Don’t be fooled if John McCain refers to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as “my friend”—he does that with everyone. Half the time, it’s code for “you’re an asshole.”

One of the big headlines coming out of GQ profile of Cruz is a tidbit about how much McCain dislikes his new colleague:

For a while, veteran Republicans groused in private about the new guy. But it boiled over when Cruz joined Kentucky senator Rand Paul’s filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination to head the CIA—an act of protest against Obama’s drone program. John McCain, already seething over Cruz’s treatment of Hagel, called them “wacko birds.” “He fucking hates Cruz,” one adviser of the Arizona senator told me. “He’s just offended by his style.”

Cruz has put the GOP in a curious position this month: Having forced the House to pass legislation that prevents the federal government from shutting down only if Obamacare is defended, he’s now in the weird position of trying to convince his Senate colleagues to filibuster the bill to prevent the Senate from even beginning debate on the bill. Can anyone explain this stategery to me in the comments?

ETA: It appears that Senate Minority Leader doesn’t see much stategery going on with Cruz, either. Talking Points Memo reports:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) broke with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday, revealing that he won’t filibuster legislation to fund the government in service of conservative goals to defund Obamacare.

The Republican leader’s decision is a major blow to the push by Cruz and powerful conservative activist groups, who wanted Republicans to unite and filibuster a continuing resolution until Democrats caved agreed to gut funding for the Affordable Care Act.

“Senator McConnell supports the House Republicans’ bill and will not vote to block it, since it defunds Obamacare and funds the government without increasing spending by a penny,” McConnell spokesman Don Stewart told TPM in an email Monday. “He will also vote against any amendment that attempts to add Obamacare funding back into the House Republicans’ bill.”

This article appears in Sep 19-25, 2013.

Getting hassled by The Man Mild-mannered reporter

6 replies on “John McCain Doesn’t Like Ted Cruz Very Much”

  1. Once John McCain signed on to Schumer’s insane Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation he lost the support of the American people–especially the people of Arizona. Now there is a struggle on the Republican side of the Senate for control of the party. McCain’s days are over; he did it to himself. Hopefully what Cruz is trying to do will produce results and the Republican Party can experience a new beginning.

  3. Jim, Too bad a reporter cannot understand something so important. Are you being deliberately obtuse? I think not. The House is majority Repub, the Senate Dem. Reed will pass the House bill (with an Amendment to remove the Obama care section) using Senate Rules that allow passage by simple majority. The only chance Repubs have to stop Reed is with a filibuster that can only be stopped by a 3/4 Senate Cloture vote that Repubs can forestall with their very fragile (+ or -) 40 members. You obviously asked the question to ridicule Cruz and agree with McCain rather than report the facts. McCain has been a back-stabbing SOB since he came here from Connecticut on Barr’s ticket to take Rhodes’ seat. McCain has been fighting Conservatives ever since, to the delight of Libs like you. That aside, please report the news accurately before you sneer. Bill Heuisler

  4. Too bad Ted Cruz gets so much press time. The media and TV loves this guy. He is a conservative radical from Canada, trying to destroy this nation. There are a few other Tea party radical too, over 70 in total. They only mission is to do nothing, pass nothing and destroy the people rights and this nation.

  6. Bill, thanks for responding. I get that Cruz wanted to get the bill passed in the House so he could stop it in the Senate. (It’s a peculiar strategy IMHO, but you and I can agree to disagree on that.) But here’s what I sincerely don’t get–and I hope you can enlighten me: What is supposed to happen next? Is the assumption that we then get to a government shutdown and the impact is so painful to Democrats that they cave and agree to defund Obamacare? And then Obama signs the bill defunding Obamacare? Is that the endgame here?

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