Tea Partier Ted Cruz Schools E.J. Dionne on Obama's Budget: 'It Got Zero Votes'

Ted Cruz, Texas's Tea Party candidate for Senate, gave a rather embarrassing education to the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday regarding President Obama's budget proposal.

When Dionne had the audacity to call it "a serious plan," Cruz marvelously replied, "It got zero votes. Not a Democrat in the Senate voted for it. Not a one" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

E.J. DIONNE, WASHINGTON POST: President Obama put a plan on the table that would balance the budget in twelve years, which is quicker than the Ryan budget. I'm a liberal. I didn't even agree with everything that was in that plan. But this notion that this president hasn't put down budget proposals. He tried to reach a deal with John Boehner and that deal fell through, but he was willing to put a lot on the table.

TED CRUZ, REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL CANDIDATE FROM TEXAS: How many votes did that plan get?

DIONNE: Well, that is a side issue.

A side issue? The fact that the President offered a budget that didn't get any votes is a side issue?

I doubt it would be a side issue if the President were a Republican with control of the Senate.

But I digress:

CRUZ: It got zero votes. Not a Democrat in the Senate voted for it. Not a one.

DIONNE: Yes, because the vote was put up there as a political matter. The fact is it was a serious plan and serious budgets get voted on.

CRUZ: It got zero votes in the Senate. That’s not a serious plan.

No, something that doesn't get a single vote is not a serious plan.

Dionne would fervently agree if Obama were a Republican.