Ted Cruz Spikes the Ball

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 13, 2014 4:42 p.m. ET | Allysia Finley

[SoConPubbie]

Ted Cruztook a victory lap of sorts this week after Eric Cantor's primary defeat. And why shouldn't he? The junior senator from Texas helped fuel the anti-establishment furies that devoured the House majority leader.

"This election should be a reminder to all in Congress—Republicans and Democrats alike—that the conservative base is alive and well, and the American people will hold us all accountable," said Mr. Cruz. "Each of us needs to do what we said we would do and tell the truth." If this sounds like a threat, that's because it is.

Mr. Cruz is wont to criticize Republican politicians who disagree with him as sell-outs or charlatans. Recall how Mr. Cruz last fall spurred a rump Republican caucus in the House into shutting down the government over a futile gambit to defund ObamaCare. He denounced a plan by House leadership to prevent the shutdown (by decoupling votes for the continuing resolution from defunding ObamaCare) as "chicanery."

Note too that Mr. Cruz has pointedly refused to endorse his Senate colleagues facing re-election, including fellow Texan John Cornyn and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Meantime, he has backed the Senate Conservatives Fund and written a fundraising letter for the Madison Project. Both groups have bankrolled primary challengers to Senate incumbents.

While Mr. Cruz has argued that "Washington insiders have a terrible record at picking winners and losers," no Republican Senator has lost a general election in the last two cycles. He's also said that "primaries should be decided by the grassroots in each state," yet he's endorsed his Republican acolytes in races for open seats like Ben Sasse in Nebraska and T.W. Shannon in Oklahoma. No doubt he hopes that they will repay the favor by dutifully supporting him if elected to the Senate.

This week,

[celmak]

At least one of the two major Parties has people that will keep some in their Party accountable - GO VOTERS OF THE TEA PARTY !!!

[AdaGray]

The WSJ has become pure RINO trash — predictable and snarky.

[Peet]

“Mr. Cruz is wont to”

Is there not a single competent editor left anywhere in America?

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You might want to look that word up in a dictionary...

HTH, HAND

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

Did you know bucket bags are back in?

You don't say? ;-)

[Cheerio]

I wish I could accept all the enthusiasm for a GOP sweep that I am hearing on talk radio, reading in opinion pieces, and seeing on these and these forums.

RAS shows any lead in the Congressional Generic ballot the GOP had last Nov or as recent as April has evaporated - IMHO it is still a matter of SPINELESSNESS in the current Congress. Take for example no action from the US House on the admin ignoring of subpoenas, and most recent the anointment of Cantor's replacement demanded in one week short time schedule - Cantor gets to pick.

Date Dem GOP
06-09-14 41% 37%
04-20-14 40% 41%
12-01-13 38% 43%

Generic Congressional Ballot