GOP donnybrook continues as House votes to defund Obamacare

As the House voted today for a budget bill that would defund Obamacare – and risk a
government shutdown in 11 days — the donnybrook within the GOP shows no signs
of subsiding.

With Texas tea party Sen. Ted Cruz in the center of the
dust-up, the latest to join the fray is Republican Sen. Bob Corker of
Tennessee, who said: “I didn’t go to Harvard or Princeton, but I can count —
the defunding box canyon is a tactic that will fail and weaken our position,” Corker
said, a clear reference to the Harvard- and
Princeton-educated Cruz. And an obvious caution that the GOP lacks the majority
in the Senate and cannot keep the House budget bill intact.

Republican Rep. Peter King of New York also weighed in, saying that Cruz and two other tea party favorites, Sens. Mike Lee
(R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), have disrupted the legislative process to the point of a breakdown.

On the other side of this political food fight, several House Republicans
have jumped all over Cruz since he suggested on Wednesday that the crusade to
scuttle Obamacare lies in the hands of the House, where the GOP majority
prevails, not in the Senate. That was immediately viewed by many conservative hardliners in the House as waving the flag of
surrender.

One senior House Republican aide reportedly said Sens. Cruz, Lee and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) “are like the kids in high school
who would yell fight ‘fight, fight’ but have never thrown a punch in their
entire life.”

Another said Senate Republicans are good at getting
Facebook “likes” and organizing town hall meetings, but “not much
else.”

In response, Cruz deadpanned: “I’m always impressed
by the courage of anonymous congressional aides.”

But one remark may have really hit a nerve with the
freshman senator. Referring to the Democratic state senator from Texas who recently
waged a day-long, highly publicized filibuster against abortion restrictions,
one unnamed House GOP source said: “Wendy Davis has more balls than Ted
Cruz.”

After that, Cruz quickly shifted gears and on Thursday
vowed to launch a Senate filibuster in favor of Obamacare defunding when the
House sends its budget bill over.

Certainly no shrinking violet, Cruz is wavering from his
previous stand that the GOP majority in the House is where the party should
make a final stand on Obamacare. After the senator spent the August recess
begging for a fight on Obamacare, the House response when Cruz presumably stepped aside was understandably hostile.

Over the past 24 hours, following the White House
statement that indicated, not surprisingly, that President Obama will veto any legislation
that attempts to pull the plug on health care reform, the Republican talking
points have reverted to this: By placing such a high priority on Obamacare, it’s
actually the president who is threatening to shut down the government.

Meanwhile, Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer has
said the Republican strategy makes no sense because the policy goal – gutting the
Affordable Care Act – is unattainable. Strategist Karl Rove said the move would
be self-destructive as voters would blame the GOP for the shutdown. Fox News’
Bill O’Reilly blames the push on “fanaticism” within the GOP.

Nicolle Wallace, who served as communications director
for President George W. Bush, called the House GOP plan “stupid” and “idiotic.”
She compared the situation on Capitol Hill to a 5-year-old riding a scooter who
needs adult supervision so he doesn’t go into traffic and get “squished.”

And then there’s Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid who
has a front-row seat for all of this drama and is enjoying every minute of it. On
the Senate floor Thursday morning, Reid said of Republicans: It’s “good
political theater to watch them self-destruct.”