Posted on 02/15/2014 6:15:41 AM PST by cotton1706
A growing group of Ted Cruz’s Republican Senate colleagues are infuriated with his tactics.
So frustrated was Arizona Senator John McCain with the latest, forcing fellow Republicans to take a politically risky vote on lifting the debt ceiling, that yesterday he tweeted a Wall Street Journal editorial accusing the Texas lawmaker of instigating “needless drama that helps to explain why Republicans remain a minority.”
Yet there’s not much McCain, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell or other Republicans can do to change Cruz’s behavior.
“In this day and age, there are no tools available to a leader to punish a member like Senator Cruz, especially because Senator Cruz doesn’t care what either the leader or the rest of his caucus thinks,” said Jim Manley, a former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.
Cruz’s insistence Feb. 12 on a 60-vote threshold to advance legislation lifting the nation’s borrowing cap foiled his party leadership’s plan to let the measure move forward with only Democratic votes. He led the October fight to defund the 2010 health care law, resulting in a partial government shutdown and the party’s cratering in public opinion polls.
The Republican Party’s favorability was at a record low of 28 percent in a Gallup Poll conducted Oct. 3-6, during the shutdown. That was down 10 percentage points from the previous month and 15 points below Democrats.
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All Cruz did was deny a unanimous consent. He didn't agree on the issue, therefore, it wasn't unanimous. It wasn't a 100-0 issue, therefore, the result is that the body takes a vote to decide, or resolve it. But because of the body rules that Cruz played no part in making, for the vote to succeed, it required 60 votes, which those who supported the issue would have to gather together if they wanted it to pass.
And somehow, this merits punishment in the establishment's eyes. The idea that the United States Senate should actually vote according to its own rules.
But the dirty little secret is, that these rules have been created specifically so that senators won't have to vote on issues. They can pass legislation by "unanimous consent," that is "both all and none are responsible" for the legislation. Very convenient, especially for senators like McConnell, who hide behind his "conservative" rating but work to pass legislation behind the scenes.
Ted Cruz did nothing but make senators vote, and for that, there's talk of punishment. But punishment won't be had. Oh, too bad!
It did flush out the politicians that do not believe in living within our means. That is a good thing IMHO.
McConnell and Cornyn: clearly part of the problem.
Give me ONE Cruz, as opposed to a thousand McCain’s.
The LEFT (and RINOs) will always tell you who and what they fear.
With what little procedural power Cruz has, he sure makes the best of it. I love this no holds barred approach.
I'm sure that McCain and his ilk breathed a huge sigh of relief when Helms retired. Until now.
What has our country come to, when they moan about "no tools" to "punish" a Senator for speaking his mind, and look at the floor when somebody mentions Zero's uncountable Constitutional outrages.
One day McCain will get so ‘furious’ that he strokes out.
Well, one can hope.
McDemocRat acting like a liberal has done more to hurt the GOP. FU McAmnesty and the horse you rode in on. Filthy f’n DemocRat.
That's roughly the situation we're in. We need higher standards than that.
Totalitarians have no shortage of tactics or “tools” to plunder. They can get a majority and vote for it. Thanks Ted Cruz.
It is not his tactics that make them angry.
It is his principles.
Ree Ree Ree! Kick them in the knee!
Ree Ree Rass! Kick them in the other knee!
The same can be said about turncoats like McCain and Flake from Az.
Cruz shaking up the old ‘status quo’, making these politicians accountable for votes, not allowing them to hide in the ‘herd’ ..... love it.
How dare Cruz expose the cowards for what they are!
McQueeg is POed because he (and Flake) was exposed as the cockroach he is, as he was flushed out from under the rock. The worst place for a Senator to be is voting for cloture, then voting against the subsequent bill. The classic Kerry "I voted for it before I voted against it." Every time a Senator does that it pulls the mask back just a little bit more.
Now, citizens of AZ will be able to ask either Senator in a town hall, "Senator, why did you vote for this bad deal, then vote against it? If you didn't like the bill, then why would you vote for it in the first place?" They will, too. Despite Sarah Palin's foolishly trashing the AZ state Party for showing some guts and Censuring McQueeg, the kind of people who go to town halls will be emboldened.
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