Posted on 07/29/2015 8:26:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Mighty Mitch, having bamboozled not only Kentuckians but the entire nation into returning him as Senate majority “leader,” is displeased with his caucus:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell got his hands on something he believed to be damning: An email from Sen. Mike Lee’s aide to conservative activists plotting to use an Obamacare vote as a political weapon. So McConnell quickly summoned the GOP to a closed-door session in the Senate’s Mansfield Room Monday night. And he made sure his caucus read the email, placing a copy on every Republican senator’s chair before they arrived. A lawmaker in the room described the mood as “combative.”
One GOP senator after another objected to the Lee aide’s tactic and called for GOP unity, including party leaders like John Thune of South Dakota and the retiring Dan Coats of Indiana. Two senators in tough reelection races — Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire — were vocal, as was Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), sources said. The email, Republican leaders believed, was what they needed to marginalize conservative hardliners who had thrown their plans into disarray the last several days.
Let’s go down the list. Coats is a time-serving non-entity who’s shuffling off to the old folks’ home. Thune had promise, but that seems to have vanished in the windswept wasteland of whichever Dakota he’s from. Johnson of Wisconsin is actually a good guy and a good conservative with a good chance of losing his seat, but Ms. Ayotte flashed her true colors by aligning with the McCain-Graham axis and has disqualified herself from future consideration on a national ticket. In short, who cares what they think?
The sitdown appeared to be an effort by McConnell to impose order in his caucus after days of infighting, initiated by Cruz, who accused McConnell of “lying” in a hard-charging series of floor speeches and public statements. Cruz, along with Lee, have sought to use arcane Senate procedures to force through simple majority votes on a range of conservative causes — to take a hard line on Iran, defund Planned Parenthood and repeal Obamacare.
But Lee, extending an olive branch of sorts, decided not to push the matter Monday night. And GOP senators said during the session that using the filibuster-proof reconciliation process remained the best bet to move a repeal of Obamacare this year, attendees said.
Well, no rush, guys. Here’s McConnell’s super-awesome plan to repeal Obamacare with just 51 votes, coincidentally announced after the Monday night -come-to-Jesus Senate confab:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell championed a renewed push to bypass a filibuster and repeal Obamacare with 51 votes on Tuesday, he announced in a joint statement with Utah Senator Mike Lee, one of the most conservative Republicans in the chamber. ”Republicans are united in working to repeal the broken promises of Obamacare,” McConnell said in the statement, adding that the Senate will “continue our effort to use reconciliation … to fulfill the promise we made to our constituents.”
Lee, who has often been at odds with McConnell, has long advocated using Senate procedures to try and kill the president’s health care law. “A Senate vote to repeal Obamacare on a simple majority basis through reconciliation is the best way to pursue that goal,” Lee said in the statement. “The Majority Leader and I are committed to using reconciliation to repeal Obamacare in the 114th Congress.”
Yeah, right. And here’s why it won’t work:
McConnell does not have the authority to decide unilaterally that a given law can be repealed through reconciliation; instead, parliamentarians, the umpires of Senate procedure, interpret the relevant rules and precedents whenever a disagreement arises. Much of Obamacare does not qualify for reconciliation under the Byrd rule, the regulation that governs the process. Some Republicans believe that McConnell has done more to deter colleagues from pushing for a full repeal than he did to convince the parliamentarians that it would be possible under the Byrd rule. “Internally, they’ve been aggressive in terms of, whenever this subject comes up, saying we can only do so much,” says one senior GOP Senate aide.
We’re being played. Again.
Yeah you right, we’re being played.
But watch: come this time next year, we’ll see more and more of the same old “lesser-evil” nonsense. It’ll be all over the news, and it’ll even be all over here. We’ll see it for individual senate races, we’ll see it if Jeb! is the nominee.
It should be pretty plain to see that the GOP is no longer on our side. They aren’t even pretending. And those in the party who DO try to do right by their constituents (Ted Cruz, etc) are repudiated and ostracized by their party peers. It’s disgusting.
I sure wish he would go back in his shell....or maybe catch that turtle disease.
He never left.
He sounds like an old schoolmaster.
Just what we dont need..
Cruz spoke on the Senate floor about this rotten communists pig McConnell. Actually Cruz was too polite. Hope the Trump will get in on the act and burn McConnell.
He is a vindictive little worm who exerts power over his subordinates because he has no influence elsewhere.
That and he has to neutralize what few members in his caucus there are who are not compromised.
“Fobs Them Off”
I have some vague notion that is a Briticism, but am not interested enough to look it up. As for the rest of the headline, “Fractious GOP Senators” are the only people McConnell would ever dress down. He coos at Reid, Schumer, Durbin, and the rest of the leftist ilk.
fob off
VERB: to give false or inadequate information to somebody in order to stop further questions.
synonyms: mislead · misinform · deceive · stall
Sponsoring FReepers are contributing
$10 Each time a New Monthly Donor signs up!
Get more bang for your FR buck!
Click Here To Sign Up Now!
That’s the BRILLIANCE of the evil scheme concocted by Obama.
&&&
Except Obamugbe lacks that level of brilliance; his puppetmasters get credit for the brilliance of the scheme.
From your keyboard to God’s Ears.
Kelly Ayotte is a Republican...but of the GOPe. She is a reason why I am no longer a Conservative Republican, but a Conservative.
I will work actively to prevent her from being re-elected. She has betrayed New Hampshire and the United States of America. She is the lapdog of John McCain and Linda Graham.
It’s getting to the point where I don’t see Republicans as being any different than Democrats.
Cruz is leading a revolt, no doubt about it.
His intention, though, is not to bolt from the party, but to change its leadership. In that regard, I believe it is now only a matter of time.
Jeff Sessions for Majority Leader...???
I don't see working within the party as a viable option anymore.
Thanks a lot Kentucky. Of course with Alexander and Corker from my state who am I to talk?
Those other senators should be afraid of their constituents and not some moron from KY.
Grow a pair GOP!
I think that’s why Trump is such a good thing right now, he is empowering them to stand up to the GOP Leadership.
Understand the frustration.
Personally, I see the current insurgency as the party's last chance.
And, maybe, the country's....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.