Having spent countless hours listening to McConnell & years working with his office, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on tonight's news. 1/
First & foremost, what we're witnessing is an unprecedented, full-blown rebellion by Republican senators against their leader, Mc Connell. 2/
I worked for Reid for years. Democratic senators criticized him occasionally, although they'd usually joke about it.
Nothing like this. 3/
Reid's status as leader was based on a mixture of love & respect from the caucus.
Mc Connell's, only on respect - very little love. 4/
Mc Connell's political victories have come at a steep price for the institution. He has taken power & influence away from other senators. 5/
His fellow Rs did not like losing their individual power, but they were willing to abide it as long as Mc Connell delivered victories. 6/
The ? has always been, what happen to Mc Connell when he hits a dry spell - especially one that his scorched-Earth tactics precipitated. 7/
We're seeing indications of that tonight. This sounds like trolling but I'm honestly shocked at how nasty Repuicans are being towards him 8/
Accusing your leader of a "significant breach of trust" is about as harsh as it gets in Senate-speak. 9/
Senators want to get things done. Mc Connell's pitch to his fellow Republicans was always, let's get power & THEN we'll get things done. 10/
Their problem now is that the tactics Mc Connell employed to accrue power undercut their ability to get things done.
Earth, scorched. 11/
Reid employed dramatic tactics at times, but he was able to balance it with empowering senators and delivering accomplishments. 12/
Suffice to say, Mc Connell is finding that balance harder to strike. 13/
On prospects for repeal, I agree with everyone who's saying keep the pressure up- this bill is the Terminator. It will keep coming back. 14/
Mc Connell will play off this setback in that weird way that DC reporters intrepidly persist in finding charming. (I don't see it.) 15/
But make no mistake - this is a MASSIVE humiliation for Mc Connell. And he'll spend every waking moment plotting his redemption. 16/
Lastly: the breadth of the rebellion is fascinating and suggests that this was coordinated. Lee/Moran jumped first to give others cover. 17/
That prospect is truly jaw-dropping: a COORDINATED rebellion against Mc Connell?
Six months into unified Republican control??
Yeesh. 18/
I wonder about the 2 cancelled weeks of recess- will that still happen?
Public statements aside, members HATE having recess cancelled 19/
That seemed punitive. Mc Connell's announcement came after a conference meeting that did not go well for him.
I wonder how it fits in. 20/
I'm just rambling now.
But boy howdy, what a thing to witness.
From the savior of the Senate, no le
ss.
Who could have predicted? 21/
CODA: This feels punitive too, since moderate Rs have already rejected this approach. I neglected to mention... 22/
My statement on an upcoming vote to repeal #Obamacare◊
Mc Connell is known within the Senate to have an extremely top-down leadership style. Cornyn, his #2, usually has no idea what's going on 23/
You could compile an amazing list of all the times Cornyn was obviously, publicly out of the loop. Mc Connell doesn't trust anyone. 24/
The stories go that Mc Connell will literally email orders to his deputies, including Cornyn. They have no input into his process. 25/
Compare that to Reid, who would run every - and I mean EVERY - decision by Durbin, Schumer and Murray, and... 26/
... most big decisions by his broader leadership team (~10 members) and chairs/rankings and THEN get the buy-in of the full caucus. 27/
Would Reid have loved to make decisions by himself and then deliver marching orders to his caucus? Maybe. But that's not how it works. 28/
You have to get broad that kind of broad buy-in because every senator considers themselves a regent. And they have power. 29/
For all his talk about deliberative process, Mc Connell does not appear to have a deliberative process within his own leadership team. 30/
He seems to think he can simply hand down orders, urge his conference to fall in line and then punish them if they don't.
We'll see. 31/
If Cornyn, the #2 leader, didn't know, then either Mc Connell kept him in the dark or they were both blindsided. 32/
CORNYN on Lee/Moran defection: Had "no idea" it was coming.
I can't think of a single time in his entire career as leader that Reid was blindsided by so many members on such a high-priority issue. 33/
Further update: this is extremely harsh, especially from someone not known as a thorn in the side of leadership. 34/
To say you might not vote for so-and-so as leader during a campaign is common. To question your leader's ability in real time is not. 35/
