Why Democrats love giving Ted Cruz credit for Republican failures

But does Cruz really run the House conservative caucus? Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, who’s been in the Senate since 1997, did plenty of whipping and case-building of his own. Betsy Woodruff confirms what I’ve heard about Sessions bringing Alabama’s House delegation on board; Rep. Mo Brooks became one of the House conservatives most ready to explain why it wasn’t worth passing a compromise bill. Cruz played a role, but the Republican opposition to a flimsy “hey, we did something” bill did not need to be taught.

The Cruz-as-puppetmaster storyline has a way of erasing other Republicans from these sorts of battles. In the winter of 2012, the most prominent conservative opponent of the U.N. disabilities treaty was probably Rick Santorum; he returned to the Senate and to the public debate to lobby colleagues against ratification.