Did Ted Cruz just pave the way for confirming a wave of Obama nominees?

[Valin]

Power Line:

Paul Mirengoff

December 13, 2014

 

The Senate has approved the so-called Cromnibus bill. It did so in a rare Saturday session. According to the Washington Post, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee forced the Saturday session:

 

 

Prolonged debate on the spending bill, which passed on a 56-to-40 bipartisan vote, came after Cruz and Lee late Friday night derailed a carefully crafted plan between party leaders to allow senators to go home for the weekend and return Monday to approve the spending agreement. The pair had sought to force a vote that essentially would block federal agencies from implementing the immigration policy changes ordered by Obama last month.

 

 

Cruz and Lee accomplished nothing in terms of the spending bill or the executive amnesty. But, again according to the Post, their maneuvering enabled Harry Reid to confirm around 20 of President Obama’s nominations. Here’s how:

 

 

Reid blocked the Cruz-Reid request for a vote on blocking Obama’s executive amnesty and angrily clashed with them on the Senate floor, ensuring that debate on the spending bill would spill into Saturday. Then, come Saturday, Reid used the session to begin consideration of around 20 of Obama’s nominees, almost half of whom Republicans had been blocking. Consequently, votes on the nominees will take place on Monday morning.

 

 

(Snip)

 

Oh, and Cruz and Lee were unable to get a vote on their amendment. It was always clear they wouldn’t.

 

Democrats say they are delighted with the fruits of the Saturday session. Here’s Chuck Schumer: “What Cruz did aided and abetted us getting nominations.” Here’s Benjamin Cardin: “It’s inconvenient to be here voting around the clock. But at least we get our work done.”

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

[Draggingtree]

The Cruz-Lee point of order and why the GOP establishment thinks you are an idiot

By: streiff (Diary) | December 16th, 2014 at 11:00 AM

In the wake of the passage of CRomnibus –on the strength of GOP votes – the GOP leadership in Congress and the GOP establishment has been working overtime to rough up Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Utah Senator Mike Lee. A lot of the GOP is miffed that they have to serve alongside men of principle, this produces a Devil-Holy Water effect. They also realize based on the government shutdown… an act I’d contend mobilized the GOP base to come out and deliver a beating to the Democrats in November… and the forced vote on the Constitutionality of the Obama’s executive action on immigration (21 Republican senators agreed with the premise that Obama’s actions were constitutional)… the leadership is panicked about the Hell the next Congress will be for them as they try to feed the pigs at the trough, accommodate the Chamber of Commerce on amnesty, and give Obama whatever he wants all the while trying to convince conservatives that they are actually putting up a fight. This is hard with a caucus moving in lockstep. With a handful of men like Cruz and Lee it becomes nearly impossible.

If you believe the crap being tossed about by the GOP leadership, the Democrat leadership

http://www.redstate.com/2014/12/16/cruz-lee-point-order-gop-establishment-thinks-idiot/

[Draggingtree]

No Blogger, You Don’t Understand the Senate Better than Ted Cruz Does

By: Leon H. Wolf (Diary) | December 15th, 2014 at 07:00 PM

Let me say up front that I don’t agree with everything Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)94% does and I don’t think that Cruz is beyond criticism. Everyone is capable of making mistakes and that applies a fortiori to politicians. I haven’t even formed a firm position yet on whether his parliamentary maneuver this weekend was advisable or whether it was (as leadership now claims) to blame for the confirmation of many of Obama’s judicial appointments. I don’t want him to run in 2016 and if he does he will behind almost literally all the governors on my personal ballot.

 

That having been said, the execrable public smear campaign being mounted by leadership and their blogging lackeys against him is hilarious in its completely unjustified condescension. Examples of this may be found here and here if you are interested. These attacks are notable not for what they are saying but because of the obvious attempt to not only criticize Cruz on substantive grounds but to remove him and his viewpoint from the discussion by treating him as an object of contempt and ridicule. In exactly the same way that liberals initially attacked Sarah Palin,

http://www.redstate.com/2014/12/15/blogger-dont-understand-senate-better-ted-cruz/

[Draggingtree]

The Unified Ted Cruz Blame Theory Goes Up in Flames

By: Leon H. Wolf (Diary) | December 17th, 2014 at 08:58 AM

It is already setting in as received wisdom among liberals both within the Republican party and without that Ted Cruz will be made to shoulder the blame for the nominations the Democrats rammed through the Senate this week. A good example of that comes from the arbiter of objective fairness to conservative Republicans, the New York Times:

 

The number one problem with believing this theory, as my colleague streiff pointed out yesterday, is that Harry Reid promised repeatedly and publicly before the Cruz-Lee point of order that he would keep the Senate open as long as necessary to confirm the nominations.

 

 

Again, I’m fine with criticizing Ted Cruz or just not liking him. But don’t try selling me that a) he’s an idiot or that he got these nominations pushed through. The math just doesn’t add up.

http://www.redstate.com/2014/12/17/unified-ted-cruz-blame-theory-goes-flames/