Republicans not on Cruz control
Republicans in Congress have serious problems.
They’re called Republicans!
They’d taken complete control of the U.S. House with a stunning victory in the 2010 mid-term elections.
Thanks to the growing influence of the tea party, it was thought that Republicans would finally be able to thwart President Obama, and everything he’d stood for.
Not only has that not happened, the tea party’s favorite congressional son, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, is now the most troublesome fly in his party’s ointment.
Democrats are mere spectators to Republicans’ frequent assaults on each other.
When Cruz tea partied his way into the Senate in January of 2013, he wasted no time in angering his fellow Republicans.
Hardly before he’d unpacked his bags, he drew the ire of New York Rep. Peter King, by calling a relief package for the victims of Hurricane Sandy, full of waste.
Cruz’ reputation as a grandstander was born.
By February, he took on Chuck Hagel, the Republican nominee for Defense Secretary, by implying he’d gotten compensation from “extreme and radical groups.”
And, for good measure, Cruz made the suggestion that Hagel was hiding something during his confirmation hearing.
That angered Sen. John McCain enough to stand by Hagel – calling him an “honorable man.”
But Cruz’ most futile bit of theater came a few months later, when the freshman senator stood on the floor of the Senate for 21 hours, demanding that his fellow Republicans defund Obamacare as part of an upcoming spending bill.
That didn’t happen, but Cruz became the face of the 16-day government shutdown that was the third-longest in U.S. history.
After 800,000 federal workers were furloughed indefinitely, and many government goods and services were put on hold, Republicans relented, and Obama signed a spending bill that didn’t defund Obamacare.
Many Cruz efforts to shine a spotlight on himself have caused lots of Republicans to privately and publicly denounce him.
So, when Cruz – now a presidential candidate – indicated he’d fight to defund Planned Parenthood, with the distinct possibility that it could cause another government shutdown, Republican congressional leaders openly declared such tactics would be fruitless and, more importantly, non-productive.
And once again, Democrats have had very little interest in trying to persuade Republicans not to listen to Cruz. They already know that not many Republicans do that anyway.
One Republican, though, has had enough of Cruz’ shenanigans. House Speaker John Boehner, knowing that any effort to defund Planned Parenthood, while holding a government spending bill hostage, would fail.
Rather than having to face off with members of his party, by not allowing them to fight an unwinnable war against Planned Parenthood, Boehner had one alternative – he’s leaving his speakership and Congress altogether later this month.
But before he rides back to Ohio, Boehner’s been free to speak honestly about Cruz and his far-right-wing colleagues in Congress.
First, he told the conservative site, the Daily Caller, that since Cruz is busy running for president it’s kept “that jackass” out of Washington.
He later launched a full-scale attack on Cruz and his fellow “false prophets,” who “whip people into a frenzy” to make legislative demands that “are never going to happen.”
And Boehner is joined in his assessment of Cruz by another Republican presidential candidate – Sen. Rand Paul.
“He (Cruz) is pretty much done for and stifled and it’s really because of personal relationships, or lack of personal relationships, and it is a problem,” Paul declared.
It is a problem, but certainly not for Democrats.
They’re witnessing an internal struggle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party, and it’s all over a woman’s health organization that enjoys high favorability across the country.
But that hasn’t caused Cruz to calm down.
Last Monday, he launched into a lengthy tirade on the floor of the Senate against his own Senate Majority leader, Mitch McConnell, because he wouldn’t insert language into a spending bill that would cut government spending from Planned Parenthood.
The following morning, the spending bill passed the Senate – 78-20, with half of the Senate Republicans voting for it.
Edward A. Owens is a three-time Emmy Award winner and 20-year veteran of television news. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net