DuPage County GOP Driving On Cruz Control To Dishonor Lincoln

 

It's possible the Du Page County GOP could have picked a worse political leader to keynote their May 10 Lincoln Day Dinner, but I doubt it. The honoree they picked, Sen. Ted Cruz (Rep. TX), not only looks a tad like 1950's champion demagogue, Sen. Joe McCarthy (Rep. WI), he demagogues like him, too. Cruz, who attended Harvard Law from 1992 to 1995, once told a Texas Fourth of July political rally that there were more Commie professors at Harvard than Republican professors. He then said his predecessor at Harvard Law, Barack Obama, would have made a great Harvard Law School President, since he's the most radical president in US history, making him right at home amongst those "dirty dozen" who believed in Communist overthrow of the US.  That talk resonated with Texas Tea Party faithful attending, and up in Demagogue Heaven, Tail Gunner Joe McCarthy was smiling.

But Cruz doesn't limit his demagogueing to partisan political events. At the Chuck Hagel Defense Secretary hearings Cruz implied that Hagel accepted speaking fees from the North Koreans. This brought an unprecedented rebuke from far right Republican colleague Lindsey Graham (Rep. SC) who called Cruz's crazy talk "out of bounds".

Cruz fairs no better when not channeling McCarthy. Threatening to filibuster all reasonable gun control measures in the wake of the Newtown massacre, Cruz called the families of the victims "political props" for the Obama administration simply because they petitioned Congress to enact sensible gun legislation.

Cruz voted against Hurricane Sandy relief for blue state victims in New York and New Jersey prompting conservative Republican colleague Representative Pete King to publically state, "He went out of his way to attack New York on the bill. There were really phony charges made against Sandy aid, and if Ted Cruz had prevailed, my constituents would be homeless." Yet, when a fertilizer plant blew away most of West, TX, Cruz had he gall to demand Uncle Sam devote "all available resources" to help his constituents.

On immigration relief Cruz is fighting to sink bipartisan immigration reform by demanding that a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants be "taken off the table".

Just this week, Cruz broke Senate protocol by publically trashing Republican colleagues who privately told him in closed door meetings not to threaten filibustering all gun control legislation in advance. He called them "squishes" because after privately criticizing him, they rolled over and voted for the filibuster as well.

What nonsense Cruz will offer the DuPage GOP faithful this Friday remains to be heard. Maybe he'll come up with a new "birther" slam at the President. Maybe he'll turn the spotlight on Illinois state representative Jeanne Ives (Rep. 42) to honor her demagogic comment that "Same sex marriages are completely disordered". "They're trying to redefine society."  "They're trying to weasel their way into acceptability so that they can then start to push their agenda down into the schools, because this gives them some sort of legitimacy... And we can't allow that to happen." Maybe Cruz will share more of his private battles with Republican colleagues that are trying to tamp down his driving lust for power and self aggrandizement.

Is the DuPage GOP trying to insult the legacy of Honest Abe or are they simply tone deaf. If actor Daniel Day-Lewis donned his Oscar winning Lincoln garb and tried to gain entry this Friday, security would scrutinize his scruffy beard, non elite clothing, and obvious humanitarianism and tell him: "Get lost, pal, you're not one of us".