Much like a first-year college student, freshman Republican Sen. Ted Cruz tries too hard, talks too much and is hated by upperclassmen.
On Wednesday, John McCain criticized Cruz’s dogged efforts to filibuster a bill that would stop funding for health care reform implementation — even though he and other Republicans pushed the House to pass a bill that would defund the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.
According to a transcription on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow’s blog, McCain said, “In the 2012 election, ‘Obamacare,’ as it’s called ... was a subject that was a major issue in the campaign. I campaigned all over America for two months, everywhere I could, and in every single campaign rally I said, ‘And we have to repeal and replace Obamacare.’”
“Well, the people spoke,” he said. “They spoke, much to my dismay, but they spoke and they re-elected the president of the United States.”
McCain’s argument — that the majority of American people have decided that Obamacare is a worthwhile endeavor — differs from many other conservatives’ arguments. As the House begins voting on government funding, a number of voices has contributed to the anti-Cruz conversation.
Many conservatives point to the obvious: Cruz is a moron, and his attempt to stop a bill that his own party supports is counterproductive. On Tuesday, he took to the Senate floor and said he’d speak as long as he could stand, even if that would lead to a government shutdown — which would hurt the GOP.
Dave Freddoso, a reporter for Conservative Intelligence Briefing, published an analysis Sunday of Cruz’s flawed health care act defunding plan. Cruz said the GOP must vote to fund the government incrementally, focusing on the military and “simply omit funding for Obamacare,” Freddoso said.
“Unfortunately, he’s glossing over a major technical detail that sinks the whole thing: The funding for Obamacare does not depend on the government spending bill (the ‘continuing resolution’) that Cruz has now announced he will block from getting a vote on the Senate floor,” Freddoso wrote. “Obamacare gets funded whether that bill passes or not. So there’s no such thing as funding the rest of the government and ‘leaving out’ funding for Obamacare.”
And what Cruz is doing isn’t even a filibuster, according to The Atlantic. Twitter dubbed it a “fauxlibuster” because the vote to move forward with government-funding legislation began Wednesday, regardless of Cruz’s performance.
Just like a college freshman who took a few too many bong rips at a frat party, Cruz can’t stop running his mouth about his misguided and uninformed political beliefs. As voting for government-funding legislation began this week, at least Democrats and Republicans can agree on one thing: Cruz needs to just shut up.
A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 9/26/2013 under the headline "Cruz-in’ for bruisin’: Even Republicans are sick of the senator"
