GOP Tea Party Extremist vs. GOP Moderate

"...a team; lives, sleeps, eats, fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crap." - General Patton

Many folks believe the government showdown is just a Republican vs. Democratic situation, but it isn't. The Republican Party is still having trouble finding it's own soul. The RNC Chairman Reince Priebus has been mum lately on the government shutdown, and he has not spoken a word since he supported the Tea party Republican-led effort by junior Senator Ted Cruz against "Obamacare" on September 24, 2013. One has to wonder why the RNC would use a mere freshman, yet, Cruz is making extremist rookie-like moves that is not in the best interest of our national security for his own political expediency. Cruz proceeded though leaders believed that Republicans would be blamed for a shut down. Polling backed up their concern according to a recent CNN/ORC International Poll indicated that 51% of respondents would blame Republicans.

The politically astute understand Tea Party junior Senator Ted Cruz is the pawn-like force behind the government shutdown in an effort to defund Obamacare. Hell, even the Texans over at the Dallas Observer understand that. But Cruz's lust is doing so at the expense of services military veterans depend upon and the 800,000 federal employees who could not go to work this morning to serve fellow Americans.

Todd Gillman of the Dallas News writes: "Cruz's 21-hour overnight speech last week, the fourth-longest in Senate history, dramatized anti-Obamacare ardor. But it also made the freshman the face of GOP obstruction."

But it is Cruz's ambition that is getting in the way of what is in the best interest of our Nation and American morale. That said, it appears almost 70% of Americans believe that a government shutdown is bad for our Nation according to CNN. Unfortunately it appears the junior senator forgot we are still in war time and having a unified front still matters to Americans -- particularly veterans who have a certain stake and pride in our Nation.

Cruz weakens our National image for his own Tea Party political gain, and I'm afraid his obstructionism will backfire soon because as General Patton once said: "The Very Idea of Losing is Hateful to an American." Senator McCain understands the meaning of this. Countless times Senator McCain has jumped out into the forefront with regard to our National Security and there is an absolute purpose why McCain does not support shutdown.

Tom Tarantino, Chief Policy Officer, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, writes:

"....a government shutdown does not bode well for top priorities within the veterans' community."

Jon Soltz of Vote Vets writes:

"By now, the myriad of articles that examine how a Republican government shutdown would affect people has a lot of folks confused, even scared. The truth of the matter is, we know who will be impacted by a shutdown by Republicans, and we know it will be bad. The degree to which it will be bad is what is up in the air, as various government departments finalize their plans for the shutdown event. When it comes to troops and veterans, much of that holds true. We know they're going to be hurt. We know our national security will be hurt."

That said, the experienced Senator John McCain understands the negative fallout as a result of a government shutdown (junior Senator Ted Cruz supports), and Cruz has an awful lot of growing up to do with regard to the consequences of his political actions as a public official.

You see, McCain knows that a government shutdown does not help our unified front image Americans ought to maintain with regard to how the globe perceives us.

McCain knows that our National Security should always come to the forefront before all other issues and this is more important than toeing the Tea Party GOP line Cruz is guilty of.

McCain knows our enemies want our Nation to be divided, yet the junior Senator Ted Cruz has an agenda to be as extreme as he can in hopes of becoming the 2016 Republican Presidential candidate. Never mind the fact that it was Sen. Ted Cruz's father who worked for communist Fidel Castro. Never mind how Ted Cruz bribed an official to come to the United States.

McCain knows how the Tea Party leaders will eventually turn against Sen. Cruz after they use him as a pawn in light of Cruz being born in Canada after his Cuban immigrant father bribed an official to come into our Nation. But for now it appears the junior Senator chooses to relish being the political drama king at the Hill. McCain has been there and done that with the Tea Party rhetoric and he knows it is a matter of time before they turn on Cruz for being born in Canada just as the Tea Party people turned on him in Arizona for being moderate.

As an independent registered voter who has no party loyalty to either one of the 2 major party systems, and as a Gulf War I veteran who served honorably -- I am going to have to side with Senator John McCain on this issue, and it is unfortunate to hear Arizona Democratic Reps. Kyrsten Sinema and Ron Barber voted along with the Tea Party Republicans and the likes of Sen. Ted Cruz.

Below are more interesting stories with regard to the ongoing infighting between Senator John McCain and the junior Senator Ted Cruz.

From the HUFFPOST:

John McCain Rips Ted Cruz's Anti-Obamacare Speech, Criticizes Nazi Comparison (VIDEO)

From the NYT:

It's no secret that Senator John McCain doesn't much like Senator Ted Cruz, whom he once called a "wacko bird." His main grievance is that Mr. Cruz isn't interested in the business of governing, which requires compromise. If Mr. Cruz can't get what he wants, he'd rather muck up the Senate than give in. ... Mr. McCain was among those who felt Mr. Cruz was merely grandstanding, and earlier today he went so far as to suggest that Mr. Cruz's diatribe was fundamentally undemocratic.

I'd remind my colleagues that, in the 2012 election, Obamacare, as it's called -- and I'll be more polite, the A.C.A. -- was a subject that was a major issue in the campaign. I campaigned all over America for two months, everywhere I could. And in every single campaign rally I said "we had to repeal and replace Obamacare." Well, the people spoke. They spoke, much to my dismay, but they spoke and they re-elected the president of the United States. No that doesn't mean that we give up our efforts to try to replace and repair Obamacare. But it does mean elections have consequences and those elections were clear, in a significant majority, that the majority of the American people supported the president of the U.S. and renewed his stewardship of this country. I don't like it, it's not something that I wanted the outcome to be. But I think all of us should respect the outcome of elections, which reflects the will of the people.

The good ol' days "pre-Tea Party" days.