House Republicans Declare War On "Carnival" Cruz

By now you all have heard about the House GOP's plan to pass a Continuing Resolution that defunds Obamacare.  The complete and total abdication of power by Speaker Boehner to the Krazy Kiddie Korps of his caucus has put the Republican Party on a path of self destruction so massive, it's likely to take the rest of the country down with it.  

But anyway, we all know how the story is going to play out:  The House will pass it, the Senate will laugh at it, and pass its own measure, which will be sane. At which point, the Senate will scarper leaving the House holding the bag.  Hey presto, the government gets funded.

That is, until Carnival Cruz opened his mouth:

“Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so,” Cruz said. “At that point, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American people…”

Notice what he's saying here.  He's basically giving away the game. He's giving away the con.  He's saying "OK, you will have had your vote, shot your wad, and looked manly for the folks back home. Now you have to suck it up and let Boehner pass the Senate version".

Well.

NOBODY puts Baby in a corner.

Naturally the Twitterverse asploded with popcorn worthy moments.

   House agrees to send #CR to Senate that defunds Obamacare. @SenTedCruz & @SenMikeLee refuse to fight. Wave white flag and surrender.

    — Sean Duffy (@RepSeanDuffy) September 18, 2013

    so far Sen Rs are good at getting Facebook likes, and townhalls, not much else. Do something. . . RT …http://t.co/...

    — Tim Griffin (@TimGriffinAR2) September 18, 2013

Oh it's on.  House Republicans are calling the chief architects of the Defund Strategy--the ones that egged them on to this vote--Surrender Monkeys for not doing anything to support them.  

Well DUH.  You guys are Republicans, you should know how you people behave.  You people do this all the time.  You talk a very good game, and then when you get the other person to commit, you put it all on them and you walk away from your promise. Didn't you guys see this coming?

And they're acting like this is a shock.  More from Republicans in the Washington Examiner:

   “Gee, thanks for the support,” Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., said Wednesday…

    “I don’t know how you could say, right now, that there are not the votes for it [in the Senate]. I don’t understand that,” Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., said. “I would suggest that the senator speak to his colleagues and do what we’re doing.”

And when they're "anonymous sources"?  Hoo-boy, do they let Cruz, Lee, and Paul have it:

   Hse R on Senate cons on saying Reid has votes to block health care defunding: "Those "%&#<-ers ran ads in my district over the Aug recess."

    — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) September 19, 2013

    Hse GOPer on Senate conservatives on Obamacare: They remind me of the French. Waved white flag & dropped their rifles before firing a shot

    — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) September 18, 2013

    House "defunder" responds to Lee/Cruz/Rubio: They've been telling us for 7 wks how to do our job, now it's their turn to fight

    — David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) September 18, 2013

French Surrender Monkeys!

And then we get to the staff members, who aren't bound by the rules of Congressional Decorum:

   Wow. House gop leadership aide just told me "Wendy Davis has more balls than Ted Cruz." #gopvsgopugliness

    — Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) September 18, 2013

That one's going to leave a mark.

From HuffPo:

   “We haven’t even taken up the bill and Ted Cruz is admitting defeat?” fumed one senior GOP aide. “Some people came here to govern and make things better for their constituents. Ted Cruz came here to throw bombs and fundraise off of attacks on fellow Republicans. He’s a joke, plain and simple.”

    Another aide said Cruz’s comment “exposes how [Senate conservatives] have deliberately misled their constituents and the grassroots for eight weeks. This isn’t leadership, it’s hypocrisy.“

Oh, Ted.  You spend all summer whipping the base into a frenzy about "defunding Obamacare" and then when the shit hits the fan, as it were, you raise your hands, step back, and say "hey look, House guy, baby, I'd love to, but there's nothing I can do, see, I'm never going to get anything done in the Senate because of those other guys so I'm not even going to try. It'll mess up my suit."

Looks like it's shaping up to be a very bad month for Mr. Cruz.

For us, however, while there is tremendous schadenfreude in watching all this play out, remember that these people are playing with lives, and if the government shuts down or we default, many people will lose what benefits they get, and will lose everything.  A lot of people will be hurt by the Republicans.

Not that they care.

Just get the Black guy in the White House.