Associated Press
Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) career on Capitol Hill has spanned less than three months, but he's clearly made an impression. Frank Bruni noted that Cruz is "an ornery, swaggering piece of work," preoccupied with "grandstanding and browbeating." The Atlantic added that "a remarkable number of both Republicans and Democrats" have already come forward "to say that they think Cruz is kind of a jerk."
The New York Times reported that "even some Republican colleagues are growing publicly frustrated" with the right-wing freshman.
And all of this came before Cruz objected last week to a routine Senate resolution commemorating Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week.
Congress passes hundreds of resolutions, meant to commemorate everything from a special awareness week or Little League champions. The resolutions lack any real power of law and are predominantly ceremonial. For example, earlier this month the Senate passed resolutions to mark "World Plumbing Day" and commemorating the three-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake.
In order to keep business moving and not clog the Senate floor, they are normally passed in bulk through a "unanimous consent agreement," meaning a vote isn't tallied since both sides agree to it.
But last week, Cruz objected to including the MS Awareness resolution. He was unhappy with a clause in the resolution describing the purpose of the Multiple Sclerosis Coalition, according to a Democratic staffer.
Wonkette published the entire text of the uncontroversial resolution, and the only provision that seems remotely controversial -- at least to someone on the far-right fringes of American politics -- was language about "expanding access to medical treatment" for those affected with multiple sclerosis.
Maybe "expanding access" sounds to Cruz like code for "socialized medicine"? Perhaps, in the senator's mind, those who can't afford health insurance haven't rightfully earned "access to medical treatment"?
Cruz's office, meanwhile, said that the senator objected because he received a copy of the resolution "less than 48 hours" before it was brought to the floor. He wanted more time to review the measure before voting, so Cruz felt compelled to block unanimous consent.
For context, it's worth noting that the symbolic resolution, which doesn't actually do anything substantive, is only about 500 words; it was already approved unanimously by the Republican-led U.S. House; and as Steve M. noted, it "passes without objection every freaking year."
But Ted Cruz balked anyway. It's almost as if he wants to be disliked, not just by the American mainstream, but by his own colleagues in both parties.
In theory, this would do real damage to Cruz's ability to be an effective lawmaker -- who wants to partner with a senator they actively dislike? -- but since he doesn't seem interested in legislating, I suppose it doesn't much matter.
Leave a Comment:
Let's hope Cruz self-deports back to Canada.
No, no. You don't get to blame this a@@hat on us! He was merely on our side of the border when his American parents had him. This one is ALL yours! :-)
Damn! Forgot to put my finger on my nose and yell "NOT IT!". Rats...
Cruz is a dangerous sociopath. Thank God he can never be president. He'll do lots of damage where he is now. He is bright, ruthless, and driven by ambition. He didn't have to read Ayn Rand. He was born with her lack of morals and disdain for the poorer classes.
NO! I just read where he was born here!
We can dance if we want to
We can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine
Cruz can rant if he needs to
Sanity can be safely left behind
"Cause the sane don't rant , and if they don't rant
Well they're not insane alone
P.S.
Please consider buying gunz and grenades for peace , thank you .
Comment of the day!
Back to Canada You say.Eh??! Naw U can have him he's too Blimp for me..
We don't want him.
Ted Cruz was a Canadian anchor baby!?!?! Really!?!?!
When complaining about TX, remember Barbara Jordan, Molly Ivins, Rep. Yarborough, Jim Hightower, Lou Dubose, and many other down in the trenches liberals. How many other states can boast the equivalent of the Texas Observer?
If you want complete idiocy outside the Bible Belt, look to Utah and Wisconsin. Nothing good ever came out of Utah except John Stockton and the Mailman, and they were imports. Wisconsin gave us Sen. Johnson, Paul Ryan, Sensenbrenner, Walker & Co., and other assorted morons. They haven't done anything decent since Bob LaFollette several generations ago. Instead of asking what is in the water in TX, find out what they put in the schnapps in Wisconsin.
How about let's demand he resigns for being a TRAITOR to the American Way?
uuuhg. just look at that mug. makes you want to punch it. why does every republican elected official have a face just asking to be punched. im not a violent guy. but I TELL YA! the arrogance and stupidity just spilling out of their ugly faces. every glance just wating to be rearranged with my fist. they have that kind of look that says "you really want to punch me dont you? haha id love to see you try."....... oh and i do.... i do.
He won't do that, aye. They have 'socialized med-sin??(LOL)
Sorry. He's all yours. No deposit, no return !!
Perhaps he thinks it is time to update the Wikipedia definition of McCarthyism. "And don't forget my picture!"
( the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence)
Unlike say Harry Reid accusing Romney of not paying taxes based on a rumor? Sorry but "say anything" for political gain is now SOP.
Shooter, just like the Baggers said Obama could have cleared up the birther rumor by releasing his birth certificate, which he did, Romney could have proven Reid wrong by releasing his tax returns, which he refused to do.
How do you know that was a rumor Shooter? Romney never provided the tax returns in question.
Shooter242 flapping his troll again.
As foreign an idea as this may seem, becoming so obscenely rich that you end up paying less (or none) in taxes than 99% of Americans is actually a goal for people like Shooter often praises. It's not a crime, it's an achievement.
Just saying. One man's ideals are another man's example of a corrupt soul.
Except Romney really didn't pay taxes lmao He just couldn't release the evidence. Calling all of harvard law a bunch of Commies just makes Cruz look loony.
"Calling all of harvard law a bunch of Commies just
makesconfirms Cruzlookis loony."Fixed it.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Cruz graduate from Harvard law? Project much?
Good point and yes he did graduate from Harvard Law but we are supposed to believe him when he said they are a bunch of commies just because he said so. Cruz's wife is an exec for Goldman Sachs, he is really just a banking puppet, he can't be behaving this way because he is even looking to a long career in politics, no doubt he will serve his term and then become a banking lobbyist.
It is the next logical step. Gotta love that revolving door between lobbyists & Congress.
@Shooter - You would do well to remember that one person did see Romney's tax returns. That person would be John McCain, when he was vetting VP possibilities in 2008. And after seeing Romney's returns, he chose Sarah Palin as his VP pick. 'Nuff said.
And it scared the hell out of McCain.
Shooter....it wasn't a rumor. He didn't pay taxes from 1999-2009. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/04/1155381/-Breaking-Romney-Paid-Zero-Taxes-From-1996-To-2009
user ok so tell me why you said that but Mitt never wanted to prove his tax detractors wrong
could it be brcause of his off shore bank accounts?
@shooter
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html
Demagogues exist out of a narcissistic nether nihilism!
Cruz is one, and he is not necessarily noticing nobody is nodding niceties now that he knowingly has nattered McCarthy's notorious nonsense!
The relevant question for Mr. Cruz is just how long will it take for him to show up drunk to public hearings? -Kevo
With some of his more bizarre outbursts, I'm not convinced he hasn't started already.
One hundred ideas on the wall , one hundred ideas
Look through them all pick the ones that are mean and small
Ninety nine ideas on the wall
Speaking of McCarthy, I've thought for a long time that Cruz looks a bit like him.
See?
Or end up, the rest of his life, in a straight-jacket, in a looney bin?! That's how McCarthy ended up.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the media predisposition to label this guy a 'Rising, young star in the GOP'. Seems to me the only thing that's "rising" is the rotting corpse of Joe McCarthy.
This isn't going to end well for the Tea Party loonies. But then, they were on a short pier to begin with.
I have to agree with you Rochester12. The media might be serving their own ratings, but in giving these sorts of people air time and attention they are doing a disservice to the American public. Treating hate mongers, extremists and (panderers when necessary) like celebrities takes the focus off the fact that they have been elected to serve a constituency not their own ends. I still feel our best defense against them would be a "Media Blackout", stop printing their photos, repeating their diatribes and generally advancing their often sinister agendas.
He must love the back bench. Cruz will never be a significant senator. On TV they fought like cats and dogs, but off screen Orin Hatch was a good friend of Ted Kennedy. It has been like that since the beginning of the Republic. Effective Senators now how to fight in public, but get along when the cameras are turned off. Cruz is more like a spoiled child.
And the Texas idiots who voted for him are loving it.
And the Texas idiots who voted for him are loving every minute of his antics.
So is everyone else tired of business as usual.
By that, do you mean your trolling comments? No, not at all!
I love a good laugh, particularly in this context.
Come on now its not funny to pick on the special needs people. As you can see by the posts this poster is really proving how special he thinks his needs are.
try 'spoiled HAM'?
Cruz is the "poster boy" for everything that is wrong with the Republican Party. But have faith - you know how long "poster boys" last....
Far to long!!
I'd just like to point out that Benen's last 3 posts were, as follows:
This is not a healthy trend. Just saying.
Doesn't get any better, Rochester. The next one is about Darrell Issa.
:facepalm:
Seriously, what's in Benen's orange juice today? Nothing but one horribly bad example of self-serving political values after another. Today's posts are turning into a Who's Who of lousy politicians.
@Rochester 12 When you're writing about Republicans, that's kind of inevitable, isn't it?
You got to post with the current events you have , not the current events Ronald Dumsfeld implies coulda woulda been iffin we had only clapped harder .
Look folks, this works! Exposing Republican intransigence in Virginia with vaginal probes worked, exposing the House Republicans fetish about abortions directly led to their 9% approval rating, and so on... Yes, we are the junkies who know all this stuff, but lets let it penetrate, let it trickle down to the regular people so they get sickened...
I'm still reeling from you talking about vaginal probes and "trickle down" in the same comment. That was pretty bold, Dude.
O yeah the tickle of trickle in that was no trifle to stifle
Why should the senate be exempt from trolling? Don't feed him and he'll stop.
That is of course the policy of smarty pants everywhere . We don't negotiate with McDonalds or terrorists . Whee ! just negotiate with the rising gorge courtesy of the true believers of entitlements , they're entitled to fish off their own pier , and Tippecanoe and Tyler Too .
Serious question - did this anti-government lunatic (meaning Cruz) renounce his government salary and benefits? If not, then everything he rants about with regard to government is moot, since he's gladly being cared for on the taxpayer dime.
#9
They all suckle from the same big tit. Then they moan and bitch about the government, forgetting it is Mommy.
I see what your trying to do , he he he . The old shame in hypocrisy idea went out the window after the unfolding flower of manifold justifications deescovered from the happystance in stealing president Gore's election .
It is really hard to suffer that blame on that series of adventures , because so many , many good thangs hopponed . With the elevation of a pore countree boy named George to answer for god , we as a nation stepped forward into the Texas cowpie -
......................................................... And We Liked It !
-Or some of us did , which returning back to your original pain and agony is not possible because we did away with shame and hypocrisy ...
#9.2
What are you talking about?
9.1 India, your comment will stay with me all day. Thanks!
I just checked and now I remember why I blocked FRP. What a fruitcake!
#9.3
The establishment of deception as policy and the roulette wheel of justification . The cornucopia of rationale provided by the first fraud . The holier than thou posturing of the right wing Pharisees wooing with the thumb in your eye sweet talk , and the brave brinkmanship that cuts everything but the sinecures nestled in the right wing true believers dictionary .
Prediction from Texas: he is grandstanding for the folks back home. He has no interest in long-term Senate career: he wants to come back to TX and run for governor, during which race all the bull@!$%# he says on the Hill will play great back home.
Yep, or pick up one of those super sweet Heritage Foundation type deals. I never thought I'd see anyone, left or right, aspire to McCarthyism - never in more than a half century of life. This sharp beezered subhuman is yet another waste of oxygen in D.C. Why one of these backwoods, backwards "think tanks" doesn't just hire him right now and save us his term in the Senate is beyond me
Texas is off the rails. Rick Perry was touted to be a godly man, and now this guy. Things are bigger in Texas, that goes for egos, kooks and whack-jobs.
One of the rarest good things to come out of the Republicans' 2012 presidential campaign was the highlighting of MS by Ann Romney. How does Sen. Cruz get the idea to piss in the Romney's Wheaties so blatantly? Sure Republicans hate Mitt, but this is off the charts @!$%#ry. I'm actually looking forward to see a Romney rebuttal calling Cruz out for excessive dickishness.
I suggest not holding your breath waiting for that rebuttal.
Great point, but don't hold your breath... a statement from the Romney's would require courage...
I thought the implication was that Romney hold his breath .
What am I wrong ?
The Romneys are still too busy boohooing about their misplaced crowns to care if anyone but Ann Romney gets assistance with their MS.
Every time I see this guy, for a split second I think I'm looking at a picture of a young Bill Murray.
No, a young Joe McCarthy.. the resemblance is scary
http://tinyurl.com/dyhbo8t
Down here in Texas we're calling him "Carnival" Cruz. That's not original to me, but I think it needs to be in wider usage, generally.
"Carnival" Cruz as in: raw sewage on the poop deck?
What I'd like someone to track is if any other senate resolutions come to his desk less than 48 hours before going to the floor to which he doesn't object. Say, for example, a resolution establishing national gun owners day or national fetus appreciation day. I suspect that not having time to read those wouldn't matter to him.
The problem is that the media can't get enough of people like Cruz. The more outrageous and "ornery", the more coverage they get. His type lives to hear the phrase "can you believe what that guy did?" on every cable news show. Remember - the only bad PR is no PR, particularly when you come from a safe red state like Texas and don't have any presidential ambitions to worry about. Even if his colleagues don't like him and the voters sour on him before his re-election, there's always Fox News.
One question? Why did this joker run for office? Did he want to make sure that the GOP was laughed at??
You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
Ass. Hat.
syrengirl: thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
India LaCarre, How can he not be president? He is a natural born citizen. His AMERICAN parents were in Canada when he was born, but he is still a natural born citizen. No matter where you were born, if you were born to an American mother or father or in this case both, you are natural born.
so by those standards, what was the problem with President Obama? Despite the fact that he was born in the STATE of Hawaii, his mother was an American citizen. Republicans/Tea Partiers can't have it both ways.
You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?
If anyone really wants to help a displaced people, refugees who wander with no one to take them in, consider thinking with some kindness of long-term supporters of the GOP. I mean the real GOP, the one that existed before it forgot the warning of Barry Goldwater to be wary of the extremists and religious whack-jobs. For us, there is no port.
Why is everyone from Texas a JerkOff?
A bit of a reach... "everyone"? Not even close to being true. Let's be real, OK? (unlike the other side)
If you qualify it, and just say, "Why are elected officials from Texas so often JerkOffs", it might be clearer. There are some nice folks in Texas, in spite of ones like Cruz.
Living in Texas does require an increase in one's tolerance of absurdity. Carnival Cruz won a run off primary against a somewhat unpopular lieutenant governor that presided over massive cuts to education. Most of the votes he got in the run off primary were votes against his opponent not for him. That said the GOP primary is the election in Texas but it won't be by his next run. Too many young folks, Hispanics, women, and transplants for the old White guys by 2018. We survived Bush and we'll survive Carnival Cruz as well.
amazing when you realize: he actually was elected. No really, a bunch of people had to say "yes, this is the guy I want".
I saw my very liberal cousin from Texas (really! there are liberals there) after the election but before Cruz was sworn in and mentioned Cruz to her. The size of her eye roll (combined with gigantic sigh) told me all I needed to know. I think she said something also, but the huge eye roll knocked me off my chair so I didn't hear her comment. Dear Lord, he's far worse than anything I would have expected. Is it too late to bring back Kay Bailey Hutchinson?
Senator Cruz strikes me as an idiot( maybe we can get an off with their heads week)!
Shooter is just posting for comedic relief or perhaps out of boredom, either way he makes me feel as though my ears are going to start bleeding!
That's why I put Shooter on "Ignore" some time ago. Cleans up my screen wonderfully.
Joan, it certainly does and it is good for your blood pressure, too. As much as I knew that Blanks had no idea what he was talking about, it still irritated me each time he threw out another Luntz approved talking point. It is difficult to deal with people who totally lack sincerity.
What do they put in the water in Texas? It appears that everything from Texas is out in left field. Maybe it would be a good idea for them to secede from the United States...after they reclaim CRUZ!
Granny A, #25,
I've been for secession for years, but why stop at Texass? I'd like to see all the bright red Southern states secede. And take their congressmen and women with them.
Can we give Arizona and Jan Brewer back to Mexico, also?
And how do we get rid of some of the nuttier than a fruitcake folks from up north, like Michele Bachman?
I am totally embarrassed to say that Michele Bachman is from Minnesota. I cannot image what folks in her district were thinking to reelect her! Most of us are normal, intelligent even. I can only say that perhaps she emigrated from Iowa???
Hey, now.
No Granny they are in right field... deep right field. Not that many of us over here in left field but more every day.