Frank Bruni, "The G.O.P.’s Nasty Newcomer": Cruz Had the Audacity to Vote Against Kerry?

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The G.O.P.’s Nasty Newcomer" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/ted-cruz-the-gops-nasty-newcomer.html), Frank Bruni complains about Senator Ted Cruz's obstreperous conduct:

"He sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and during its final meeting on Tuesday about Hagel’s nomination, he made such nefarious and hectoring insinuations about Hagel’s possible corruption by foreign influences that McCain, who’d gleefully raked Hagel over the coals himself, more or less told Cruz to cool it.

. . . .

ONLY three senators voted against Kerry’s confirmation as secretary of state. Cruz was among them."

Curiously, Bruni is making the same point found to be found in a Ruth Marcus opinion piece in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ruth-marcus-ted-cruz-makes-quite-an-entrance-to-senate/2013/02/14/451af24e-76f0-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html), i.e., Cruz has "been one of three senators to vote against confirming fellow Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as secretary of state."

And then there is also reference to Cruz's vote against Kerry in a lead online Times article entitled "Texas Senator Goes on Attack and Raises Bipartisan Hackles" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/opinion/sunday/ted-cruz-the-gops-nasty-newcomer.html):

"Besides suggesting that Mr. Hagel might have received compensation from foreign enemies, he has tangled with the mayor of Chicago, challenged the Senate’s third-ranking Democrat on national television, voted against virtually everything before him — including the confirmation of John Kerry as secretary of state."

Someone actually had the nerve to vote against John Kerry, who referred to mass murderer Bashar al-Assad as "my dear friend"?

Cruz is obviously doing something right.