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Yesterday, 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 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. Until then, the Tea Party caucus will not speak ill of the GOPe in general, 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!