Cruz really has balls of steel and a brain of oatmeal

As you may have heard, after pissing off a sizable portion of the repub leadership in both the House and Senate, Cruz followed up by blocking the confirmation, via unanimous consent, of Tom Wheeler, President Obama's choice for new FCC Chairman. But Mr. Cruz, who may or may not have realized the impact of what he was doing, did not block only Wheeler's confirmation. By blocking Wheeler, he also blocked the confirmation of Michael O'Rielly to fill a repub vacancy on the FCC. (The reason is that the two nominations are paired and there is no way one gets confirmed without the other, since doing so would result in either a 2-2 split between repubs and Democrats on the FCC (something the Democrats won't permit) or a 3-1 Democratic advantage (something the repubs don't want).

What makes this a particularly ballsy or brain dead maneuver: Michael O'Rielly is a longtime republican Hill staffer who most recently served as a senior aide to none other than Mr. Cruz's fellow Texan, John Cornyn. Blocking a nomination that undoubtedly is strongly supported by the senior Senator from your own state (and is part of the repub leadership in the Senate) is a brave thing to do. Or a sign that your kookoo for cocoa puffs.

Nice move, bowels.