From Nashville Tea Party:
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| Sean Hannity |
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| Ted Cruz |
Cruzville Presidential Debate Watch Party,
Thursday, January 28 at 7 PM
Carrabba's Italian Grill- Nashville/Green Hills in Nashville, Tennessee.
Cheer on Ted Cruz with fellow supporters at the Cruzville GOP Presidential Debate Watch Party. Everyone Welcome! For more information, email: Aaron R. Snodderly at cruzcrewaaron@yahoo.com or Karen Moore at cruzcrewkaren@gmail.com .
Facebook link.
State
Representative Sheila Butt (R-Columbia) announced Thursday she is
endorsing U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for president in 2016.
“It’s time to stand for our country and foundational principles, including the rule of law,” Butt stated in a press release. “ (link)
by Rod Williams, June 9, 2015- I really hate to see this. I have had mixed views of Ted Cruz. I have heard some of his speeches and have been stirred. I want our country to change course and I believe Ted Cruz is one of the people who, if he were president, could make that happen. He would take us in the direction I want to go. He also has a compelling personal story. I am convinced he is a principled conservative and he is very smart.
On the other hand, his 21-hour filibuster was a kind of a phony self-aggrandizing political stunt. It served no purpose. It was not really a filibuster as it didn't block anything. Senate rules set a limit on how long he could delay a vote and the outcome of the vote to fund the government and avoid a government shut down was never in doubt. Cruz even voted to advance the bill he was "filibustering," joining a 100-to-0 vote to take up the spending bill.
Despite my view of his filibuster, Curz was still one of my favored top contenders for the Republican nomination, not on top but somewhere below Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal but ahead of Rand Paul and way ahead of Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. With his appointment of Keven Kookogey to be his Tennessee Chairman, he dropped a few points in my favorability rating.
Kookogey is the former one-term chairman of the Williamson County Republican Party. While I do not have first-hand knowledge of what
he did as Chairman of the
Williamson County Republican Party, I have heard that he greatly damaged
the party, that contributors withheld funds
and that many Republicans were embarrassed by him.
As County Party chairman he advanced an
anti-Muslim and anti-Agenda 21 agenda and he advocated purging the party
of insufficiently conservative members and was critical of Gov.
Haslam and other elected Republicans.
The anti-agenda 21 movement which has now pretty much disappeared was based on a weird theory that the United
Nations planned to kill 96% of the world's population by poisoning them
with aspartame and fluoride, although to be fair, most opponents of
Agenda 21 probably were never aware of that part of the theory. In its
milder form, the anti-Agenda 21 movement believed that Agenda 21 was a
United Nations plan to take away American sovereignty, redistribute
wealth and take away property rights in the name of environmentalism.
Across the nation anti-Agenda 21 activists opposed everything from
traffic calming, to reintroducing wolves into the wild, to sidewalks,
smart meters, and almost all forms of planning and mass transit as being
part of agenda 21. This anti-agenda 21 movement originated with the
John Birch Society and was spread by people like Alex Jones and Glenn
Beck. Anti-agenda hysteria worked its way into the Republican Party
with the National GOP adopting an Anti-Agenda 21 party platform plank.
The national GOP party platform plank however was short and vague. The
Williamson County Republican Party under Kookogey adopted a strongly worded
Anti-Agenda 21 resolution that you can still find at this link. When Kookogey was County Party chairman, the party's webpage had a tab
devoted to Agenda 21. After he was no longer chair, the website was redesigned, and no
longer featured an Agenda 21 tab.
Kookogy's anti-Islam activism included being part of the group taking out a full page ad against Gov.
Haslam over his administration's hiring of a qualified Muslim, Samar Ali, to work in the Department of Economic and Community Development. The Williamson County party under Kookogey also hosted an event for controversial Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders. I am not naive and think we must be diligent in protecting ourselves from terrorism. I even hope Arabic speaking FBI agents are attended mosques and I am not opposed to a little profiling, but by the same token I do not want to let a legitimate concern over terrorism and a clash of cultures lead to
bigotry and betraying our constitutional rights. It was irrational to oppose a person with Ms Ali's talent and experience just because she is a Muslim. Also, against all logic, the $5,000 full-page ad condemned Haslam by saying he was seeking to impose Sharia Law in Tennessee. Now that is just kooky!
Kevin Kookogey is a part of that embarrassing, and maybe even dangerous, fringe of the Republican Party. Ted Cruz should not have burdened himself with the baggage of Kevin Kookogey as his Tennessee state campaign chairman. The campaign for the GOP nomination will most likely be wrapped up by the time of the Tennessee presidential preference primary anyway, but if Ted Cruz is appointing people like Kevin Kookogey to be his campaign chairmen in other states, then his campaign is doomed. If this is the kind of people he is comfortable with, I would not want him to be president.
I got an email solicitation today asking me to give money to "Draft Ted Cruz for President." After telling me of the courageous principled conservative stands he had taken, I was told he had what it takes to win. Then the letter said: "Rod, can I count on you?
If so, follow this link right now to immediately contribute
$25 or more to support Ted Cruz"!
I did not contribute. I am not ready to jump on any candidates bandwagon just yet. However, even if I was an early enthusiast for Ted Cruz, why would I be inclined to contribute? Where does the money go? This "Draft Ted Cruz for President" organization is not authorized by the candidate. There is little doubt he is running. I don't think he needs any encouragement. What would an organization calling itself "Draft Ted Curz" do?
I went to Open Secrets and followed the link to the reports for the organization "Draft Ted Cruz for President". I read all of the quarterly and year-end reports. For the year 2014, the PAC had $485,469 in contributions and $443,162 in expenditures. There is no scandal here. No one is getting rich off of this effort. No one is drawing a big salary. Only a modest amount is spend on administration. The largest expenditure was for postage to pay for direct mailing to raise money. I researched some of the companies who were receiving some of the money for various services. From what I could tell this is not any kind of front for taking advantage of people. No consulting firm is raking in big bucks. This all appears legitimate.
I guess if you are an enthusiast for Cruz, or for any other candidate for that matter, sending money to an organization that spends most of it's money on asking other people for money to urge the candidate to run is something you might want to do. I guess the advantage of this type operation is that the solicitation itself promotes the candidate among likely voters and makes people feel a part of that candidates campaign and helps build momentum. Still however, it seems like a lot of unnecessary money is spend on politics.
Visiting Nelson Mandela's Robben Island prison cell and then reading his autobiography taught our family inspiring lessons from a remarkable life that helped to achieve a political result few imagined possible
As an inspirational leader, Nelson Mandela brought about a better way of life for his people of South Africa and inspired millions throughout the world. While we are all saddened by his passing, his personal story and contributions to freedom, democracy, and human rights will live on forever.
20) “I was told I got 10 measly minutes, but just in case, I brought 13 hours worth of material.” -- Rand Paul
19) “American Journalism is dead… They have behaved like hockey goalies in front of Barack Obama’s net.” -- Roger Noriega
18) “The GOP of old has grown old and moss covered.” -- Rand Paul
17) “If standing for liberty and the Constitution makes you a Wacko Bird, then count me a proud Wacko Bird.” -- Ted Cruz
16) “If these experts keep losing elections, keep raking in millions, if
they feel that strongly about who should run in this party they should
buck up and run or stay in the truck. The architects can head on back to
the Lone Star State and put their name on the ballot.” -- Sarah Palin
This is good. I was glad I was there to hear it. To see the rest of the list, click here.
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