Senate Republicans get bad press, rethink temper tantrum

Chuck Hagel, back when he was a senator and Republicans kind of liked him. A report over the weekend said that Republican senators on the Armed Services Committee were going to pick up their toys and go home walk out on a planned committee vote Tuesday on Chuck Hagel's nomination to be secretary of defense.

But now that their plan got some media attention, well, that particular tantrum seems to have been abandoned.

Further questioning revealed no stomach for the GOP to walk out after all. Staffers reached in the office of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) hadn't heard of the bid to walkout and were unable to confirm whether the Senator backed the proposal. However, a staffer in the office of Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)'by no means a supporter of Hagel's nomination bid'confirmed to ThinkProgress that there are no longer any Republicans who plan on walking out during tomorrow's meeting.

They'll leave the shenanigans to Sens. James Inhofe and Lindsey Graham, who are already planning ways to block Hagel and obstruct the Senate from doing what the Senate is supposed to do. Because, until Senate Democrats do something to end it, Republican obstructionism will always be the default.

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