Ted Cruz Plots Government Shutdown Fight Over Planned Parenthood

Ted Cruz Plots Government Shutdown Fight Over Planned Parenthood

Ok, I'm not sure what I'm angrier about. Ted Cruz, trying to hold the government hostage over the Planned Parenthood non-issue or that he is trying to use CHURCHES to do it with. Oh yes, you read that right. Get ready for a roller coaster ride of shady politics ahead.

Washington -- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) thinks Republican leaders are bluffing when they say they want to defund Planned Parenthood, so he is enlisting Christian pastors across the nation to help mobilize voters to force his colleagues' hands and threaten a government shutdown.

Cruz implored more than a thousand pastors and religious leaders on Tuesday to "preach from the pulpit" against Planned Parenthood and rally public support for an amendment defunding the family provider in the must-pass federal budget bill in November. If Congress attaches the defunding amendment to the budget instead of holding a vote on the standalone bill, it cannot keep funding Planned Parenthood without shutting down the whole federal government.

Just a heads up. Preaching from the pulpit is something that churches are EXPLICITLY not allowed to do, lest they lose their tax exempt status. Now Cruz is educating pastors to do the one thing they aren't allowed to do. Oh boy...

Let's be clear though. This is Cruz's baby. We can't blame this idiocy on all the Republicans.

“We’ve been down this path before,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters earlier this month. “This is a tactic that’s been tried going back to the ’90s, frequently by Republican majorities that always have the same ending: that the focus is on the fact that the government is shut down, not on what the underlying issue that is being protested is."

But it get's EVEN better. Cruz is positioning this so that he can blame Obama for the shutdown.

Cruz said pastors should tell their congregations to call their members of Congress and insist that Republicans use the federal budget to defund Planned Parenthood. He said it would be President Barack Obama's fault if the government shuts down -- not the GOP's.

"It will be a decision of the president's and the president's alone whether he would veto funding for the federal government because of a commitment to ensuring taxpayer dollars continue to flow to what appears to be a national criminal organization," Cruz said.

The heck? What kind of warped logic is that? Here we have Cruz conspiring to shut the government down, PUBLICLY (he's not even doing this secretly...), and he has the GALL to say that it would be Obama's fault if it were shut down?

So let's sum this craziness up. Cruz is going against the majority of Congress trying to tie legislation to defund PP to critical legislation to spark a government shut down despite ALL investigations done into PP coming back with no wrong doing by asking churches to violate their 501(c)3 status THEN laying the blame for all this at Obama's feet? I remind everyone that this guy is running for the Presidency...

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Planned parenthood aside, any chance off shutting down government is a benefit since it gives us an opportunity to see clearly that it is not the indispensable necessity many believe that it is until it isn't.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

any excuse is a good excuse to get some extra paid time off???

and oh ya, they don't shut down those parts of the gov't that actually suck money from the budget, they shut down the parts that actually brings money in, like the national parks!!

Part of the latest blog post on StemExpress:

While the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled on August 21st that it is likely that The Center for Medical Progress and David Daleiden violated California’s criminal law prohibiting the illegal recording of private conversations, the court’s ruling permits these criminal defendants to continue their release of heavily edited, highly-deceptive videos targeting StemExpress.

stemexpress.com...

a reply to: greencmp

I'm pretty sure the country can get by just fine without Social Security either, but that doesn't mean it is a good idea to defund it just because. Doing something like that requires money to be diverged to fix the inevitable problems that will arise when that service goes away, lest you end up with exponentially more problems than you started with.

Though I am doubting that you will sympathize with my outrage here. You probably don't care that Cruz is asking churches to violate their 501(c)3 status over this.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Threatening to shut-down government is now an annual thing by conservatives. It clearly shows how dysfunctional, self-centered and partisan our representatives really are.

originally posted by: greencmp
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Planned parenthood aside, any chance off shutting down government is a benefit since it gives us an opportunity to see clearly that it is not the indispensable necessity many believe that it is until it isn't.

Says the person with an avatar of the U.S. Constitution, the foundation of our government.

I think this is horrible. Government might be shut down.

What would we do???

Since Cruz actually dictates what the president can and cannot do, since Cruz can tell all employees of government to stay home. . . .

I think we should panic.

Yes.

Panic.

Maybe we should lock Cruz up for his own good because we cannot live A SINGLE DAY without government.

Government = Oxygen.

/sarc

Just because it's a non issue to you doesn't mean it's a non issue to everyone else

Why is it that liberals think they have a monopoly on what's important and what's not?

You say you don't want oligarchy and people should have the right to choose

Yet you come on here and make the decision on what's an issue and what's not?

Hypocrisy

Clearly we can see even just a slice of what an issue it is just by looking at the threads on ATS

Please next time you decide to speak for everyone ? Don't

a reply to: beezzer

Funny when Obama and Reid threatened to shut down the gov I'm 2013 the liberals didn't bat an eye, then later that year when it did it was all republicans fault



Lol now they our outraged that Cruz would say this


More liberal/progressive hypocrisy

Am I the only one who gets creeped out by Ted Cruz?


His religious views / agenda are what drives the majority of his campaign, so I am not shocked in the least.

a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

I, personally, go into a panic whenever the weekend happens. For 2 whole days, the government is shut down and I weep uncontrollably at the thought that there is no-one to save me.

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

I, personally, go into a panic whenever the weekend happens. For 2 whole days, the government is shut down and I weep uncontrollably at the thought that there is no-one to save me.

Is that where your avatar picture came from

Elected official, seeking the highest office in the land, engaging in sedition and violating the separation of Church and State - all for publicity?

Nope. Nothing to see here.

originally posted by: charolais
Am I the only one who gets creeped out by Ted Cruz?

No. Not only am I creeped out by Ted Cruz, I'm creeped out by anyone who isn't creeped out by Ted Cruz.

There are plenty of potential candidates with whom I disagree about various things, but among the GOP field, he's the one that really trips my antenna in a bad way. And I mean in a bodies in the crawlspace, dead mom in an attic rocker kinda way.

He may be a great guy (!) but something about him is just off.

originally posted by: ManBehindTheMask
Just because it's a non issue to you doesn't mean it's a non issue to everyone else

It isn't an issue. Planned Parenthood hasn't broken any laws. This is a fact that has been show by investigation after investigation.

Why is it that liberals think they have a monopoly on what's important and what's not?

Who said I was a liberal?

You say you don't want oligarchy and people should have the right to choose

Yet you come on here and make the decision on what's an issue and what's not?

Hypocrisy

Oh get over yourself! You know damn well that what I said there is an opinion that holds no weight over the public at large. Don't accuse me of being authoritarian. I'm not FORCING anyone to accept my opinions.

Clearly we can see even just a slice of what an issue it is just by looking at the threads on ATS

Please next time you decide to speak for everyone ? Don't

Clearly you ignored the meat and potatoes of the OP so you could whine over your imagined sleights against PP.

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

I, personally, go into a panic whenever the weekend happens. For 2 whole days, the government is shut down and I weep uncontrollably at the thought that there is no-one to save me.

Me too I cower in my house w my bible and my guns until Monday finally comes.

It's a scary time really

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

I, personally, go into a panic whenever the weekend happens. For 2 whole days, the government is shut down and I weep uncontrollably at the thought that there is no-one to save me.

originally posted by: Hefficide

Elected official, seeking the highest office in the land, engaging in sedition and violating the separation of Church and State - all for publicity?

Nope. Nothing to see here.

Thanks. I'm glad someone else sees the craziness going on that I do.

a reply to: Krazysh0t


Again you don't decide wha is an issue and what is not. Clearly to a large portion of the people in the U.S. it is an issue so yes for the public at large, as you say it does carry weight

Again you're not the end all be all on what's an issue and clearly your out of touch with what is an issue and what is not. Because this has become QUITE the issue

Actually I addressed the near and potatoes of the post

The only one whining is you over "gov shut down for pp"

Considering the basis of the "shutdown" is PP. IT SEEMS like it actually is part of the meat and potatoes

originally posted by: Hefficide

Elected official, seeking the highest office in the land, engaging in sedition and violating the separation of Church and State - all for publicity?

Nope. Nothing to see here.

Since when does religion have anything to do with morality?

There are plenty of non religious folks who find this reprehensible and immoral