Ted Cruz Won (for ted cruz)

Senator dumbass from Texas has finally finished his sham filibuster. As expected, it accomplished nothing for the United States but it may win cruz a golden spot in the authoritarian propaganda complex in the long run. After reading a few articles commenting on the farce (meathead apparently did not even speak the whole time, getting breathers from fellow asshats), I was reminded of Matt Taibbi's first impression of sarah palin as recounted in Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History where the rightist 'wingers are not representing the country or even their party anymore but themselves. A brand of one, if you will.

At issue is senator dumbass' continuing obsession with denying health insurance for millions of Americans, a staged advertisement for callousness that many of his constituents find endearing in defiance of common sense. Let us remember where the word "filibuster" comes from for a moment and republican abuse of the procedure (usually without lifting a finger mind you) fits into their ideology of government by sabotage like a glove. Filibuster is an Anglicized version of the Spanish word "filibustero" meaning pirate or free-booter, which is why it was the adopted name of people like William Walker back in the 1850s as they led private armies to conquer Caribbean and Central American nations for slavery.

Cruz may not be angling to take over Nicaragua, but neither is he recreating the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland as Charles Pierce alleged, no offense to Pierce's analysis I could tell why and where he wanted to use that analogy. This is for the simple reason that Irish nationalist and republican obstructionism bear no relation to each other. Catholic Ireland struggled for centuries to resist British domination and exploitation, the republicans have been running the United States for a long time and not in their craziest fever dreams have any conservative Americans experienced official government persecution as did the Irish resistors. Maybe, as an American of Celtic descent who has studied Irish folklore and music, I am being overly sensitive to Pierce's argument.

Chez Pazienza, the irascible grump at The Daily Banter, agreed that cruz has changed the dynamic of crazy in wingnut land:

As Pierce spells out, by turning his back completely on the kind of politics we’ve come to expect from Washington — partisan, yes, but at least somewhat engaged in with the goal of keeping the country functioning — and thumbing his nose at everyone, he’s become a folk hero to the only people who matter: those who’ll put his relatively useless ass back in office when the time comes. More than that, though, Cruz is spelling out and dictating in no uncertain terms that his small splinter cell within the establishment GOP is so vocal that it is the GOP. This could certainly be the death throes for the Tea Party, but think about how many times we’ve heard that song sung.

But why would a pampered, over-privileged bully like cruz be satisfied with the peasant wages of the US Senate? He may have learned from sarah palin's burnout after abdicating her elected position to cash in as a venom-spewing fox pinup and will serve out his term. But as Thomas Frank has pointed out numerous times, the revolving door to riches overrides even ideology. Especially if the rumors about cruz' arrogance at Harvard is to be believed, even representing beer-swilling rednecks in Texas is too much like slumming. After monkey-wrenching Washington D.C. for six years from the inside, expect him to land a lucrative position in sabotage and piracy on the outside in short order. Whether libeling the enemy on fox news, representing think tank cons, or as an operative separating fools from their money in some pressure group, yes, ted cruz won.