Republicans Finally Stand Up to Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz was in classic form last week when he took to the Senate floor, thumbed his nose at decorum, and called his own majority leader a liar. Was that the last straw for his fellow Republicans? Dana Milbank at the Washington Post thinks it might be. "Finally, Senate Republicans are standing up to the bully who terrorized them the past two and a half years—and they’re finding out he isn’t so tough, after all." After the Mitch McConnell stunt, Republican senators began calling out Cruz for his antics, and they dealt him and ally Mike Lee a series of legislative defeats. (McConnell himself got involved in the rebukes.)

In one particularly stinging example, Cruz couldn't muster a "sufficient second" on an Iran amendment, usually a Senate courtesy. "This could be a turning point for Republicans, if they come to the conclusion that Cruz and his ilk are paper tigers," writes Milbank. The fear of Tea Party challengers seems to be gone among senators, with not a single Republican beaten in a primary last year, and Cruz himself is polling under 6% as a presidential candidate. "The bully has indeed been cornered," writes Milbank, "and from here he doesn’t look so menacing." Click for his full column. (More Ted Cruz stories.)