Ted Cruz just voted for Obamacare (Senate votes 100-0 for Obamacare)

[geek tragedy]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-live/2013/09/cruz-a-vote-for-cloture-is-a-vote-for-obamacare-173213.html

Cruz: A vote for cloture is a vote for Obamacare

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/25/politics/shutdown-showdown/

The Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to move ahead on a spending plan needed to avoid a government shutdown next week, with Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, unexpectedly reversing themselves after previously trying to block the measure over their objection to spending for Obamacare.

#winning

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Say!

I like Obamacare!
I do!! I like them, Sam-I-am!
And I would eat them in a boat!
And I would eat them with a goat...
And I will eat them in the rain.
And in the dark. And on a train.
And in a car. And in a tree.
They are so good so good you see!

So I will eat them in a box.
And I will eat them with a fox.
And I will eat them in a house.
And I will eat them with a mouse.
And I will eat them here and there.
Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!

I do so like
Obamacare!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Sam-I-am

[geek tragedy]

2. +1 nt

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

3. I'm trying to keep up

So.Cruz urged house members to pass this bill then filibustered it on the senate floor presumably to defeat it then voted FOR it?

[SummerSnow]

5. He has to be deemed the biggest idiot breathing. Lol. Let your yes mean yes and your no, no

[geek tragedy]

7. One of those smart guys who's a dumb ass. nt

[Aerows]

33. I'm shocked he can

continue breathing to be honest, because breathe in breathe out sounds too complex for that idiot. I'd imagine he thinks making toast is akin to cooking a gourmet meal since it has too many steps.

[Jamaal510]

45. He might be breathing out his mouth. eom

[Aerows]

48. Touche! LMAO

[Grateful for Hope]

61. You said it better than I could have

[Aerows]

62. I don't get this one

Why anyone would vote for such a degenerate. I don't mean to be complaining, but I *really* don't know why a person would vote for such a degenerate.

[Grateful for Hope]

63. The only thing I can think

Is that he is half good-looking?

[gopiscrap]

55. yup

[aggiesal]

16. It's even dumber than that . . .

First, you can only filibuster a vote on a bill on the floor.
There was no bill on the floor, so Sen. Cruz was only grandstanding.

Second, the bill Sen. Cruz was supposed to be filibustering had the
clause to defund Obamacare. So basically he was trying to filibuster
exactly what he wanted.

Third, the 100-0 vote was not a vote on the bill itself.
It was a vote to end debate on the bill. This is where the
Republicans really filibuster all other bills by not voting to
end debate.

The reason they voted to end debate this time; they didn't want
to appear as the party to shut down the government.

[PoliticAverse]

27. Not exactly. First, there was no real filibuster as no Senate business was being held up.

Second the vote today was to take up the House budget bill (which defunds obamacare) for debate.
The key vote on what the Senate version of the bill actually contains will be later this week.

[geek tragedy]

41. two 'key' votes in that regard:

1) Cloture;
2) amendment to strip Obamacare defunding

The substantive distinction between today's vote and the cloture vote is nil, except in Ted Cruz's mind.

[postulater]

4. Huh?

"I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, and an elephant's faithful one hundred percent!." - Horton Hears A Who!

Sounds like he read from the wrong Seuss book.

[NightWatcher]

6. send him back to Canada so he can get some free mental healthcare

[Jamaal510]

46. Do that,

and he'll get ran out of the Republican Party.

[Avalux]

8. Is Ted Cruz a Democrat in disguise?

I keep asking myself this question since I can't make any sense of his behavior.

[Erose999]

9. So he voted for the measure after spening 21 hours ranting against it? What a cheese dick, lol

[geek tragedy]

10. And this was a bill he demanded the House pass in the first place nt

[cynatnite]

11. Way to stand your ground, Ted!

[shraby]

12. He's just covering both sides of his ass. This way video clips can be found to cover

him when he runs for office again. Someone puts one up against him, he has one to counter it.

[geek tragedy]

13. He was for the cloture vote before he was against it before he was for it. nt

[Ellipsis]

14. Ted cuz =

[JoePhilly]

15. Ok, in all seriousness, I think this is what happened ...

I "think" the Senate really voted to take the House Bill and use it as the basis for their budget vote.

Reid and the Senate Dems will strip out the "defund Obamacare" part of the House bill, and then pass that revised version ... and send THAT revised version, back to the House.

The other GOP senators did not want to vote against this vote becuase it includes the HOuse bill as a starting point, but they will vote against it after the Senate Dems modify it.

Then, the House GOP can not pass that, and try to blame the government shut down on the mean Dems who altered the House bill.

GOP Senators won't have voted to shut the government down ... they voted to keep it open today, and then opposed the Dem bill (that will pass the Senate).

Its a game really.

[Puzzledtraveller]

17. You got it

[geek tragedy]

18. That's exactly what the plan was, but Cruz had demagogued the issue to such

an extent that it was heresy to lose a vote, even if you voted the way you were supposed to.

[JoePhilly]

24. Agree completely ... he's been so over the top that any game playing

with how votes move around will totally get lost.

Still, GOP Senators will, down the road, be able to say that they DID vote to fund the government when they get home.

[geek tragedy]

25. We'll see how they vote once the defunding language is stripped and it's time

to send the bill back to the House.

[pinboy3niner]

67. Cruz already has committed to voting 'NO' on the next cloture vote

[PoliticAverse]

30. That's right. This was a vote to take up the House budget bill which defunds obamacare.

So it would be just as (in)accurate to say 'democrats vote against obamacare'. The important votes
will be in the next few days which will determine what the Senate version of the bill actually contains.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

37. Brilliant, as usual. I couldn't have stated it better myself. Say...could it be...

...Harry Reid may be more cunning than we all thought...

[northoftheborder]

39. yes, I think you have described the procedures correctly ongoing. Now they need to strip out the

defunding of ACA; I don't know if they vote again as a Senate, or it just goes over to the House.

[mac56]

19. So he was for it before he was against it before he was for it?

[TBF]

20. Anyone who thinks this is about Obamacare

doesn't understand Ted Cruz. This man wants his face on TV - he wants to run for president in 2016. It's not about Obamacare. It's all about Ted.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. ^^^ THIS ^^^

[djean111]

26. Yes, you got it.

No point in analyzing this to death - Cruz wanted - and got - face time, media attention, whatever - priceless for him.

[tblue37]

65. He is the Senate version of Miley Cyrus--

pathetically desperate for attention and willing to do just about anything to get it.

[TBF]

68. lol - good analogy! nt

[Shrike47]

31. Sadly for him, it's not a photogenic face.

In fact, he looks like a chubby weasel.

[stevenleser]

32. Exactly. It's all about getting the right wing nuts to vote for him in the 2016 GOP primary. nt

[Initech]

44. But he was born in Canada, he couldn't run even if he wanted to!

[TBF]

50. lol - you are going to see TeaPartiers spinning

around in circles trying to change their interpretation of Section 1 of Article Two of the United States Constitution.

[Initech]

56. Butter will be a hot commodity when that happens!

[Ruby the Liberal]

51. I thought his parents were Canadian?

McCain was born in Panama - but his parents were US citizens. Doesn't this law rule out Cruz for being born in Canada to Canadians?

[TBF]

52. He was born in Calgary to an American mother -

and Cuban father. As I just wrote about the tea partiers will be spinning themselves in circles trying to twist their own logic from a few years ago ...

[TBF]

53. NBC put up an article giving an outline of this --

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/24/20678624-ted-cruz-what-you-need-to-know-about-this-ambitious-headline-grabbing-senator?lite

He's not fooling anyone.

[Ilsa]

21. I guess McConnell explained

that everyone thought he was either an idiot or an asshole, so he decided to do the right thing.

[geek tragedy]

23. No, he was told he was going to do what he was told to do.

He was told vote for cloture, or else. No more grandstanding at the expense of his fellow Republicans.

[ZRT2209]

36. the turtle gets tough!

[PoliticAverse]

28. Actually the key 'cloture' vote will be later this week. This vote was for the Senate

to take up the House budget bill (which defunds obamacare) for debate. What the Senate version
of the bill contains will be determined by debate/votes in the next few days.

[geek tragedy]

29. So, voting for the Senate to begin to debate the House bill is voting against Obamacare, but

voting against the Senate being able to vote on the House bill is voting against Obamacare.

That Haahhvahd education has really paid off for Teddy.

[Aerows]

34. Surely this guy

has someone tying his shoes for him in the morning, because obviously, that would exert his brainpower for the day.

[ZRT2209]

35. ???? What is he trying to pull now???

[sakabatou]

38. Mwahahaha!

[Coyotl]

40. Primary that liberal socialist communist

[blkmusclmachine]

42. From Joe My God: Cruz versus Green Acres' Mr. Haney:

[Bolo Boffin]

43. Nicely done. n/t

[spooky3]

66. DUzy! Brilliant. We should start calling him Mr. Haney.

Thanks.

[Ohio Joe]

47. So... This was the same bullshit paul pulled a while back...

blah, blah, blah, it will kill us all... oh, YES, I'll vote for that!

teabaggers don't even have the belief in their own bullshit.

[Taverner]

49. Yay! Now companies will have to pay a huge whopping $1K fine!!!

That should stop them

[mucifer]

54. He only cares about $$$. He successfully raised a bunch of $$$

from being on the news and lying about our President.

He doesn't care if he wasted lots of time.

[Scootaloo]

57. Some minds boggle. His seems scrabbled.

[etherealtruth]

58. Ted Cruz is an imbecile n/t

[Skittles]

59. he is a f***ing drama queen

[sad-cafe]

60. he is just ignorant

really how did he get elected?

[nyquil_man]

64. Simple. He ran in Texas with an R behind his name. nt

[grahamhgreen]

69. Up vote for good framing

[madville]

70. One or two people in this thread actually understand

how the Senate works. Basically they just voted to move the process along towards a vote on the House bill. This was an arbitrary procedural hurdle, that's why it was 100-0.