WASHINGTON — Following the epic, 21-hour speech by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, supporting the defunding of Obamacare, either voters made so many calls to establishment Republicans that their phone lines melted, or those GOP leaders took their phones off the hook.
Even in this age of digital wizardry and limitless voicemail, callers could not get through at all to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
A message said the senator was experiencing a high volume of calls and directed members of the public to call back later or visit his website.
It was the same story with the man who was the face of the GOP in the 2008 elections, former GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
His phone was off the hook, too. Callers got a message stating his voicemail box was full.
The Arizona senator apparently had other matters on his mind during the Cruz speech, tweeting, “Final episode of #Broadchurch tonight – one of the most entertaining shows on TV right now.”
That prompted conservative commentator Michelle Malkin to tweet, “Meanwhile, McCain is tweeting about a TV show. See the problem here, America?”
Callers to Minority Whip Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also got a message saying the line was busy, but at least those callers were sent to voicemail.
GOP leader opposes defunding
McConnell announced Monday he does not support the attempt by Cruz to defund Obamacare.
The GOP Senate leader claimed he opposes Obamacare, but he refused to support Cruz’s effort to block a vote on cloture, which effectively doomed the House bill that would have defunded Obamacare.
McConnell would have needed to get only 41 out of 46 Republican senators to vote to block cloture, but he would not support the effort.
He, and other establishment Republicans, fear they would take the blame for any government shutdown, even though the House bill is specifically designed to force Democrats to be the ones to shut down the government, should they refuse to defund Obamacare.
Read more at wnd.com
