Cruz & Co. Plot World Economic Meltdown In D.C. Bar
A Capitol Hill watering hole catering to “homesick Texans” was the scene Monday night of a remarkable tableau: Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and twenty of his Tea Party wingmen, holed up in a basement chamber, plotting strategy for the government shutdown / debt ceiling endgame.
Shattering forever the mental image of our nation’s august legislators debating the finer points of economic strategy in the dignity of their plush offices — surrounded by serious-minded aides, dog-eared reference tomes and a few bespectacled lobbyists for good measure — Senator Cruz hunkered down for margaritas (one can only hope) with fellow anarchists Steve King of Iowa, Raul Labrador of Idaho, Justin Amash of Michigan, Louie Gohmert of Texas, and others in the bowels of Tortilla Coast, a quotidian chips-and-liquor boîte near the Capitol.
In the “you can’t make this up” department, the Teahadist bar-crawlers were spotted by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who apparently eschewed his own professional environs for the seductive combination of cold xango and Jimmy Buffett. Rep. McCarthy, it is reported, was more than a little interested in the Cruz bro-fest percolating under his feet.
And no wonder, as McCarthy is notionally responsible — along with Speaker John Boehner, who appears increasingly neutered alongside his restive caucus — for ensuring that the imminent Reid/McConnell deal passes the House…. thereby saving the global economy, approximately.
And, it need not be said — acquiescing to the Senate compromise does not require a 20-person meeting in the dark.
But it may make a Texan feel awfully lonely. We’ll find out shortly.
