Report: Closed-Door GOP Meeting With Cruz Turned Into 'Lynch Mob'

[kpete]

Report: Closed-Door GOP Meeting With Cruz Turned Into 'Lynch Mob'

More details are emerging about Wednesday's closed-door meeting where Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) evidently received an earful from his Republican colleagues, with one senator describing what transpired as a "lynch mob."

A report published Friday by The New York Times shed more light on the private lunch, indicating that Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Dan Coats (R-IN) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) blasted Cruz for leading the charge to block funding for the Affordable Care Act, a quixotic effort that led to the government shutdown.

According to the Times report, Ayotte demanded that Cruz renounce attacks directed at Republicans by an unnamed "conservative group." Politico reported earlier this week it was attacks levied by the Senate Conservatives Fund, the organization founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), that rankled Cruz's GOP colleagues.

According to the Times, Cruz did not disavow the attacks nor did he offer a strategy for the defunding effort, prompting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to join the criticism of the freshman senator.

More, plus links:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-closed-door-gop-meeting-with-cruz-turned-into-lynch-mob

[Walk away]

1. That's right, blame the crazy guy for making over two hundred idiots.....

jump off the cliff. I don't think these fools will ever get away with a stunt like this again.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

41. Republicans can't govern THEMSELVES, let alone a nation. Allowed a freshman to lead themselves. Nuts

[SharonAnn]

62. BUt they didn't lynch him! So it was ineffective.

[el_bryanto]

2. Do you ever get the idea that Republicans don't actually know what a lynch mob is?

I'm probably way off base I know - but did they really do something comparable to this to Cruz?

Bryant

[Katashi_itto]

3. We could only hope, done in by his compadres that would be awesome

[lapislzi]

4. Er, no.

I don't find joking references to lynching funny. Lynching is not funny. It never was and never will be. I understand that it was supposed to be a metaphor, but I am rather horrified by it, and horrified that a DUer would find this appropriate to say.

**pre-emptive middle finger: don't tell me I have no sense of humor.

[Katashi_itto]

6. Ok so letting the GOP murder 45,000 Americans is ok?

45,000 Americans die every year through lack of affordable healthcare. Further, destroying the world's economy, taking 1 billion a week out of our own, 1 million people in furlough status (I'm one of them) and you hand-wring about about my comment.

Gotcha, I see where your priorities are.

[lapislzi]

9. Nice straw man.

How about addressing my actual comment? Oh, wait...that would require you to climb down off your high horse and stop trying to put words into my mouth.

Welcome to my ignore list.

[Katashi_itto]

10. Cool! Likewise

[FreedRadical]

46. I am thinking too fucking soon.

I have yet to see a good reason why this shit is a part of our American history. It is certainly not something I feel in any way comfortable with watching withe Americans fucking joke about. And if you try to explain it away or in any way justify, I will scream "TOO FUCKING SOON". It is not OK, and all is not rosy. In my humbly opinion it is inappropriate.

K

Just say-en'

[bklyncowgirl]

5. Not exactly a lynching. A little tarring and feathering would be nice though.

[Katashi_itto]

7. That would be nice too

[BlancheSplanchnik]

19. you're absolutely right. pukes also don't know what

The Holocaust was. Nor do they understand rape and violence against women, poverty, and a long list of other realities that their self-absorbed world view helps create.

They're bloviating drama queens and they're perfectly comfortable with the most despicable hyperbole.

[IrishAyes]

25. I agree there's no real literal comparison to real lyching

But figuratively speaking, I'd like to see that vile fascist UNDER the jail.

Your sensitivities - which we'd all do well to share - are understandable; I for one don't think you went the least bit overboard. Kudos for your thoughts.

[surrealAmerican]

29. It's just their way of over-dramatizing their own "suffering" ...

... while simultaneously minimizing the suffering of those they despise.

It's more than just insensitive and ignorant.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

53. Actually, they can't get that rope and tree out of their minds with Obama in office.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

37. It's more like they did this....

[RavensChick]

52. Exactly!

That's better than lynching but pain without actually dying is a better effect.

I hope they gave that nutjob an earful and then some!

[liberalmike27]

43. They

Just aren't used to having a lynch mob directed at them. They are usually the lynchers.

I'm getting tired of this off-loading of blame, onto Cruz, or the Billionaire Tea Party. They vote together, completely together. And Boehner completely supports them, by not taking a vote on the CR about funding the things they've already bought, our government.

So they're all the same--pretending to lynch the guy who led the "coup" is just more media BS. They're all the billionaires party.

[MADem]

58. The Republican leadership ALLOWED Cruz to happen.

The way to control a freshman is to threaten him, early and often, with dire consequences -- to include no RNC/GOP Congressional dough for his reelection efforts, and a primary opponent--if he doesn't play ball. Rolling over and saying "Oh well" and letting that nitwit get grandiose ideas in his big empty head is their own damned fault!

[yuiyoshida]

44. I was thinking that too!

Omg..the stupidity of that Party.

[City Lights]

8. Haha! I'm loving this!

The GOPee never thinks anything through and now it's coming back to bite them in their asses! And watching their blame game is oh so much fun! Too bad there was no open mic in that room!

They all boarded the Carnival Cruz (thanks to Historic NY for this fitting name!) without realizing where the Cruz was headed! HA!

[IrishAyes]

26. It's headed for an iceberg.

[GoCubsGo]

11. I love the sound of republican infighting in the morning.

I hope the mutual self-destruction comes fast and hard.

[Mass]

12. May be, but these moderate Republicans are not ready to solve the problem

It would now be solved if House Republicans had joined the Democrats in the several procedural votes that took place to bring the Senate bill on the floor.

So, yes, the infighting may seem funny, but people are suffering. I would settle for some common sense solutions and guts from the non Tea Party Republicans.

[alfredo]

14. If it passes the House, can the Senate R's still derail it?

[Mass]

15. No, not if passed in identical terms. It has already passed the Senate, so it would go to Obama

But there is clearly no will from the GOP moderates to pressure their leadership.

[alfredo]

16. I don't have much faith that the house can pass a clean CR.

[Mass]

17. I agree, but we have to stop talking about moderate Republicans in this case.

They are all enabling the Tea Party. They may be leaking infighting to the media, but they are part of the problem, not the solution.

[alfredo]

28. A song just came to mind

[Scuba]

13. Ron Johnson is a slender reed blowing in the wind. He was with Cruz a month ago ...

... if he's blasting Cruz now that means the majority of the Republicans are too.

[IveWornAHundredPants]

30. Is that Ron Johnson, Audio Consultant we're talking about?

[Scuba]

33. No, it's ("See what a smart businessman I am. I married the boss's daughter.") Sunspot Johnson,R-Wi.

[arely staircase]

49. nice FT@RH reference nt

[Javaman]

18. cruz wears stupidity as a badge of honor. nt

[bluedeathray]

20. Whee! And this party's going to have to nominate someone

For President in less than 3 years. If the economy, ecology, and energy hold out.

The "clown car on fire" act rolls on...

[grantcart]

21. Let us know if they need some rope

[Kablooie]

22. This is what comes from Obama standing his ground and not giving in one inch.

That's the way to be a leader.
Keep it up Mr. president, please, keep it up.

[Iliyah]

23. Then get the house gopers on board

and pass the clean cr. All this brickering and America is still in the same place.

[Myrina]

24. He's their Frankenstein, they ought to be proud of what they created.

Or, perhaps, were they a thoughtful group, this might give them pause before they stir the waters of the crazy pool in the future.

[IrishAyes]

27. They're not a thoughtful group. They're all fascist terrorists, every last one.

If anyone seems to be drawing back a little now, it's only to escape the fire, not from a change of heart. How can you change something you don't have?

[caseymoz]

34. One hopes they won't have the opportunity in the future.

One thing that might go right in this ordeal is that the shutdown is going to be a learning experience for their constituents. That's my hope. They apparently need some real-life education about why government is essential, and why it can't be underfunded. Something they've been misled on, some since 1964.

[rurallib]

31. why in the fuck did they follow him then?

always they blame someone else for even their own decisions.

[caseymoz]

32. Lynch mob? Why not call it "A holocaust?"

I presume Cruz walked out of his lynching still very much alive and in one piece. Unlike, say, a real lynching.

Do these Repubs had any idea what they're talking about?

[Boomerproud]

35. He should be called out for that horrible comparison.

The entire world (including the insane places-of which there are many) must be looking at us and saying "America has finally lost it."

[Orsino]

38. A rich white man getting yelled at is exactly like a lynching.

One of their favorite metaphors.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

36. But according to Tweety Obama "met his match" with Ted Cruz.

[joeybee12]

39. Ted Cruz is my hero...

He's causing more headaches for the Repukes than I think any concerted effort by the Dems could.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

40. As I said on another thread, Cruz broke the Reagan commandment

Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican

[Marie Marie]

42. Oh that poor horse. He has a really ugly growth on his butt.

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

61. WOW!!!

Look at those veins. That poor horse is working overtime to expel that gross mass.

[tomm2thumbs]

45. They chose to follow him. Where is the 'Personal Responsibility' Party now?

Oh yea, always blaming others for their problems. That's about right.

[Squinch]

60. Right. All those lemmings who drank cocktails while they followed him over the cliff

now are going to blame him?

Snort.

[nomorenomore08]

47. And Gawker *just* had an article on the overuse of "lynch mob"...

[bucolic_frolic]

48. The Republicans are Cornered

This could be dangerous political times

They will turn on each other like rats in an overcrowded cage

They can't escape so you also wonder what other fixes they might try to
punch their way out of this mess

This shutdown is like the Clinton Impeachment. They think
they're blaming Obama, but just like Romney losing the election
I don't think they understand anything outside their own political
glass bubble

GWB was cornered in 2000, so a Supreme Court injunction
fixed things

Debt ceiling, spending, sequester, Detroit bankruptcy ...

I don't know where I'm headed with these thoughts just freethinking

Anyone see any war clouds on the horizion?

[Beartracks]

50. Of course Cruz had no plan. He probably...

... just expected the Dems to cave -- and that was his "plan."

================================

[Warpy]

51. Ted Cruz has been pissing everybody in his own party off since January

when he took office. He's abrasive and arrogant and unwilling to listen to anyone else.

The sooner the Republicans get enough on him to get him out of office, the better.

[nyquil_man]

54. Neither McConnell nor Boehner is a leader.

They're followers. Loyal party hacks who've hung around long enough and kissed enough ass to rise to the top. They blindly follow the will of whoever they perceive to be in the majority of their party at any given moment. This article is just further proof of that.

Republicans can blame Cruz all they like but, until their party has leaders who put the country first, they will continue to have these problems.

[silvershadow]

55. And, to think, there was a time when McConnell *was that guy. They've gone so far off the rails,

McConnell is starting to play the role of moderate.

[Liberal_in_LA]

56. what is the plan ted? lead us out of this mess u made.

[customerserviceguy]

57. Don't anyone here kid yourself

He wears this like a badge of honor. In his world, being criticized by moderate Republican'ts means that he's different from them.

[Rebellious Republican]

59. Well someone has to be the Speaker of the House, and lead the GOP......

while Boehner is out clubbing.