right nut jobs.
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Aug 21, 2013 20:12
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Zwabu posted:The good thing about the Senate is that you can keep the gig while you try out the Presidential waters. Holding onto that Senate seat can have its costs as well, particularly if you become the presumptive nominee and the other party can steer the agenda and force you to make all sorts of unpopular votes. Dole saw how screwed he was as soon as he secured the nomination and had to give up the third most powerful position in the U.S. Government, Kerry was too dumb to resign and the Senate Republicans played him masterfully.
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Aug 21, 2013 20:14
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