Senate Leaders McConnell and Cornyn Spurn Cruz to Move Debt Bill to Final Vote

Probably not in the Primary, but I’m thinking he will in the run-off. Ted has ba**s. Could you see Ted touring the State with Cornyn’s Primary opponent and doing TV and Radio Ads. Oh, hell yeah.

Cruz isn’t going to get involved in Senate races because: 1) it would be a huge breech of decorum and 2) if those he supports lose it will be pinned on him.

Cruz has to pick his battles and avoid being Palinized 24/7 by progressives of both parties. He will never make it to 2016 as a viable POTUS candidate if he is a constant target.

That explanation, though common, makes no sense.

I'd like to hear your analysis. My thoughts are that they've been getting away with the cloture gambit for decades. 'Til recently, no one paid attention to procedural votes like cloture and, so, it was a pain-free way for GOPe to side with 'Rats. It's now wearing thin as more people are educated to the process but the GOPe still, fundamentally, cannot help themselves in siding with 'Rats. So they can't actually resist the cloture call. They just don't want to stand out from the crowd in doing so, especially if the leadership won't be standing there beside them. Collins, Murkowski, etc. are still so in favor of the 'Rat position that they are willing to vote with them but only if only the thin veil of 'standing with the GOP leadership' is drawn over their treason.

Here's my analysis (taken from my post to another thread): Some conservative talkers yesterday were denouncing Boehner & McConnell for allowing a clean ceiling hike to pass. Others were denouncing Tea Party House & Senate members for not unifying behind even "one conservative idea" in exchange for the hike. Even Ted Cruz was criticized for the "cursory" move of merely insisting upon a cloture vote. Both sets of conservative talkers completely missed the importance of the actions behind the passage of a clean ceiling hike.

Here it is - with this vote, the Tea Party House & Senate members have declared their independence from the GOPe.

In the House, the conservatives refused to give even one unified conservative idea for Boehner and the GOPe to bargain with, water down or claim credit. Tea Party House members remain ticked off at Boehner & Ryan for the budget deals they made last fall and the strategies employed to continue setting up Republicans as the bad guys in multiple budget/debt ceiling debates (and votes) with Obama & the Democrats. Their messages to Boehner are: "You set up this structure, Bonehead, you wear it!" and "This is your last term as Speaker!" Boehner was forced to allow a clean bill and vote for it because it was the least awful option he had.

Over in the Senate, Cruz smoked McConnell & Cornyn with the same messages. With the cloture demand, Cruz forced Cornyn to whip GOPe votes for a Democrat victory. When Cornyn's whip attempt fell short, Cruz forced McConnell & Cornyn to vote for cloture as most of the spineless GOPe Senate caucus were not willing to vote for cloture UNLESS McConnell & Cornyn did so first. That's how bad things are for McConnell - even his closest establishment "friends and colleagues" in the Senate are unwilling to jump on his grenades. The cherry on top for Cruz is that his outmaneuvering of the GOPe provides ample fodder for McConnell's & Cornyn's conservative primary opponents.

This is a brilliant strategic move for the House & Senate Tea Party caucus. It's finally dawned on them that the GOPe are not their friends. Cruz & Co. intend to quietly keep their powder dry until AFTER the November elections, but will directly and indirectly target the GOPe leaders who MIGHT be defeated in primaries.

Good luck Boehner, McConnell & Cornyn in your attempts to falsely pad your "conservative" credentials before November!

I think the only difference is in where we’re looking. You’re looking at the conservative-RINO dynamic and I’m looking at what happened within the RINO caucus.

Got some more info:
http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/which-republican-senators-switched-their-debt-limit-votes/
“Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming, John Cornyn of Texas, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, John McCain of Arizona and John Thune of South Dakota appear to have switched their votes from “nay” to “aye.”
Leaving 5:
Susan Collins (ME)
Bob Corker (TN)
Mike Johanns (NE)
Mark Kirk (IL)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
and Mitch

According to a tweet by McCaskill there were 3 votes from Republicans for cloture before Mitch voted.
Only 5 R votes were needed meaning 2 of those 5 were balking. My guess is Susan and Murky.

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