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Redstate
The
Disconnect
By
Erick Erickson
September
25th, 2013
There
is a real and genuine disconnect between grassroots conservatives and
many in Washington. Let’s first concede that, like with many
politicians, a cult of personality has started developing around Ted
Cruz, though from my vantage point it is not nearly as virulent as
among some. But, there are some who, should Cruz fall flat on his
face, would declare it all part of the plan and attack anyone who
pointed out he wasn’t supposed to do that.
Cruz,
in his filibuster, quoted Teddy Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena”
speech. He noted that credit belongs to the man in the arena “who
errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort
without error and shortcoming.”
Cruz
isn’t infallible. He admits it. But then his critics are not
infallible either. Cruz, for all the flaws of his strategy, has
articulated one. Other Republicans have not. They’ve only declared
Cruz’s strategy, which is an actual strategy, isn’t really one
because they don’t like it. John McCain, following Cruz on the
floor of the Senate, declared surrender on Obamacare. Much of the
base believes that privately the bulk of the GOP has given up.
There
is also a Cult of Destruction intent on stamping out Ted Cruz as
quickly as possible — often on the pretty lame grounds that he just
isn’t honoring the well established rules of the Senate that never
favor the bold or those willing to lead. Cruz is unwilling to play
the game the way others have played it. The Establishment likes to
punish that sort. In ages past, there was no twitter or Facebook to
defend the boat rockers.
The
base looks at Democrats after 2004 and don’t see a party that gave
up, but doubled down against George W. Bush. They see a Republican
Party that, after 2012, walked off the field. They walked off too.
Many
of the pundits and analysts know how unlikely Cruz’s strategy is.
They’re right. But the problem here is not that so many are
convinced Cruz’s strategy won’t work, but that they either don’t
want to try it in the first place or want to attack it with no real
plan of their own.
Read the rest of the
article at Redstate
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