The Re-emergence of Political Shaming?
Note: Yesterday, I dubbed him Cancun Ted, but social media’s name, Fled Cruz, is better and seems to be sticking, so what the hell, I’m going to use that, too.
Politico is reporting this morning that the quaint tradition of shaming misbehaving politicians seems to be returning. That’s pretty much amazing coming out of the last 5 years of Donald Trump’s malfeasance and immorality out in plain sight. When caught at something awful (kids in cages, bribing porn stars, screwing porn stars, extorting foreign leaders, inciting insurrection, etc, etc.) Trump would just say, “Hell, yeah, I did it, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Up yours.” He did it repeatedly, numbing many Americans’ sensitivities, and pleasing the hell out of millions of his supporters who cheered him on.
Well, with the Felon in Chief back at Mar a Lago beating the crap out of the little white ball all day, things are changing, if only a bit. You’re already up to speed with Fled Cruz’s stupidity in taking the family to Cancun in a trip conjured up by his wife. Characteristically, he lied that it was his daughters and their friends who wanted to go, then lied again to cover that up, lied again to cover up that lie, and then finally came clean. Texans, normally very tolerant of Republican malfeasance and gross negligence, weren’t that tolerant this time, and I would posit that when his supporters are the ones suffering and not just the little people who don’t count 99% of the time, they get narrow minded.
Cruz is getting crucified on every social media platform. The memes are just writing themselves, and if his arrogance wasn’t so perpetually galling, this whole episode would be funny. This time, though, when people are freezing in the dark, bodies are now being discovered, and millions still don’t have power, water, or both, he’s actually paying a price for acting like a dumbass.
This is what happens when you elect people who don’t believe in government to manage your government. Three of our four most visible politicians in Texas have made fools out of themselves this week. Abbott blamed the nonexistent Green New Deal for gas fired power plants shutting down. Rick Perry crawled out from under his rock to stupidly assert that Texans would rather freeze in the dark rather than be subject to big, bad, federal regulation. And then there’s Fled Cruz, who was doing Jack Shit sitting around his house while other politicians were out working the phones assisting with food and water distribution and checking on senior citizens. The only one of these four, John Cornyn, while being virtually invisible, at least didn’t show is ass to the entire world.
We’ve talked about it before. What we’re seeing here is the logical result of failed Libertarian ideology. Libertarianism doesn’t work, has never worked, and never will work. Period. Yet we continue to elect politicians who spout Libertarian nonsense and make policy around it. That’s how you get public policy that establishes voluntary compliance with clean air and clean water regulations. That’s how you get the PUC to establish voluntary weatherproofing and maintenance requirements for power generators. Voluntary standards for industrial safety and health are just as stupid as the SCOTUS actually saying that money equals speech and that money doesn’t corrupt when it destroyed limits on political spending in its idiotic Citizens United ruling in 2010.
Perhaps we’re finally turning the corner here on response to malfeasance. I’m not all rainbows and unicorns here, but we had moved so far away from those quaint times when politicians like Gary Hart and Al Franken had their careers completely destroyed for really obscure and/or overblown misbehavior that a return to shaming that works is a breath of fresh air. As we’ve said before, Fled Cruz, doesn’t care if you live or die. He doesn’t give a shit about doing his job as a US Senator. He doesn’t even believe in a federal government. He didn’t give one single thought to how it looked for him to jet off to Cancun during a power crisis where people are actually dying. The ONLY reason he came back to Houston was that social media blew up when pictures of him on a United flight exploded on millions of feeds on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. When it hit mainstream media, even his tin ear could hear it. That’s when he scampered back to Houston lying all the way.
Maybe we do have a light at the end of the tunnel, but we’ve got a long way to go.
He is a rich and powerful person…running away is what that class does!!! That’s why we have the military to fight & die for the run-away rich & powerful.
1El Jefe that the light hit one scurrying cockroach is a start in the correct direction. Keep up the good work. Social media certainly burned Teddie Crooze. Next step? Dragging the MSM back to reality by raining light on their both side whataboutisms. While we pulled the plug on cable TV a few years back, we can still “address” their sponsors and make it uncomfortable for them to endorse Libertarian craziness.
2~ Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition ~
Headline: Here’s how Hillary Clinton mocked Ted Cruz in the backlash over his Cancun trip
Edit: Don’t vote for anyone you wouldn’t trust with your dog.
— Hillary Clinton (@Hillary Clinton) 1613751913.0
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3Edit: Just drove by Ted Cruz’s house in Houston. His lights are off but a neighbor told me the block got its power back l… https://t.co/S4QGcVkguj
— Michael Hardy (@Michael Hardy) 1613676454.0
Unfortunately, humans in the 21st century require a cause & effect timeline that matches their short social media attention span. The cold weather & snow in Texas matched up perfectly with Cruz’s vacation.
Trump on the other hand, got away with killing almost as many Americans as constitute the population of Wyoming, but over a long enough timeframe that the drip, drip, drip of Fox News editorials counteracted the appropriate outrage that should have erupted.
4to follow up on Rick, nothing will really happen to Cruz politically, because his supporters have the memory of a gnat. this will all have been long forgotten, by the time he’s up for re-election.
5Muchas gracias, Jefe!
Senator Cruz is not a real Ted. He doesn’t even meet the standards as established by Ted Bundy or Ted Kaczynski.
Call him To Gusano, “Fled” Cruz, or whatever. But he’s not a real Ted.
Thank you.
Ted in Olympia
6Thanks El Jefe, great rant!
A Libertarian is just a Conservative with a feel good, organic name.
7I also heard a Libertarian is just a Republican who wants to smoke pot.
Nothing, nothing will happen to Fled Cruz – he has a job for the next four years and he doesn’t really give a flip. I’ve been trying to find out where Dan Patrick and John Cornyn are. They have been AWOL all week. Dan’s such a big mouth,surely he has an inane opinion to spout!
8If there are any pictures of fled cruzer poolside in Cancun this week, it would be great to have billboards throughout his district with half showing people in blankets lined up for water and mr sunshine on the other half. Pictures are worth 1000 words so that voters with memories of gnats don’t forget. Might be worth contributing to to such a cause to keep the shaming visible.
9Then there’s abbott. How gullible are people that heard his blaming almost non-existent green energy for the power being out? That’s almost too stupid for even texas repugnanticans to buy. But as has been stated, they have short memories. Still should be good campaign fodder when the time comes.
The political cartoons are exploding. I sent a couple to Juanita but cannot post one here.
10Steve in Beaverton, I don’t think Fled stayed in Cancun long enough to get pictures on the beach, but I think some of him in the airport/on the plane in his shirt sleeves should do nicely.
11Meanwhile, Ken Paxton evades any publicity for the latest revelations about him.
12Tangentially, one of the aftereffects of Texas’ bad weather and utility problems is going to be a devastating loss of home equity for many.
Adequate regulations could have prevented some of this, but Fled Scruz and the rest of the Rethugs have gutted most consumer protections.
Tens of Thousands of Texas Homes May Be Worthless Soon.:
13https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/17/2016615/-Tens-of-Thousands-of-Texas-Homes-May-Be-Worthless-Soon
Sandridge @13 …
re: Homes may be worthless soon …
But before that: “Texas Cold Snap May Spur Historic Number of Insurance Claims” https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2021/02/19/302117.htm
“Karen Clark & Co. projected that insured losses from the cold weather event could reach $18 billion, six times the yearly average, Bloomberg News reported Friday.”
Or “Winter storm could become the costliest weather event in Texas history”
https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/winter-storm-could-become-the-costliest-weather-event-in-texas-history/article_66fe6f2d-5379-553f-9ea6-09e73ffe1ca4.html
“This storm, which isn’t over as many parts of the state are still experiencing snow and sub-freezing conditions, will probably be costlier than Hurricane Harvey, which amounted to $19 billion in insurance claims or about $20.1 billion adjusted for inflation, Garcia said.
And that only includes losses from the home, auto, renters and business insurance market and wouldn’t cover costs from public infrastructure, energy pipelines and power plants that are under extreme pressure from high demand and debilitating weather.”
14Y siguen los problemas. [And the hits keep coming]
Headline: Cruz family’s Cancun trip rattles their private school
By Jeff Greenfield|Feb. 19th, 2021
Vaya con Dios ~
Edit: Under the guidance, any international traveler who returns to the United States must quarantine or isolate for 7 to 10 days after returning to in-person instruction.
15His name is Rafael Edward Cruz (plus Jr , four times removed) .
16megasoid @ 15
Cancun Pete has a house smaller than mine?
Did he flunk grifting at Harvard Law?
17