title:  Senate Republicans Diss Trump BADLY–They LOVE Tim Kaine And Aren’t Afraid To Say So
text: The GOP has, more or less, gotten into the habit of putting forth lukewarm defenses of Donald Trump and his many ahem problems, or just staying silent altogether. They re more vocal in their opposition to Hillary, however, her running mate, Tim Kaine, has Senate Republicans in an uproar   because they love him and believe they can actually work with him. Kaine is something of a throwback to a chummier era of Senate politics,  says Politico on this story. They mean that his ways of working are a throwback to a time before toxic, extremist Tea Party politics began eating the entire Republican Party from the inside out, like really nasty parasites that eventually kill their hosts. Senate Republicans are hoping that he ll use his relationships and ability to work with them as an asset should Hillary get elected.And their praise is pretty lavish, particularly for the opposing VP candidate at the height of a presidential election cycle. Politico spoke to a dozen GOP Senators about this. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who serves with Kaine on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: He understands the issues, he cares about having an outcome and I think he could be very effective with working with people here. Susan Collins (R-ME), who admittedly can be a bit more moderate than many of her colleagues, said: If we do end up having Hillary as our president   he will be a good influence as far as relationships with Congress   and getting away from the incivility that has marred the past decade. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) has made no secret of the fact that he can t vote for Trump, and he s said he won t vote for Hillary, either. However, he, too, sees Kaine as an asset to Hillary: I don t know anybody on the Republican side who has a bad thing to say about him. He doesn t go out of his way to go after people politically and he s all about policy. Flake also said: I m not going to concede the election. But if he s in that position then Hillary Clinton will be well-served. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) seems to like that Kaine is playing up Democratic policy proposals rather than attacking incumbent Republicans while stumping for them in battleground states: I haven t seen anything yet that he s done [on the campaign trail] that would damage his ability to work with Republicans. And Lindsey Graham (R-SC), said of Kaine awhile back: Tim would be a good steady hand for [Hillary]. He d be well received on our side of the aisle if he s an emissary from the president. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) both praised his bipartisanism. Hell, even the North Carolina Republican Party gave him an unqualified apology after mistaking a Blue Star Service pin, which he wears to honor his son on active duty, for the flag of Honduras and posting about it on Twitter:There are parts of the GOP that would have just quietly deleted that tweet and hoped the outrage would quickly die, lest they appear to actually (gasp!) respect a Democrat.It will likely be up to the Senate to try to pull the House in line should Hillary get elected. House conservatives, unsatisfied with the previous eleventy thousand investigations against Hillary, are talking about launching another one in a desperate and sorry attempt to find something on her that means they can unequivocally work against her, and thus, America, because reasons.With the strong possibility that Kaine can broker more bipartisan legislation and improve relations between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, though, then there s a slight possibility that the House may eventually fall in line. When the Senate sends bipartisan legislation over to the House that they won t even look at, they look like the sulky, peevish little kids who can t play nice that they are.Kaine could easily be the direct line to Senate Republicans that Hillary needs to actually get stuff done. And Senate Republicans are loving it.Featured image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images