{"id":129579,"date":"2016-01-30T23:19:21","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T23:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/30\/political-campaigning-is-always-long-on-rhetoric-but.html"},"modified":"2016-01-31T22:58:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T05:58:03","slug":"political-campaigning-is-always-long-on-rhetoric-but","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/30\/political-campaigning-is-always-long-on-rhetoric-but.html","title":{"rendered":"Political campaigning is always long on rhetoric, but"},"content":{"rendered":"

It sure seems this year — especially (but not solely) on the GOP side of the race, that it's reached new heights. Perhaps because Republicans have been so used to just lambasting Obama, claiming whatever the heck they find sound bitey, but never having to actually formulate alternatives, that it just remains more comfortable to do so.<\/p>\n

Take this case, and the oldest bugbear in the Republican handbook regarding the current administration: Obamacare. Aside from handwaving about how "millions have lost their jobs" (which is, to put it judiciously, a lie — http:\/\/www.politifact.com\/truth-o-meter\/statements\/2016\/jan\/29\/ted-cruz\/ted-cruzs-pants-fire-claim-health-care-law-nations\/<\/a>), Cruz still has nothing<\/i> about what he would do for the folk who now have health insurance that didn't before. <\/p>\n

Cruz says he has to "lay out the problems with the law first," as if the GOP hasn't been doing so since before it was passed. <\/p>\n

I noticed this watching the GOP debate the other night. Candidate after candidate was ranting and raving over the existential, apocalytic threat of ISIS and how we had to (a) beef up our military again and (b) free them to do whatever it takes to win. Which sounds good until you ask any of them what that really means? How many more billions need to be added to the defense budget, and where will those come from? How many hundreds of thousands of US troops need to have "boots on the ground" in Syria and Iraq, and what precisely will they be doing there? What level of civilian casualties from carpet bombings are acceptable in order to try and wipe out Da'esh?<\/p>\n

They don't have an answer[1] because they apparently they don't need one. They only need to shout about FEAR and ISIS and OBAMA and GUTTING OUR MILITARY and MILLIONS HAVE LOST THEIR JOBS … and, hey presto, time to move onto the next question.<\/p>\n

It's going to be a loooooong election.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

[1] Though, God help me, Jeb! Bush actually talked about concrete policies regarding Da'esh at the debate this past week. Which everyone promptly ignored because nobody thinks Jeb! can actually win the nomination any more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nUncomfortable Question for Ted Cruz on Obamacare Silences the Room<\/a><\/span>
\nA Hillary Clinton supporter whose brother-in-law, uninsured until the Affordable Care Act, died of cancer, asked Senator Ted Cruz what he would replace the law with if he dismantled it.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It sure seems this year — especially (but not solely) on the GOP side of the race, that it's reached new heights. Perhaps because Republicans have been so used to just lambasting Obama, claiming whatever the heck they find sound bitey, but never having to actually formulate alternatives, that it just remains more comfortable to … Continue reading “Political campaigning is always long on rhetoric, but”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-elections-2016"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133809,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/06\/winning-friends-and-influencing-legislation-ted-cruz-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":0},"title":"Winning Friends and Influencing Legislation (Ted Cruz Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 6-Jul-17 5:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"On the surface, this looks like vintage Cruz -- throwing a monkey wrench into the proceedings so he can score points amongst his followers (doubtless with an eye on a future run at the White House). There's a reason why Cruz is notoriously unpopular in the Senate, and these kind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130579,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/04\/not-to-kick-ted-cruz-while-he-is-down-but.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":1},"title":"Not to kick Ted Cruz while he is down, but","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-May-16 1:59am","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it is the Onion, after all. Heh. Thousands Of Cheering Americans Packed Into Park For Ted Cruz Concession Speech HOUSTON\u2014Gathering to celebrate a milestone that many throughout the country had long eagerly awaited, an estimated 150,000 cheering citizens packed into a public park in downtown Houston Wednesday night to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131001,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/07\/06\/you-will-have-ted-cruz-to-kick-around-again.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":2},"title":"You WILL have Ted Cruz to kick around again","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Jul-16 2:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Perish the thought that Ted is actually thinking of being an effective Senator and getting some governance done. He's already gearing up for 2020. Texas Senator Ted Cruz Prepares for 2020 Presidential Run - The Atlantic With staffing changes and the establishment of two nonprofit groups to advance his agenda,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129856,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/17\/ted-cruz-treats-citizenship-as-a-weapon.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":3},"title":"Ted Cruz treats citizenship as a weapon","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 17-Feb-16 12:09am","format":false,"excerpt":"While it would probably be found unconstitutional, for reasons the article describes, Cruz's proposed measure to allow a person to be stripped of their citizenship without court proceedings or legal review should be damned scary to anybody. This awful bill shows how Ted Cruz threatens the citizenship rights of all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129758,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/08\/ted-cruz-demonstrates-again-how-washington-is-broken.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":4},"title":"Ted Cruz demonstrates again how Washington is broken","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-Feb-16 10:17pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So Ted Cruz has once again blocked Senate approval of President Obama's nominated ambassadors to Norway and Sweden ...... because he doesn't like the Iran nuclear deal ...... and did it in absentia, because he's too busy campaigning in New Hamphire, so Mitch McConnell had to serve as his proxy.Yeah,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129674,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/02\/08\/yeah-ted-cruz-looks-a-little-creepy-and-not-just-to-me.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":5},"title":"Yeah, Ted Cruz looks a little creepy (and not just to me)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-Feb-16 2:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm usually disdainful of armchair psychology and the like as applied to politicians. But I have noted (and had noted to me, in unexpected contexts) that Ted Cruz sort of looks ... creepy.This article, alas, despite saying \"neurologist explains,\" really doesn't explain. The best I can come up with is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129579"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129579\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129594,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129579\/revisions\/129594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}