Althouse: "Why is Warren depicted as populist true believer and Cruz as a wacko bird?"

December 16, 2014

"Why is Warren depicted as populist true believer and Cruz as a wacko bird?"

To ask the question is to make the point that needs to be made.

51 comments:

tim maguire said...: Because of how the left uses language.; 12/16/14, 7:23 AM
Henry said...: From the article:

Warren never threatened to carry her fight all the way to a government shutdown. She mounted her battle over the space of 24 hours...

Cruz, on the other hand, fought the 2013 budget plan for months...

Pantomime politics is darling. Real politics is mean.

The media loves posers.; 12/16/14, 7:47 AM
madAsHell said...: How can you listen to that woman, and not conclude she is stupid?; 12/16/14, 7:53 AM
AustinRoth said...: It's almost as though the media has a Liberal Bias!

But of course they do not, because they keep telling us they don't.; 12/16/14, 7:55 AM
SomeoneHasToSayIt said...: Interesting that failed pilot McCain would use flight imagery to denigrate Cruz.

And think of the arrogance it takes to imagine that, since 1986, Arizona has not produced a single man or woman better capable of representing the state, than him.; 12/16/14, 7:59 AM
traditionalguy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/16/14, 8:02 AM
Ragin' Dave said...: It's the same thing the Media did with Obama in 2008. McCain couldn't buy good press. They were air-dropping reporters into Wasilla to go through Sarah Palin's trash. But they flat-out worshipped Obama in the press every. Single. Day. Not only did they worship at his feet, they accepted every lie out of his mouth as the gospel truth and reprinted it without hesitation or a minimum of fact checking.

Hell, Obama's story on his relationship with Bill Ayers changed at least three different times, and the media reprinted Obama's excuse each and every time, verbatim.

So this is just the media gearing up for WARREN 2016!, and prepping the battlespace.; 12/16/14, 8:03 AM
traditionalguy said...: Not another "How dare they" story selling righteous indignation. And it is somehow about Cruz who is the Maestro of the How Dare They school of political warfare against the low lying fruit of liberal contradictions

Cruz is a beautiful nuisance.

But Warren is a real danger to Money Power. Watching her is like watching Andrew Jackson taking on The Bank of the United States. And you have to feel sorry for the Bank.; 12/16/14, 8:03 AM
amielalune said...: Amazing. So the left wants us to go from hep cool cat prez to evil granny prez.

You couldn't make this stuff up.; 12/16/14, 8:05 AM
Sebastian said...: "To ask the question is to make the point that needs to be made."

I suppose.

But the people who care already know; the people who don't know, don't care.

So what difference, at this point, does it make?; 12/16/14, 8:09 AM
Henry said...: @traditionalguy -- I believe you and I have expressed exactly opposite opinions about which of these two politicians carries more weight.

As Warren is my Senator, I'll try to remember to fire off a signal flare when she actually does something of importance.; 12/16/14, 8:13 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: The other day I read the headline of an article at BloombergView titled Congressional Dealmaking Isn't Extortion. I thought it would be about things like Cruz's efforts, or other Republican-blamed shutdowns of the past, as I had not yet heard about Warren's recent activities.

However, reading the article, I learned that it is Warren's efforts that were not extortion, and they were contrasted with the past Republican efforts, which were clearly implied to be extortion.

So apparently some congressional dealmaking is extortion, and some isn't. I wish there was an easy way to tell which efforts were which.; 12/16/14, 8:13 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: Maybe the press could make it easy to tell who was who, by giving a hint after the congressman's name. They could use a (D) after the name for Dealmaker, and (R) for Racketeer.; 12/16/14, 8:20 AM
Known Unknown said...: Forget it Jake, it's Chinatown.; 12/16/14, 8:26 AM
Alan said...: A question the answer to which reveals everything one needs to know about American media, conventional and social.; 12/16/14, 8:33 AM
Louis said...: It's not as if Senators Warren and Cruz did or do the same thing. I can understand people being sorta confused about that but to someone who follows the Senate and cares about their rules the differences are clear.; 12/16/14, 8:33 AM
Lewis Wetzel said...: TraditionalGuy-
Warren's CFPB is ripe for regulatory capture. It makes all the rules about trading in consumer loans, and it is financed through the Treasury, not Congress.; 12/16/14, 8:35 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Asking the question raises a few points that need to be made, but that won't do anything to stop the lies.

Taking away the liars power for the lies, kinda like Dan Rather but with more disgrace and ignominy would help.

We, as in an honest persons, need to treat Candy Crowley like people treated Linda Tripp.

People need to mock the shrimp Stephanopolous relentlessly about his corruption and hackery to the extent it becomes more painful for him to stay in the spotlight compared to simply walking away gently into the night.

I still don't understand why the Kochs, whom you shall recall I told you would dominate America's elections and they most certainly did in 2014 (and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop it, impotent ignorant wretches) don't pay some new-age Jim Rockfords to find dirt on ex-boyfriends and girlfriends like the sons of bitches did while stalking Sarah Palin.

Anyone have experience with Kickstarter? Let's get some lawyerly type to get a campaign to root out criminal activity amongst our media.

Oh wait, this is a link to Iowahawk, and he did what I wrote some Koch or Kickstarter funded group should do.; 12/16/14, 8:36 AM
rehajm said...: The Republicans were largely blamed for the 16-day shutdown.

They sure were. They were really hurt by the blame.

Really hurt.

Really.; 12/16/14, 8:45 AM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: No more senators for president.; 12/16/14, 8:47 AM
Brando said...: I'm no fan of Warren, as her politics are a cross between puerile and hateful, and I'm sure I agree with at least some of the political stances of Cruz, but there is a difference here. Warren gives a lot of speeches and grandstands in a way that makes the Left base swoon, gets her plaudits from morons like Jon Stewart, and makes a lot of noise while accomplishing nothing, but I can't think of any way she's undermined her side. I can see why leftists consider her a net plus--she raises money for them and excites their troops. And, while she almost definitely won't run in 2016, the Dems have a serious excitement gap with Hillary's coronation so they have reason to want Warren to jump in to make things interesting or pull Hillary farther left.

Cruz, on the other hand, has pulled stunts that hurt his party. His support of the last shutdown did nothing to stop Obamacare, but actually distracted the country from the ACA's failures and gave the Dems easy press for months (there's a reason they wouldn't dare try that stunt later in 2014). His latest stunt keeping Congress in session enabled Reid to push through more Obama nominees before the holidays. These antics may be helping Cruz with his followers, but there's good reason conservative Republicans are pissed at him, and it's not because they're eager to sell out to the Democrats. At a certain point, your side needs to get accomplishments, and Cruz seems eager to undermine any accomplishment that falls short of his quixotic crusades which could only pass if we had 67 Ted Cruzes in the Senate and 218 in the House.

The Right needs a charismatic spokesman to fire up the base and win converts, and at the very least not undermine the strategy of rolling back some of the more noxious policies of the Left. Cruz, though, seems to be winning no converts, pissing off sizable parts of the base, and throwing a wrench in any attempts at such rollback.

Now, maybe as some Cruzites would argue, his critics on the Right are duped by the media or establishment sellouts, but this at least explains why he's getting negative reactions compared to the harmless Liz Warren.; 12/16/14, 8:48 AM
traditionalguy said...: The Senator from Pendergast was once ridiculed for his political support having come from a corrupt Boss.

But he was picked for his local reputation for integrity to make the Boss look good. Then suddenly the heart of the Boss's corruption which had been highest bid lowest quality road construction projects awarded to crony road contractors was stopped by the ridiculous little man in glasses that demanded good work at a low cost or else.

History repeats itself.; 12/16/14, 8:56 AM
Oso Negro said...: Brando - Cruz is doing precisely what we Texans who voted him into office wish for him to do. There are plenty of ass-lickers available for country-club establishment Republicans to rally around. You don't need to assist Althouse in her efforts to "other" Ted Cruz.; 12/16/14, 8:57 AM
pm317 said...: Who is propping up Warren?

Answer:
1) 300 ex-staff members of Obama campaign who know they won't be hired by Hillary's campaign and are goading Warren to run so that they will have a job;
2) Rove and others who don't want Hillary and want Jeb and not Cruz;
3) Lefties like Maher and others who want a second chance for making the mistake of electing Obama and not getting everything they wanted and to erase the fact that they elected a nincompoop of Gruber proportion;
4) Just plain Hillary haters all around..; 12/16/14, 8:58 AM
Brando said...: "The Republicans were largely blamed for the 16-day shutdown.

They sure were. They were really hurt by the blame.

Really hurt.

Really."

I've heard this sentiment a lot--that the GOP was actually helped by its shutdown (as well as the one in the '90s) or at least it had no effect. But here's the thing--both shutdowns featured some minor service interruptions (closing national parks, federal workers getting what turned out to be paid vacations) for just a few weeks. Both saw significant polling drops for the GOP, and in '96 it helped Clinton triangulate (remember all the adds about "Dole-Gingrich" as though the two were inseperable?) and paint the GOP as extreme. In 2013 the shutdown distracted people from the ACA rollout for three crucial weeks of failure. But in both cases, the GOP (wisely, I believe) ended the shutdowns before they did real damage to the operation of agencies. In neither case did it reach the level of cutting significant services (say, Medicare payments delayed, or closing federally funded airports), precisely because the GOP knew better than to drop real hurt on the people. They knew the people would consider them more responsible for the shutdown, because the GOP is seen as the "anti-government" party, and of course the GOP threatened the shutdown for a while beforehand (and commentators on the Right continue saying the shutdown was a good strategy--not exactly what you'd say if it was the Dems fault).

The other question is, "did the shutdown actually help the GOP"? And if the answer is "it would have if they continued it until the Dems cracked" then you have to consider why the GOP cried uncle first, and ended both shutdowns without getting any concessions. Were they fooled by the media into thinking it was hurting them when it wasn't? Or did they know that once Americans got more and more pissed about late benefit checks and shuttered government services, the GOP would get the blame?

Now, maybe one day they'll make the shutdown more severe and longer lasting, but I would hardly recommend that strategy.; 12/16/14, 8:59 AM
Brando said...: "Brando - Cruz is doing precisely what we Texans who voted him into office wish for him to do. There are plenty of ass-lickers available for country-club establishment Republicans to rally around. You don't need to assist Althouse in her efforts to "other" Ted Cruz."

Right now, the "ass-licker" strategy would have meant denying Obama a few more nominees. But I'm not a Texan, so maybe I'm missing some of these concrete accomplishments that Ted Cruz is responsible for. Far as I see it, Cruz is one of the best friends Obama ever had. And maybe he'll end up being the best friend Hillary ever had.; 12/16/14, 9:02 AM
Todd said...: Ignorance is Bliss said...
So apparently some congressional dealmaking is extortion, and some isn't. I wish there was an easy way to tell which efforts were which.

12/16/14, 8:13 AM

There is. When a dem does it, it is dealmaking and when a repub does it, it is extortion.

Easy peasy...; 12/16/14, 9:05 AM
rehajm said...: But here's the thing--both shutdowns featured some minor service interruptions (closing national parks, federal workers getting what turned out to be paid vacations) for just a few weeks. Both saw significant polling drops for the GOP...

- Meaningful polling happens on Election Day.

- Topic ad nauseum from Democrats was the shutdown and sequester were a fast track economic devestation. That devastation is something Democrats have been neglecting to mention in their economic victory laps of late.

- Absent the votes to implement sound fiscal policies you do what you can. You go to war with the army you have.; 12/16/14, 9:14 AM
Known Unknown said...: There are plenty of ass-lickers available for country-club establishment Republicans to rally around.

I find John Boehner to be an embarrassment.; 12/16/14, 9:18 AM
Gahrie said...: So apparently some congressional dealmaking is extortion, and some isn't. I wish there was an easy way to tell which efforts were which.

OOh but it is easy....just look for the letter after the dealmaker's name!; 12/16/14, 9:22 AM
Gahrie said...: The budget Cruz fought for is the only year of the Obama administration when the debt was less than $1 trillion. (It was only $500 billion); 12/16/14, 9:24 AM
Kyzer SoSay said...: None of my conservative friends believe that Jeb Bush would make a good President - most of us are hoping for a ticket that includes Ted Cruz somehow. I'd be satisfied with another run by Romney, with Cruz as VP, even though the media would savage them. But my reasons are twofold: Romney to finally get a chance to pull out his business acumen and maybe, just maybe, save this country, and Cruz to serve as a snarling-dog VP who will bring pain and humiliation to the Democrats and their media cronies. Total long shot - obviously - but a boy can dream.; 12/16/14, 9:39 AM
Unknown said...: "both shutdowns featured some minor service interruptions (closing national parks, federal workers getting what turned out to be paid vacations) for just a few weeks." Someone is forgetting that the NPS actions were specifically and deliberately taken (documented) to MAKE the shutdown painful.

And it's all about headlines:

"Young black man killed while Attacking Police"

vs

"Unarmed black child shot by a cop"

both true.; 12/16/14, 9:47 AM
Bob Ellison said...: It was Arizona Senator John McCain who popularized the term "wacko birds". He meant Paul, Cruz, and Amash.

He may have heard the term "RINO". Maybe that inspired him. "Wacko birds" has more panache and doesn't require a lot of explication.

We need something better than "RINO". How about "self-serving jerk"?; 12/16/14, 10:08 AM
JSD said...: Ted Cruz is only a distraction. He’s got people believing that O-Care can be undone. It’s too late. While everybody was bitching about the fucked up marketplace website, corporate America became fully compliant. All the insurance policies are written. All the computers, software and reporting are in place. IRS Form 1095 is ready (google it). It’s an annual report of each individual’s health insurance coverage. Voluntary in 2014, mandatory for large employers 2015, everybody in 2016. Eventually, everybody will get a Form 1095 along with their W-2. If you don’t have coverage, you complete Form 8965 for the exemption. The train left the station, Ted Cruz’s repeal efforts are full of shit.; 12/16/14, 10:38 AM
richard mcenroe said...: Elizabeth Warren is no threat to moneyed anything.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/394635/its-still-tarp-kevin-d-williamson; 12/16/14, 10:54 AM
khesanh0802 said...: @JSD I am afraid I have to agree with you that the train has left the station on Obamacare, but only to the extent that there is finally a way to identify who has insurance. Until there is a Republican President there can only be tinkering around the edges. However those can be pretty significant edges for reforming some of the worst aspects of the law.

Ted Cruz, his act and his mien, constantly reminds me of Joe McCarthy. He is as full of gas and someone is going to play the Joe Welch role soon and pop his balloon.; 12/16/14, 11:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Brando wrote;

"These antics may be helping Cruz with his followers, but there's good reason conservative Republicans are pissed at him, and it's not because they're eager to sell out to the Democrats."

I think you're confusing conservative Republicans with establishment Republicans.

All the conservatives I know, who side with conservatives and tea partiers over Republicans, side with Cruz.

And if you believe Cruz and Lee are responsible for Obama's nominations, then you're guilty of reading news stories you don't know the details of and believing them, even though when you do know the details of a news story, they get all the facts wrong.

There should be a name for that syndrome. Many of us suffer from it.; 12/16/14, 11:11 AM
mccullough said...: Cruz and Warren are both demagogues. They do a good job of canceling each other out in the Senate. Two more idiots from Harvard Law School.; 12/16/14, 11:19 AM
mccullough said...: Sen. Tom Coburn was not an ass licker but he also wasn't a lazy blowhard like Cruz. He was every bit as conservative as Cruz but he instead of giving speeches he pushed and persuaded and helped get rid of earmarks and focus attention on the structural deficit problem posed by Medicare and Social Security.

Coburn is a good man and a good conservative. Cruz is a lazy, load other asshole.

And Elizabeth Warren couldn't shine Paul Wellstones shoes.

Ppolitucians like Warren and Cruz need to be mocked and ridiculed and sent crawling back under the rock known as Havard law school.; 12/16/14, 11:26 AM
bbkingfish said...: I think Cruz is depicted as a wacko bird because Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) called Cruz a "wacko bird" during a press conference. No Republican senator at the news conference disagreed, so, therefore,...; 12/16/14, 11:39 AM
JSD said...: @khesanho802: Once it’s embedded into the employee / employer relationship, it’s the law of the land. Yeah, you might get a few Davis Mountain holdouts. But for everybody else, it’s just one more thing on the list. O-Care will capture the Earned Income Credit crowd. They’re going to be subject to some healthcare dollars claw back if they want their EIC check.; 12/16/14, 11:49 AM
paminwi said...: If any of you think that Harry Reid would not have brought forward all the nominations that were pending before he was done with running the Senate you are crazy! This action was his last hurrah and an eff you to the Republicans before he becomes minority leader. Where, of course, he will push to go back to 60 votes for everything and the stupid Republicans led by McConnell will cave to his wish. Because, you know, we have to get along!; 12/16/14, 11:53 AM
cubanbob said...: Too bad the government can't be shut down until the spring of 2017.
As a net taxpayer I won't notice a thing. It's not like most of what the governments spends my money actually benefits me. The only failing the government 'shutdown' had was the RINOs chickened out.

As for Cruz 'helping' with Obama nominees, really? The Democrats weren't going to vote for the nominees in this late hour session and weepy was going get a pair and block them in this session? What Cruz needs to do is push to make sure McConnel doesn't become majority leader and that as many as possible real conservatives take the chairman position wherever possible, screw seniority and same in the house.

As for why Warren is depicted as a true believer well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that that those in the MSM are also true believers and to them anyone who doesn't think that way is a wacko bird.; 12/16/14, 12:11 PM
traditionalguy said...: Elect Perry if possible. He is a good politician as any of the lot. He is a real Christian. He has a good heart for a conservative. But Warren will not just be ridiculed away like Palin was.

To anyone that thinks for themselves, Warren has a clear pro middle class populist message that resonates to the heart of issues right past the chanting of political season attack experts.; 12/16/14, 12:20 PM
sunsong said...: Warren didn't shut the government down like Cruz did. Cruz is an adolescent - self-important and irresponsible. He is willing to harm people to get attention.

I don't like Hillary and don't want her for president. I think she is likely corrupt and she definitely does not have the temperament for the job - but I would support her in a nano-second over Ted Cruz.; 12/16/14, 1:12 PM
Oso Negro said...: That's right Sunsong! And she's a sure-enough Injun! She could be our first Vagino-Native-American President! A two-fer! Woo woo woo woo! Woo woo woo woo!; 12/16/14, 2:16 PM
Kirk Parker said...: tradguy,

Are you *mental*?

Warren has a pro-middle-class populist pose, which is as bad and harmful as those sorts of things usually are.; 12/16/14, 2:25 PM
Michael said...: Traditional Guy

Warren has chosen the evil "Wall Street" as the boogyman feared and loathed by all and understood by none of her audience. They just think Wall Street takes the money that otherwise would be theirs. Somehow. Because.

It is a great populist theme and it plays to the stupid part of the middle class as well as the stupid part of the under class.

Envy is deployed in service of anger.; 12/16/14, 2:42 PM
Bilwick said...: Why? Oh, I dunno . . . maybe its because the statist Hive dominates the media, and Warren has the Mailed Fist of the State so far up one of her nether orifices she can taste Rustoleum? Just a guess, of course.; 12/16/14, 3:05 PM
traditionalguy said...: Oso...I am mental for sure. I have to be to talk about Lizzie Warren's good points and she being on the other side and all.

But stay tuned and we will see.

She first has to knock off the Hildabeast organization and endure a deluge of propaganda from the big money boys that play both sides. By the time that is over, if she is still attacking we may all be intrigued at her abilities.; 12/16/14, 5:35 PM