Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Senate Republicans (soon to be) in disarray

Here's a story about the trouble the new Senate Majority Leader is about to find himself in.

The New Cruzians Are Ready to Make Life Hell for Mitch McConnell

Now that's a title. It's also almost certainly true (cc PolitiFact) because the dynamics of the new Senate will be pitting long timers like Mitch McConnell, who has been making promises about not shutting down the government again and whatnot, against all of Santa's craziest reindeer.

McConnell’s difficult job will be made enormously more complicated by the makeup of his incoming three-seat majority. It includes at least three senators eyeing a run for president (Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul), and 11 new Republican members, three of whom have been pegged by grassroots activists as the conservative cavalry riding in as reinforcements for the Cruz wing of the party.

Those three would be the the car wreck in waiting Joni Ernst, Senator Tom "ISIS" Cotton, and Ben Sasse, whose "grassroots" claim to fame is, apparently, not being able to get along with Mitch McConnell. Neither of them has any particular interest in making the Senate work, for any value of "work" that a Senate longtimer like McConnell would plan on. They were elected to set fires and burn things down. Conservatives are expecting them to work with Ted Cruz to turn the stuffy Senate into the more conspiracy-minded and twitchy House.

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