When Chris Wallace of Fox News Sunday asked Sen. Ted Cruz what his endgame was for defunding Obamacare, the Texas Senator when all deer in the headlights and said nothing.
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Transcript:
Wallace: Senator, I think it’s fair to say that you have ticked off a whole bunch of your fellow Republicans who feel that you have gotten them in this fight without an endgame, without a strategy. I want to put some of their criticisms, they’ve gone on the record on the screen. Congressman Tim Griffin wrote, ‘So far, Senate Republicans are good at getting Facebook likes and town halls, not much else. Do something.’ Republican congressman Pete King of New York calls you a fraud. ‘If he can deliver on this, fine. If he can’t, he should keep quiet from now on and we should listen to them,’ and Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said this, ‘I didn’t go to Harvard or Princeton,’ which you did, ‘but I can count.’ Republicans, especially in the House say that you are pushing them into a fight that you don’t know how to finish.
Cruz: (Silence)
Wallace: Senator?
Cruz: Well, look. There are lots of folks in Washington who choose to throw rocks, and I’m not going to reciprocate. I’m not going to do likewise. Listen, let me tell you about a broader problem. A broader problem is that we have got career politicians in both parties in Washington who aren’t listening to the American people. I spent the entire month of August traveling the country speaking to people, and the American people are hurting because Obamacare isn’t working.
I think we can take Sen. Cruz’s silence as confirmation that he has no plan to win and defund Obamacare. Cruz never answered the criticism that he has gotten them into this fight, and he has no plan to get them out. He doesn’t have a plan. Cruz never did have a plan. For Ted Cruz, this whole scheme is about giving him a soapbox that he can use to launch his 2016 presidential campaign.
Sen. Cruz retreat into campaign talking points about the career politicians in Washington is proof that his Canadian bacon is frying on this one. As Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal revealed, Cruz never intended to win this Obamacare fight. He knows he can’t win. For him, this is all about building a popular rebellion over Obamacare that he can use in 2016.
Ted Cruz is intentionally screwing over the Republican Party for his own political gain. He has gotten Republicans into a fight that they will not only lose, but it could also give Democrats back control of the House in 2014.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
