Paul and Cruz on a Roll

Tea Party favorites made some sizable waves in Washington over the past few days. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) gave a Jimmy Stewart-style filibuster on March 6 against the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA.

Mr. Paul would not permit a full Senate vote [Brennan was later confirmed 63-34] until the Obama Administration clarified its policies regarding the government targeting people within U.S. borders with "lethal force, such as a drone strike ... and without trial."

After 13 hours, and with some help mostly from fellow Tea Party Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Paul drew a statement from Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. that it would, indeed, be illegal for the federal government to use such drones inside America’s borders.

In American Thinker, Jonathon Moseley first noted that establishment Republican Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) denounced Sens. Paul and Cruz as “wackobirds.” Then Mr. Moseley put his finger on what it was really all about:

“First, no, it was not about drones -- not primarily. It was about the Obama administration arrogantly refusing to give a straight answer to questions from the U.S. Congress. In the ‘Fast and Furious’ and Benghazi scandals, Eric Holder and Barack Obama got away with murder. But this time, when challenged, Obama backed down.

“For a month and a half, the Obama Administration chose to give Rand Paul or Ted Cruz evasive answers. That conspicuous disrespect has been typical from Obama's team. That's what the fight was really about. Sometimes people use proxy issues to fight about a deeper principle.

“Some ask, ‘What did the filibuster really accomplish?’ This: You will answer questions from Congress, Mr. President.”

On March 13, Sen. Cruz forced the full Senate to vote on an amendment to the Continuing Resolution that would have defunded the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. On a straight party-line vote, the Democratically-controlled Senate voted 52 to 45 to reject the measure.

The next day, Sen. Cruz lectured gun control advocate Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on the Second Amendment while criticizing her sweeping proposal to ban “assault weapons.”

Mr. Cruz compared selective enforcement of the Second Amendment with selective enforcement of the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and the Fourth Amendment’s freedom against unreasonable searches.  Clearly miffed, Sen. Feinstein informed Sen. Cruz that “I’m not a first grader,” and that she’d been in the Senate long enough that she didn’t need lectures from him. 

Unfazed, Sen. Cruz continued to ask her questions, at which point Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) interjected a comment about the Texas state School Board “banning” books, something they didn’t do in Vermont, he said.

It’s a lively exchange and perhaps most notable for freshman Sen. Cruz’s tenacity in pursuing his point. Click here to see a 6-minute video of the exchange.

--Robert Knight for TeaPartyUnity.org  March 14, 2013