A Republican Senate will unleash the dangerous demagogue Ted ‘Calgary’ Cruz

I read a conservative pundit recently who actually tried to make the argument that if Republicans took over the Senate, they would be less confrontational and obstructionist because now they would be responsible for actually having to govern. I don’t know what that guy was smoking.

The reincarnation of Joe McCarthy, Senator Ted “Calgary” Cruz is having none of it. This dangerous demagogue wants to wage a Tea Party ideological war in the Senate the way he has has in the House, running roughshod over the nominal Weeper of the House, John Boehner. The Washington Post reports, Cruz eyes Senate as combative as GOP-led House:

Sen. Ted Cruz spent the final weekend of the midterms on the far edge of the country trying to help fellow Republican Dan Sullivan win a race the GOP is counting on in its effort to retake the Senate.

It’s a team-player role the tea party firebrand from Texas has filled a handful of times this fall — but one he plans to abandon if Republicans win control of both congressional chambers.

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Cruz made it clear he would push hard for a Republican-led Senate to be as conservative and confron­tational as the Republican-led House.

Piggybacking on what House leaders have done, Cruz said the first order of business should be a series of hearings on President Obama, “looking at the abuse of power, the executive abuse, the regulatory abuse, the lawlessness that sadly has pervaded this administration.”

Cruz also would like the Senate to be as aggressive in trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act as the House, which has voted more than 50 times to get rid of the law.

Republicans should “pursue every means possible to repeal Obamacare,” Cruz said, including forcing a vote through parliamentary procedures that would get around a possible filibuster by Democrats. If that leads to a veto by Obama, Cruz said, Republicans should then vote on provisions of the health law “one at a time.”

And when asked whether he would back Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for Republican leader, Cruz would not pledge his support — an indication that there are limits to how much of a partner he’s willing to be.

At the heart of Cruz’s shift from the insular approach that defined his first year in office is a belief that he can use his popularity with conservatives to expand his influence in the Senate and improve his standing as he considers a 2016 presidential campaign.

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Cruz’s desire to turn his party further right in the coming months is one of the challenges already facing McConnell should Republicans regain the Senate, with tea party leaders inside and outside the Capitol spoiling for a number of hard-line moves.

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Cruz has gained some traction in terms of shaping the contours of what a Republican Senate would do, in part because McConnell and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) have not offered their own definitive vision of what a Republican-led Congress would look like.

Two weeks ago, Cruz wrote an opinion piece in USA Today, Republican priorities for 2015, laying out 10 conservative priorities he thinks Republicans should pursue, including moving toward a flat tax and drawing a hard line on illegal immigrants. In the interview here, Cruz reiterated some of those points, such as approving the Keystone XL pipeline.

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Cruz is not interested in adding amendments that may put indirect pressure on Obama. He favors direct political combat. That way, either the president gives in, or, Cruz said, “you have clear accountability. It becomes transparent to everyone that it is the Democrats blocking meaningful progress.”

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Cruz declined to say whether he’s going to run for president, but was dismissive of moderates in his party, particularly those who may challenge him for the 2016 Republican nomination. Of Jeb Bush, for instance, Cruz said he likes and respects him, “but I think we have seen election after election that when Republicans fail to draw a clear distinction with the Democrats, when we run to the mushy middle, we lose.”

“At some point,” Cruz continued, “after Gerald Ford and Bob Dole and John McCain and Mitt Romney . . . we shouldn’t keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

“One of the reasons Republicans have lost elections recently is that we have failed to engage in a meaningful way on the great issues of the day,” Cruz said. “We’ve played a prevent defense. You don’t win elections that way.”

The GOP establishment that has tried to contain the crazies of the Tea Party this election cycle may find the GOP more divided than ever as this dangerous demagogue tries to position himself to take over as  leader of the party. Cruz will have the support of the conservative media entertainment complex who are accountable to no one for their recklessness and irresponsibility.

A new era of McCarthyism may be unleashed as the radical right tries to destroy President Barack Obama with unfounded allegations and partisan witch hunts like the ones conducted by Rep. Darrell “Grand Theft Auto” Issa in the House, and even impeachment after the TanMan’s bogus lawsuit fails, are probable. Another government shutdown is likely.

“Calgary” Cruz will have only a brief window of time to engage in this ideological war because the first GOP presidential debate for 2016 is scheduled for the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California on September 16, 2015. The First Republican Primary Debate for 2016 Is Already Scheduled. By then “a cast of thousands” who believe that they can be the GOP nominee in 2016 will be trying to knock him down several pegs to position themselves in the GOP primary.