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Frustrated Republicans Vent after Senate Vote
National Review Online ^ | September 27, 2013 5:32 PM | Betsy Woodruff

Posted on 09/28/2013 8:29:24 AM PDT by Hojczyk

One Senate aide blamed Corker’s spotlight-grabbing role as Cruz’s foil on weak Republican leadership. “Because our leadership has not led for a number of months because of electoral politics, Senator McCain and Senator Graham and Senator Corker have sort of emerged as sort of de facto leaders in a leadership vacuum,” he says. “I like Senator Cornyn, I like Senator McConnell, I respect them, I know their colleagues respect them, but in fairness there just has not been a whole lot of direction, there’s really been no strategy.”

“It might not work,” he adds of Cruz and Lee’s efforts (we spoke a few minutes before the vote), “but what’s the alternative that leadership or anyone else is offering? What’s Bob Corker’s plan?”

It’s messy, and there’s plenty of tension to go around. When asked about the level of frustration directed at his boss, an aide for a senator involved in the defund efforts says, laughing, that “it’s about as high as I’ve ever seen it.”

“I wouldn’t want to test it to see if it could go much higher,” he adds. “Change is hard. People don’t like changes.”

They also don’t like being targeted by members of their own party. Senator Lindsey Graham reiterated to me his frustration with some of his fellow Senate Republicans. “My fate is in my hands, not theirs, and they said some things about our colleagues that I just think are really out of line,” he adds of Cruz et al. “At the end of the day,” he continues, “they’ve got to decide what kind of role they want to play, I’ve got to decide what kind of role I want to play to grow the Republican party and to save the country.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: Kentucky; US: South Carolina; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: bobcorker; johncornyn; kentucky; lindseygraham; lundergangrimes; mattbevin; mitchmcconnell; nancymace; southcarolina; tedcruz; texas
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To: Perdogg
To be honest, I would have to weigh (no pun intended) the possibility of an HRC presidency.

I am not convinced that old skank will be the rat nominee. The Chicago mob is not about to turn over the White House to anybody.

61 posted on 09/28/2013 10:53:09 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: rednek

Yeah. That’ll work.


62 posted on 09/28/2013 11:02:36 AM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: wmfights
The only reason I can think of that the Pubs don't fight at every turn is they have exempted themselves and think of themselves as the ruling class over the serfs.

Absolutely. Reminds me of a company I left 3 years ago. Loved the job, but for 3 years the employees got pay cuts or no raises so the CEO could walk away with a $14m retirement package.

63 posted on 09/28/2013 11:03:51 AM PDT by LaineyDee (Don't mess with Texas wimmen!)
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To: VanDeKoik

CORRECT!!!


64 posted on 09/28/2013 11:05:16 AM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: Travis McGee

Post of the month!


65 posted on 09/28/2013 11:06:13 AM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: Hojczyk

I swear to God Linda Graham would complain bitterly if he was hanged with a new rope.


66 posted on 09/28/2013 11:06:54 AM PDT by Cyber Liberty (It's hard to accept the truth when the lies were exactly what you wanted to hear.)
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To: Hojczyk
Time for a third party ?????

We will have to work within the GOP for the 2014 elections.

If the GOP fails us in 2014,all bets are off.

In many ways, the 2014 elections are a red line for America.

67 posted on 09/28/2013 11:08:58 AM PDT by exit82 ("The Taliban is on the inside of the building" E. Nordstrom 10-10-12)
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To: duckman
They are more interested in getting re-elected that doing their constituents will.

That is a truly mind boggling statement because the two used to be synonymous. Sadly, however, it is the state to which we have fallen.

68 posted on 09/28/2013 11:09:59 AM PDT by Pan_Yan
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To: sport

I voted for McCains challenger in the primary. Didn’t win. We will try again next time.


69 posted on 09/28/2013 11:10:50 AM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: Nuc 1.1

All you is keep trying.


70 posted on 09/28/2013 11:44:48 AM PDT by sport
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To: Hojczyk

The 25 hid behind Dingy’s SKIRT. They are COWARDS.


71 posted on 09/28/2013 12:34:40 PM PDT by VRWC For Truth (Roberts has perverted the Constitution)
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To: sport

True that!


72 posted on 09/28/2013 5:45:36 PM PDT by Nuc 1.1 (Nuc 1 Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: duckman
They are more interested in getting re-elected that doing their constituents will.

But..."doing your constituents' will"...isn't that HOW you get re-elected?

73 posted on 09/28/2013 5:52:45 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: Ignorance On Parade)
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To: grimalkin
I understand the third party sentiment. I really do. However, I would rather clean house in the Republican Party first. It’s been stolen from us and we need to get it back.

Agree that gaining control of the Republican Party is the most effective course of action.

However, I would disagree that it was "stolen from us". We conservatives have never owned it -- not since Coolidge, at least.

In my lifetime (born 1940), George H.W. Bush was clearly the third most conservative candidate the party has nominated -- after only Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.

George H.W. Bush!!! Mr. Big Government "conservative" was #3!!!

Remember, too, how the party had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Goldwater and Reagan candidacies.

Thus, the job is not to "take it back". It is to assert control over an alien machine that has enjoyed our support without representing our interests.

74 posted on 09/28/2013 6:07:44 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: Ignorance On Parade)
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To: The Cajun

Probably.


75 posted on 09/28/2013 6:31:39 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: dps.inspect

Did Cruz have a better chance winning in TX if he ran as a 3rd party for Senate, or if he won the Rep. nomination? Seems to me the latter, since he was able to knock out 1 out of 2 potential opponents right there.

The party label doesn’t make a difference. We know the difference between a Cruz and a McCain. It just seems easier and more efficient to work within the Republican party by winning their primaries with good candidates.

If the “name” is tarnished, the perception of any brand name can change over time. Either way, we’re going to need to find 25 more Cruzes to run in the Senate. I don’t see the harm in running them as Republican primary opponents first.


76 posted on 09/28/2013 6:55:23 PM PDT by JediJones (The #1 Must-see Filibuster of the Year: TEXAS TED AND THE CONSERVATIVE CRUZ-ADE)
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To: okie01

Not if your constituents want term limits. :)


77 posted on 09/28/2013 6:58:10 PM PDT by JediJones (The #1 Must-see Filibuster of the Year: TEXAS TED AND THE CONSERVATIVE CRUZ-ADE)
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To: Hojczyk

Yes and it has to happen now.


78 posted on 09/28/2013 6:59:08 PM PDT by riri (Plannedopolis-look it up. It's how the elites plan for US to live.)
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To: Jim Noble
THE GOP CANNOT DO THE WORK. The GOP is deeply divided over Obamacare. They will never, never fund and run a campaign in all 435 House districts and for all 34 contested Senate seats that promises to stop Obamacare by any means necessary. They won’t do it because they don’t believe in it.

I'm sure some if not at least half of them do. Would the 3rd party want to run for all 435 seats, risking that some anti-Obamacare voters lose to the Dem due to vote splitting? If there is enough money to fund a 3rd party, it doesn't seem like it would cost as much to just target the bad Republicans in primaries. And if you can't defeat the Republican in a primary, how could you defeat both him and a Dem in the general? And if the Republican party doesn't give your candidate enough funds in the general, just send him from money from the outside Tea Party coalition. The idea that a 3rd party gets formed and sweeps the next election seems more far-fetched than successfully repeating the formula of primarying out RINOs that's had some success so far, including Cruz's election.

79 posted on 09/28/2013 7:09:45 PM PDT by JediJones (The #1 Must-see Filibuster of the Year: TEXAS TED AND THE CONSERVATIVE CRUZ-ADE)
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To: JediJones
And if you can't defeat the Republican in a primary, how could you defeat both him and a Dem in the general?

At least half the independents, and maybe as much as 1/3 of the Democrats, loathe the GOP and would never vote for a "Republican". Where I live, the GOP is about country clubs and looking down on guys who get their hands dirty. The new party has to lose the clubbers. There are a lot of voters to gain.

80 posted on 09/28/2013 7:17:12 PM PDT by Jim Noble (When strong, avoid them. Attack their weaknesses. Emerge to their surprise.)
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