For 2016, Cornyn successfully earns faint praise....

"Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things."
Romans 14:1

Recently, Heritage Action released their final grades for 2016; predictably, John Cornyn received the lowest score of any Texas Republican:

Considering the history, we had originally planned to not grade Cornyn on a curve; then we remembered something we said last February (following Scalia's death):

[I]f the GOP majority follows through on this one thing, a lot of the anger directed towards the party at the moment will subside.

The "one thing" to which we referred was not letting Obama appoint Scalia's replacement.  At the time, we thought the GOP would cave.  Amazingly...they didn't.

On the one hand, we're reminded of what a certain former Governor of Texas once said about "the soft bigotry of low expectations"; on the other hand, we can't take back what we said in February when someone takes a modest step in the right direction, prudence suggests you encourage them.

So...good deal: The GOP leadership in the United States Senate, which includes John Cornyn, kept their promise on the Scalia seat.  That is a good thing.  We'd like to see more of it.

That not to say that the missed opportunities of the past half decade haven't been disappointing or frustrating.  They certainly have.  But, for the moment, acknowledging and building upon the positive seems wise.

Looking towards 2017, we see no reason why John Cornyn can't receive a "70" from Heritage.  Truthfully any self-respecting Republican U.S. Senator from Texas should be north of "90."  But, baby steps and whatnot, a "70" for John Cornyn from Heritage would illustrate tangible progress.

Bottom Line: We're stuck with him for another four years, so we'll swallow our pride and give John Cornyn one cheer for 2016.  As it relates to the Scalia seat, expectations were legitimately exceeded.  Hip hip hooray.