Politex

Cruz for Prez - 2016?

Could it be? Could the newly elected political newcomer Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas really be considering a run for president in 2016? After only four months in office?

Well, National Review, the conservative news magazine, says it's so.

"Freshman senator Ted Cruz is considering a presidential run, according to his friends and confidants," says NR in an online story.

"Cruz won’t talk about it publicly, and even privately he’s cagey about revealing too much of his thought process or intentions. But his interest is undeniable.

“If you don’t think this is real, then you’re not paying attention,” says a Republican insider. “Cruz already has grassroots on his side, and in this climate, that’s all he may need.”

Cruz has made a splash in his short time on Capitol Hill and, stoking the presidential whispers, is his appearance on Friday in Columbia, South Carolina at the Silver Elephant Dinner honoring his mentor former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., now the president of the Heritage Foundation.

But Cruz' press secretary Catherine Frazier, asked by the Star-Telegram Tuesday about a presidential run, shook her head and said, "He's focused on being in the Senate right now."

Also stoking presidential speculation is the appearance of Vice President Joe Biden in Columbia the same night during the Democrats’ Jefferson Jackson Dinner.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2013/04/02/2704313/us-sen-ted-cruz-to-keynote-sc.html#storylink=cpy

Here's the complete National Review article:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/347052/cruz-2016

 

-- Maria Recio

Fort Worth lawmakers rally for Medicaid spending in Texas

AUSTIN - Fort Worth lawmakers were among about 200 people who rallied Wednesday on the state capitol steps, calling for Texas to spend more money on Medicaid - a move that potentially could bring in $100 billion in new federal funds to the state to cover health care for more residents.

"We know Gov. Perry is completely out of touch with the reality that's facing Texans in the area of health care," state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, told the crowd. "He is out of touch with Texans who have to wait until they are so sick they have to go to the emergency room so they can get health care."

State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, urged the crowd not to be discouraged by the inaction thus far on the issue.

"Where there's a will, there's a way," Burnam said.

Expanding Medicaid to cover more adults is a key part of the federal government's Affordable Health Care Act. But Texas thus far has declined to embrace it.

Texas could get $100 billion in federal funds for a $15 billion investment in state funds, according to one report.

The noon rally was sponsored by Austin Interfaith, which includes leaders and clergy from numerous religions and denominations.

- Gordon Dickson

@gdickson

LaRouche PAC organizers like Hurst

A pair of organizers for LaRouche PAC said Hurst is fertile ground for their message.
“This is one of the best sites in the area for receptability,” said John Jambor. “It’s blue-collar, and that’s the people who are hurting.”
Jambor, who said he’s been working for the political action committee for 37 years, was hanging out Monday and Tuesday with fellow LaRouche PAC employee Ian Overton at the Tarrant County sub courthouse on Grapevine Highway. Amid posters bearing photos of President Obama with a Hitler mustache and accusing him of crimes from cover-ups to murder, the two implored passersby to join them in a campaign to impeach the president.
There was no petition to sign, but Overton and Jambor offered folks a chance to get regular updates through a form that also allowed them to donate money.
Several people entering or leaving the sub courthouse stopped to talk with the men, who said they were returning to Houston Tuesday evening.
Many of those who stopped were eager to oust Obama. But most weren’t enthusiastic about being associated with LaRouche, the 90-year-old perennial presidential candidate (eight times and counting) who served time in prison for tax code violations and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
A few people were outright enraged by what they saw, said Deputy Constable Peter Donnelly.
“There have been a few upset people we’ve had to calm down,” he said. “A Marine veteran demanded they be arrested and I had to explain that we could not. He was mad about the picture of Obama with the Hitler mustache and thought it was disrespectful of the Commander in Chief. That’s a common complaint among vets.”
But there are at least five Supreme Court decisions saying that such things are protected by the First Amendment, Donnelly said.
“As long as they don’t attach anything to the building and they don’t block access, they’re within their rights,” he said.

In the photo above, John Jambor, left, tells Hurst resident Barbara Murray about Lyndon LaRouche's plan to impeach President Obama.

Story and photo by Terry Evans

Hancock declares victory in state Senate District 9

@gdickson

Kelly Hancock has declared victory in the state Senate District 9 race.  Here's the text from his statement a few minutes ago.

Granger says Congress will go to work on nation's fiscal issues

Regardless of who wins the presidential election, Rep. Kay Granger says she thinks Congress will go back to work in the coming weeks and begin coming to grips with the U.S. government's short-term financial problems.

The looming "fiscal cliff" of big tax increases and budget cuts that would take effect Jan. 1 will be worked around, Granger said, likely with short term, stopgap measures at first to give congressional leaders of both parties time to negotiate longer term deals.

Democrats and Republicans alike are feeling pressure from their constituents, Granger, R-Fort Worth, said Tuesday after touring Fort Worth Gasket & Supply, a small business.

"People are telling us to quit fighting and get back to work," Granger said. Business owners and others, Granger said, are telling her they just want the government to decide on policies and directions so they'll know how to prepare and adjust.

Both the Bush tax cuts on higher incomes and the Obama tax cuts of the last two years, largely in the form of reduced Social Security withholding taxes, are due to expire at the end of the year. Plus sequestration -- another roughly $100 billion of mandatory budget cuts ($1 trillion over 10 years), half from defense spending -- are due to take effect in January unless Congress reaches agreement on new budget measures.

Many economist have said the combination of tax increases and spending cuts could potentially derail the already modest economic recovery.

- Bob Cox

 

 

 

Texas Medical Association: Pay docs enough to 'take care of Grandma.'

The Texas Medical Association has posted a video explaining its position on a large, looming cut to Medicare reimbursements for doctors in terms that, well, a 10-year-old could understand.

In the video, a child narrator introduces the beloved Grandma, who gets her health care through Medicare. Soft children's music plays in the background.

But "Uh,oh, Medicare is broken!" the child exclaims.

The government will cut doctor's pay by "a whole bunch," the child says. The child is referring to a 27 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements poised to take effect Jan. 1 unless Congress acts. Such a cut would force many docs to flee Medicare, TMA says.

In the video, doctors disappear around Grandma.

The video casts the sustainable growth rate, known as SGR, as the villian, depicting it as a shady man wearing a black mask. Doctors have argued the formula, which was created in 1997 to limit growth in Medicare spending, is flawed.

The video ends with a message asking viewers to contact Congress.

--Alex Branch

Watch it here: 

Bush relives his 9/11 experience tonight in cable interview

Prepare to be inundated with television specials recounting the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001 and how the terrorist attacks that day and the wars they spawned have changed America and the world.

One of the biggest figures in 9/11 history -- former President George W. Bush -- hasn't had a lot to say publicly about the anniversary, and turned down interview requests with the Star-Telegram and countless other media organizations. His most extensive remarks come in an exclusive documentary interview that will air at 9 p.m. CDT tonight on the National Geographic Channel.

One memorable quote from the former Texas governor and current resident of Dallas: "It became apparent we were facing a new kind of enemy. This is what war was like in the 21st century."

Declares Bush: "Sept. 11 is a monumental day in our nation's history, a significant day, and it obviously changed my presidency. I went from being a president that was primarily focused on domestic issues to a wartime president. It's something I never anticipated nor something I ever wanted to be."

-- John Gravois

Sanchez Senate candidacy derided

Defense blogger and writer Spencer Ackerman has trouble even trying to hide his feelings about the possibility retired Army Gen. Ricardo Sanchez could run for the Senate from Texas.

"Now this is how you pick a political winner: Find a guy who let a war go off the rails and presided over a torture regime and get him to run for Senate," Ackerman writes on the Wired's Danger Room blog.

Congratulations, Texas Democratic Party: you are on the verge of a new level in cynicism. Sanchez’s tenure running the Iraq war saw a humiliated and cashiered Iraqi military metastasize into an insurgency that killed and maimed thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Under pressure from the Pentagon, he approved abusive detention and interrogation practices for Abu Ghraib that resulted in the U.S.’ most damaging wartime scandal since Vietnam. What could possibly interrupt Sanchez’s deserved fade into obscurity?

The Washington Post first saw this coming more than three years ago when it reported the new alliance between Sanchez and former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

The Post noted that Sanchez leadership in Iraq had been heavily criticized.

Andrew Bacevich, who was an Army officer in the Vietnam War and now teaches at Boston University, said Sanchez fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the conflict he faced. Sanchez's troops employed "kick-down-the-door" tactics that hardened resistance to the U.S. occupation, and helped turn an insurgency in its infancy into a guerrilla war spinning out of control, he said.

"Why he has chosen all of a sudden to attempt to return to public attention, and why he would do it in an overtly partisan way, frankly baffles me," said Bacevich, whose son was killed in Iraq. "And why the Democratic leadership would say, 'Yes, this is the guy who is going to deliver our message' is just baffling. He is a largely discredited figure."

- Bob Cox

Fort Worth councilman Joel Burns attends national anti-bullying conference

Fort Worth city councilman Joel Burns said he had a "wonderful day" at Thursday's White House Conference on Bullying Prevention.

"It was most encouraging to have people from across federal agencies, across Democratic and Republican members. It’s a wonderful reminder that bullying is something we can do something about. Bullying is not a rite of passage. That reminder from the administration was wonderful to hear,” he said in an interview with McClatchy Washington Bureau reporter Maria Recio.

Read more about his take on the event at the Star-Telegram's education blog Extra Credit. Here's the report in Friday's newspaper.

Jessamy Brown

Bush at Super Bowl

So President Obama won't be attending the Super Bowl in Arlington, since his Chicago Bears didn't make it there.

But that doesn't mean the event will be presidentless.

Former President George W. Bush -- and former First Lady Laura Bush -- will be at the big game on Sunday.

When asked recently whether he'd be rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Green Bay Packers, the former president told the media: "Don't care."

A Bush spokesman said the president doesn't plan on commenting during the Super Bowl.

-- Anna M. Tinsley