Can Mitch McConnell keep Ted Cruz from becoming de facto Senate majority leader?

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday January 08, 2015 · 7:56 AM PST

2015/01/08 · 07:56

no image description available — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) seeks more of this.

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to the press after leaving the Senate Chamber after a marathon attack on

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) seeks more of this.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell doesn't want to scare voters away from voting for a Republican presidential candidate in 2016. He wants to fool the media into believing he's interested in bipartisanship and good governance. That means he needs to keep Senate Republicans together and on message.

He's going to have a challenge with Sen. Ted Cruz:

Cruz has reached out to freshman Republicans, whom he helped in last year’s elections, in hopes they will join his effort to pressure Republican leaders to pursue what he calls a “bold agenda.” [...]
“What I have encouraged everyone of them to do is to urge all of us to honor our commitments. What I’ve urged everyone of them to do is answer questions in January the same way you would have answered them in October on the campaign trail,” he said.

Cruz is a guy, remember, whose idea of honoring his commitment to block Obamacare extends to shutting down the government.

A senior Republican leadership aide argued that there is no difference in vision between Cruz and McConnell, noting that the GOP leader has repeatedly promised a vote to repeal ObamaCare. McConnell also supports stopping Obama’s executive order on deportations.

No difference in vision. How interesting. Is McConnell going to actively go with Cruz on tactics like government shutdowns? Is he going to act disapproving but let Cruz have his way? Or will McConnell actually stand up to Cruz?

(And a note to the media: When McConnell holds that Obamacare repeal vote, that's evidence that he is not in fact being bipartisan or trying to govern responsibly.)

Can Mitch McConnell keep Ted Cruz from becoming de facto Senate majority leader?

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