Posted on 07/25/2015 6:35:52 PM PDT by Isara
---
Senators generally refrain from impugning their colleagues on the floor, a practice codified in Senate Rule XIX: “No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator.”
The penalty for breaching that rule is to be ordered to take one’s seat — in effect, to sit down and shut up. But no senator rose to make a point of order before Cruz left the floor.
“It’s unusual, certainly,” Betty K. Koed, the Senate’s official historian, said of Cruz’s remarks. “The Senate prides itself on being an environment of polite, respectful decorum, but this happens from time to time.”
In a 1995 speech on Senate decorum, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) denounced senators who accuse their colleagues of dissembling: “The use of such maledicent language on the Senate floor is quite out of place, and to accuse other senators of being liars is to skate on very, very thin ice, indeed.”
Rule XIX was nearly invoked in 1988 after Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) accused Sen. H. John Heinz III (R-Pa.) and others of being “spokesmen” for “special interest groups.” But after Heinz rose in protest, Gramm withdrew his remarks.
Cruz’s statement would seem to be a more serious breach of floor comity than Gramm’s. But they both fall well short of other, more distant floor antics — such as the time, during debate on the Compromise of 1850, that Henry S. Foote of Mississippi pulled a pistol on fellow Democrat Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, or the 1902 fistfight between South Carolina Democrats Benjamin R. Tillman and John L. McLaurin.
---
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Who was that miserable pro abortionist from FW that Ted stuffed? That’s right, no one remembers
Go Ted Go!
Wendy something?
See how quick this happens?
She was threat and Ted wiped her out
I heard Cruz ripping on Congress today. I’d rather fail with a guy like him than succeed with another gd rino.
How?
I love this guy, he aint Skeered.
I was worried that he had been silent lately but apparently he has been taking notes
Wendy was one of the lefts new superstars.
Ted made her see stars
As to how, Logic and truth.
You can not fight the light
I don’t see Brett Favre there. They must be heeding Stalin’s advice.
How? Did Ted Cruz help his old boss, Greg Abbott?
Dunno what’s going on with Brett, Glimpsed it in the news.
I’d like to see him take a shot at Ivan
It’s been simmering since Cruz took office, and now we have open war between Cruz and McConnell. Go Ted!
The bill that prompted Ted Cruz’ charge of lying came up on Friday when the weekend news cycle would be expected to quietly bury it. Or so McConnell expected it to.
So far no blowback on Sen. Cruz from either the GOPe or the chattering classes. This in itself is strange. But Ted has crossed the Rubicon; this is much bigger than his filibuster and will cement his image as a conservative bulldog. America needs such a man in the White House.
CRUZ or lose!
And yet we still have freepers bad mouthing Ted....what’s it take???
Ted Cruz Ping! “no senator rose to make a point of order before Cruz left the floor. “
Apparently 98 Senators agreed with senator Cruz, or at least had to think about it. Has any other Senator besides Hatch complained?
By the way, has Congressman Joe “You Lie” Wilson received his apologies yet?
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.