Civil War Erupting Among Republicans?

By Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

Civil War Erupting Among Republicans?

September 22, 2013

Comments

Based on a series of tweets this morning from National Review Washington Editor Robert Costa, Ted Cruz’s remarks this morning are not going over well among his colleagues:

Just take a gander:

Emails from House and Sen GOP aides pouring in; furious w/ how Cruz is pressuring McConnell, Boehner to folo his lead

— Robert Costa (@robertcostaNRO) September 22, 2013

Sen aide tells me a dozen+ GOP sens are fuming this am over Cruz making a vote to proceed (CR cloture) seem like support for law they hate

— Robert Costa (@robertcostaNRO) September 22, 2013

All of this is on background though:

I ask aide to just go on record, but source won’t; boss would potentially fire source for putting any public daylight btwn him and Cruz & Co

— Robert Costa (@robertcostaNRO) September 22, 2013

And there’s one reason for that:

The real fear within GOP right now: Suddenly, if you don’t folo Cruz-Palin on defund strategy, you risk RINO tag and g’roots wrath

— Robert Costa (@robertcostaNRO) September 22, 2013

Although there are some Republicans willing to go on the record:

On @FaceTheNation, Sen Tom Coburn, R-OK., says Senate Republicans don't have the votes to defund ObamaCare. "It'd be nice if we did."

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) September 22, 2013

Will other Senators join Coburn? Stay tuned.

8 responses to “Civil War Erupting Among Republicans?”

Mark Ivey

September 22, 2013 at 11:21 am

“The real fear within GOP right now: Suddenly, if you don’t folo Cruz-Palin on defund strategy, you risk RINO tag and g’roots wrath”

WooT GOP LoL
merl

September 22, 2013 at 11:25 am

It’s pretty obvious that Cruz is out for himself. He must be raising tons of money off of this.
mattbernius

September 22, 2013 at 11:38 am

Challenge to our Conservative minded commentors: Can you justify Ted Cruz’s actions?
al-Ameda

September 22, 2013 at 12:15 pm

I think that it is the GOP insiders who are squeamish over this, and not the newly elected types. Since 2010, the new flame-throwers have paid no political price for their malevolent style nor for purposely causing a downgrade in American bonds and treasuries.

Not only is Ted Cruz a true believer, he is also smart enough to know that base Republicans want guys like Cruz to fight the good fight. If grass roots Republicans see congressional GOP leadership take this to the mat they’ll be especially motivated for the 2014 mid-term elections which could very well firm up the GOP majority in the House, but also swing the Senate to GOP control.

All of that is depressing, yet it could very well happen.
Amos Jones

September 22, 2013 at 1:02 pm

A fight for the soul of the party, and the wing nuts seem to be winning. The TP tail that waves the GOP dog, what a shame for the country. For the Democrats, it’s Christmas in September.
bindare

September 22, 2013 at 1:18 pm

How about the Rino’s and the Elite form a third party so they can keep their hands on the levers of power?
CSK

September 22, 2013 at 1:43 pm

@merl:

That was the plan. It was never about defunding, which Cruz himself said isn’t going to happen.
OzarkHillbilly

September 22, 2013 at 6:47 pm

@mattbernius:

Challenge to our Conservative minded commentors: Can you justify Ted Cruz’s actions?

Not one of the Conservative minded Commentors, but I sure can justify his actions:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ad infintum.