Ted Cruz: Green Eggs and Ham-handedness
Ted Cruz likes to talk. In fact, nobody likes to hear Ted Cruz talk more than Ted Cruz. The loquacious Republican Senator from Texas, though, appears to have talked himself completely out of favor — especially among members of his own party.
In case you’ve just returned from vacation in Siberia, Ted Cruz despises Obamacare. He repeatedly (and falsely) calls it a massive government takeover of health care. Now, he’s taken his hostility toward President Barack Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment too far.
Last week he staged what could easily be called a cheap publicity stunt on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Cruz claims he doesn’t like to waste the public’s money. He’s not so concerned about wasting the public’s time. And, oh, did he waste the public’s time.
He stood at the front of the Senate, and he babbled for 21 hours about the evils of Obamacare, as his way of stopping a bill he actually supported.
The government needs that bill to pass in order to prevent a government shutdown. But it also contains an amendment that would strip Obamacare of its funding.
Cruz is for that part of the bill. But he still protested it, because he knew Democrats would strip the defunding of Obamacare from it. He knew that long before he started his phony theatrics, but he continued full-steam (read: hot air) ahead with them anyway.
The Ted Cruz Show wasn’t about good governance. But it’ll sure help him raise campaign cash in what looks like a planned run for the presidency in 2016.
Although, if he does plan to mount any kind of presidential campaign, he’ll probably face stiff questions about his reading of Dr. Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” on the Senate floor, (He was reading a bedtime story to his children who were supposedly watching him at home) while trying to prevent Obamacare from being rolled out to the public.
After all, as a number of Democrats have pointed out, “Green Eggs and Ham” is a book about not knocking something before you try it. Maybe Cruz should have selected another children’s fable while trying to make a point that could lead to the shutdown of the whole U.S. government.
Far be it from me to make any suggestions, but I think his fellow Republican, Rep. Peter King of New York, would have liked to have picked “Pinocchio” for him.
Days after Cruz was sworn in as a senator last January, he openly came out against a spending package designed for Hurricane Sandy relief. He claimed that some of the money wouldn’t be used for helping the victims of the disaster.
That didn’t sit well with King, because much of that money was earmarked for his district. There’s been bad blood between them ever since.
So, when it was revealed that Cruz was planning to hold the government hostage so that he could make a highly public stand against Obamacare, King called him a “fraud, who will no longer have any influence in the Republican Party.”
Cruz embarked on his 21-hour tirade, anyway. And he, again, faced the wrath of members of his own party.
John McCain, who’d chided Cruz in the past, because he’d made false claims against President Obama’s (Republican) choice for Secretary of Defense — Chuck Hagel — had a few choice words for him shortly after he ended his latest shenanigans.
McCain took the floor of the Senate and reminded Cruz that Obamacare, despite his own objections to it, had been passed into law through normal congressional actions. He also mentioned that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that it was, indeed, constitutional. McCain also made the point that the 2012 presidential election was something of a referendum on Obamacare. And that he, too, had joined the campaign to support Mitt Romney, and with each speech he gave, he told audiences he wanted to “repeal and replace” it.
McCain said that Romney lost, and Obama and his health care plan won. He then concluded that “elections have consequences.” Something about which McCain knows a lot.
Edward A. Owens is a three time Emmy Award winner and 20 year veteran of television news. Email him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net