{"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":{"_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":47922,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/11\/ted-cruz-is-a-dolt-obamacare-for-the-internet-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":1},"title":"Ted Cruz Is A Dolt (Obamacare for the Internet Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Nov-14 6:37am","format":false,"excerpt":"Ted, do you actually pay attention to what comes out of your mouth (or in this case, your fingers (or, more likely in this case, your nerdy intern Brandon who runs your Twitter account for you's fingers))?I'm sure that someone, somewhere (possibly your generous Comcast donors, perhaps obvious anagram Reince\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":51257,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/25\/the-latest-ted-cruz-scandal.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":2},"title":"The latest Ted Cruz scandal","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 25-May-15 5:29am","format":false,"excerpt":"Tch. How do you expect to win the GOP nomination with that sort of thing in your background? In Explosive Scandal, Cruz Admits Studying Science in College by Andy Borowitz \u00b7 buy valium online. WASHINGTON \u2013 In a scandal that could spell the end of his Presidential bid and possibly\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":49900,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/21\/on-climate-change-ted-cruz-and-piling-up.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":3},"title":"On Climate Change, Ted Cruz, and Piling Up","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 21-Mar-15 9:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And by piling up I mean that Ted Cruz is usually at enough of a reality disadvantage talking about stuff, but when he starts going off about climate change, he ventures way into cloud-cuckoo land.And yet, there he is, in a leadership position in the Senate, pressuring NASA to stop\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":39492,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/11\/01\/who-is-the-leader-of-the-republican-party.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":4},"title":"Who is the leader of the Republican Party?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 1-Nov-13 12:51pm","format":false,"excerpt":"My immediate reaction to Cruz in the role\u00a0was \"Good Lord.\"But then I looked at the article, and that headline is just plain wrong. A small (and narrow) plurality of Republicans consider Ted Cruz as the GOP leader.'Twenty-one percent chose Cruz, 17 percent chose New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and\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":51982,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/07\/29\/introducing-ted-cruz-and-one-of-his-top-superheroes-rorschach.html","url_meta":{"origin":129579,"position":5},"title":"Introducing Ted Cruz and one of his top superheroes, Rorschach","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 29-Jul-15 12:58pm","format":false,"excerpt":"To be fair, we don't know how the question was actually couched to him. Or necessarily what he meant by it. For example, Rorschach is a very interesting character, and watching him and his mania through Watchmen (movie or, preferably, graphic novel) plot is fascinating, if creepy. When it comes\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}]}}