Posted on 04/23/2015 1:21:56 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
Edited on 04/23/2015 2:23:02 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was already on a plane and flying back to Texas Thursday afternoon when the Senate held its final confirmation vote for Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, a Cruz campaign aide told TheBlaze.
As a result, Cruz was the only senator not to vote on Lynch’s confirmation earlier in the day. The Senate approved Lynch, a candidate that Cruz has argued against for months now.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) missed the final vote on the confirmation of Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch, and was on a plane back to Texas. Cruz was the only senator to miss the vote.
The Cruz aide declined to say why the senator was returning to his home state. However, a reporter from Real Clear Politics tweeted a picture of a flyer indicating that Cruz, a GOP presidential contender, had a campaign fundraiser to attend to Thursday night in Texas.
Here's why Cruz had to fly back to Texas before the final Lynch vote… pic.twitter.com/BCUt2cbkED
— Rebecca Berg (@rebeccagberg) April 23, 2015
While Cruz missed the final vote, aides to Cruz stressed that Cruz was in the Senate for the key vote on whether to end debate on Lynch’s nomination. The so-called “cloture vote” in the Senate is in fact the critical vote, since an agreement to end debate needs 60 votes, and once that happens, it’s usually a cinch to find the 51 votes needed to confirm a nominee or pass a bill.
Cruz and most other Republicans voted against ending debate, but 20 Republicans voted with Democrats and allowed Lynch to get to a final vote.
Cruz spokeswoman Amanda Carpenter said the cloture vote was the “vote that mattered,” and laid out her argument in a series of tweets soon after the vote:
If the Senate could get 60 votes for cloture, they could get 51 for final confirmation. Cloture is the only vote that mattered.
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) April 23, 2015
Lynch received 66 votes on the vote that mattered. http://t.co/W6Ne8mQVv8 If she can get to 66 she can get to 51
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) April 23, 2015
My facts are straight. The Constitutional purpose of a U.S. Senator is to represent the interest of the State from which he hails. It doesn’t matter if you pay his salary or not.
He’s our Senator and he’s doing a fine job. If you’re not from Texas, stuff it. Your opinion has no merit.
If you are from Texas, there’s a reason why every politician in this state would sell their Grandmother to have his endorsement.
The grandstanding of the media is designed to drag one of our guys down over a trivial matter (the cloture vote was the vote that mattered). That some here would use the same argument to prop their horse up over Sen. Cruz is shameful.
Committees used to be kinda run that way. People could assign a proxy. When they dems ran things the only dem in the room was the chairman who voted for every dem.
He’s a United States Senator who is running for President of the United States. IMHO, if he finds that being a Senator is getting in the way of that campaigning, then he should resign his seat.
I’m for Cruz, at this point at least. But first things first.
No big deal. The only people he hurt were Texans who did not get a full say on the Senate floor. Maybe Texas supports Lynch.
Then vote for Lindsey Graham
Hell no. I am voting for Walker. The only decent results oriented candidate we have. Cruz needs to learn more before he runs for President. He doesn’t show up for votes and bashes fellow candidates. He is not ready.
No, you need to learn more. Start with learning about the cloture vote.
I don’t care. If that is the case then they all should just sit home and not bother voting after cloture. I know all about cloture voting. Funny how this is the first time excuses are being meant with this cloture vote. Too funny.
What a shocker, Senator Cruz can count to 100 and he knows that 51 is greater than 49.
I think the fact that he just got up and left after the Cloture Vote makes those Ten Republican Traitors look even stupider.
Cruz 2016...
You mean the part where the cloture vote was effectively the only way to stop Lynch’s confirmation, but the establishment refused to follow Cruz’s lead when he voted to stop it?
but the establishment refused to follow Cruz’s lead when he voted to stop it?
Cruz has to hone up on his leadership skills. I haven’t found many who follow him. He needs to learn to be persuasive. Heck President Reagan was able to convince Democrats to vote his way. Senator Cruz needs to at least get the Republicans on his side. I think the leadership thinks that perhaps Cruz is too big for his britches. Just a thought. Overtime, Cruz will learn more skills. It is all about learning the ins and outs of the Senate.
It won’t matter how many senators follow him.
Just watch how many regular Americans do though. The senators will all crumble when this happens.
Get the picture?
Well so far he has around 6-11 percent support depending on which poll to believe. And most candidates have not announced yet. Again long way to go.
They can go to 'ell.
As for me, I shall go to Texas. [borrowed from Davey Crockett]
And his voting absence did NOTHING to effect the outcome.
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