Seeing disaster and falling poll numbers, Sen. Ted Cruz is changing is story and claiming that he had nothing to do with the government shutdown that he caused.
Video:
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Transcript via ABC News:
KARL: People hated this shutdown, they hated this impasse and this was seen as the Ted Cruz shutdown. You more than any single individual were seen as the one that triggered this crisis to begin with.
CRUZ: Jon, I agree that a lot of D.C. politicians tried to call it that and a lot of the media did, too. But —
KARL: We’re talking about public opinion nationally.
CRUZ: But look, I — I — let me be very clear. I said throughout this, we shouldn’t have a shutdown. I don’t want a shutdown. I repeatedly voted to open the government.
KARL: But there never would have been a shutdown if you hadn’t gone with the strategy of saying we’re not even going to fund the government for six weeks —
(CROSSTALK)
CRUZ: And you know what?
KARL: — unless we can defund ObamaCare.
CRUZ: — you know what, John, there never would have been a shutdown if Harry Reid and President Obama hadn’t said we will not compromise, we will not negotiate, shut the government down.
KARL: How much do your colleagues just despise you right now on the floor? I mean, I hear some really strong language from your own fellow Republican senators.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZ.: I think it’s obvious that we are now seeing the end of this agonizing odyssey. It’s one of the more shameful chapters that I have seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Listen —
KARL: You made — you made some enemies in this battle.
CRUZ: There is an old saying that politics, it ain’t beanbag. And you know, I’m not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the U.S. Senate. Given the choice between being reviled in Washington, D.C., and appreciated in Texas, or reviled in Texas and appreciated in Washington, I would take the former 100 out of 100 times.
KARL: You did a radio interview where you compared Senate Republicans to an Air Force going over and bombing their own troops, bombing conservatives, bombing House conservatives.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CRUZ: And when you have got half the Senate Republican caucus firing their cannons at the House Republicans, it sabotages the effort.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CRUZ: The reason this deal, the lousy deal was reached is because, unfortunately, Senate Republicans made the choice not to support House Republicans.
In Ted Cruz’s mind the people who are to blame for the government shutdown are Harry Reid, Barack Obama, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, and Mitch McConnell. Cruz has never blamed himself, and the tea party House Republicans that he advised for causing the shutdown. Ted Cruz spent all of August and September traveling the country urging a government shutdown. Sen. Cruz made speeches on the Senate floor calling for a government shutdown. Cruz was caught holding multiple secret meetings with tea party House Republicans where he plotting the government shutdown strategy.
The government shutdown belongs to Ted Cruz, and the Republicans who caused and enabled it. Sen. Cruz is demonstrating sociopathic behavior. The Texas Senator has shown no sense of responsibility or conscience over the damage that he has done. His blame of everyone that isn’t Ted Cruz or his allies reeks of a dangerous personality.
Sen. Cruz doesn’t care that he put millions of people in economic jeopardy and cost the US economy $24 billion. He only seems concerned with personal enrichment and growing his anti-government cult. Like all sociopaths Ted Cruz is never going to take responsibility for his actions, and he isn’t going to stop trying to destroy the government as long as he that this behavior is his ticket to the White House.
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
