The Hill:
The Republican civil war on ObamaCare funding is intensifying.
And Politico:
Ted Cruz is taking his hardball tactics to a whole new level.
So the D.C. media is taking note of what it calls a civil war. On the one side you've got the proponents of the defund Obamacare scheme, led by Ted Cruz, and on the other side you've got a handful of slightly less crazy Republicans who are willing to go on the record and point out the obvious and unassailable truth that the scheme isn't just bad policy, it's also terrible politics. Then, in the middle, you've got congressional Republican leadership, in both the House and Senate, who supposedly oppose Cruz's plan, but aren't willing to take a public position.
But here's the really important thing about all this: It's one big joke. Republicans aren't going to defund Obamacare. And even if they do force a government shutdown (which I doubt), Ted Cruz is utterly and completely irrelevant. Don't take my word for it—listen to what he says:
But Republicans should simply vote to fund all of federal government except for Obamacare, he said.
An Iowan in the audience called out, “What are the chances of that?”
Cruz answered: “The chances of that today are zero.”
More on the Republican civil war below the fold.
One of the reasons the chances for that are zero is that most of Obamacare funding isn't controlled on annual basis, so "defunding Obamacare" wouldn't really defund it unless additional legislation were passed repealing the tax credits that will help people maintain insurance if they can't afford it otherwise.
But even if that weren't the case, Cruz knows he doesn't have the 41 votes he needs in the Senate to filibuster legislation, and even if he did, it would only do him any good if Democrats weren't willing to go nuclear on the filibuster to prevent a government shutdown.
Given that Cruz doesn't have the votes in the Senate, the only way for his scheme to work is if virtually every House Republican signed up to support a defund Obamacare bill. That would be political suicide for Republicans, and even if a majority of the GOP conference wanted to pursue the idea, it would only take 17 defectors—about 7 percent of House Republicans—to scuttle the idea. The only remotely plausible scenario of this happening is one in which Republicans simply refuse to pass anything in the House, but even that is extremely hard to imagine.
So if Cruz was right when he said there was "zero chance" of his plan actually working, then why is he pushing it? The most obvious answer is that he thinks it will help position him for 2016, and Republicans like Marco Rubio are playing along because they don't want to be outflanked. And why are outside GOP groups like Club for Growth and Heritage Action joining Cruz? Because there's a big portion of the GOP base that has no idea how absurd the defund Obamacare scheme is—and they are ready, eager, and willing to keep on sending money to people who are willing to mislead them.
So, yes, this is sort of a civil war. But at its core, what's really going on is hilarious mix of 2016 ambition and grift. Keep the popcorn out.