Soon after completing his 21-hour filibuster on the Senate floor calling for Congress to defund ObamaCare, Sen. Ted Cruz told Rush Limbaugh on the Wednesday edition of the conservative icon's radio talk show that he had “all but begged” reporters to devote half of what they wrote about his marathon speech to the substance of ObamaCare.
The Texas Republican said that instead of stating that the program “is the number-one job killer in the country, how millions of Americans are suffering, how it's forcing people into part-time work, how it's threatening millions of Americans' health insurance,” members of the press behaved like “Hollywood gossip columnists” and concentrated on “bickering” within the GOP.
"What is utterly maddening about all of these reporters is what do they write about all day long?" Cruz asked. "They write about the process. They write about the horse race. They write about this personality or the other."
I mean, how many times have you and I both read the words "Republican civil war" in the past week? 'Cause that's what they like to write about.
Limbaugh then referred to reporters and columnists who had accused Cruz of putting on an act of “theater” since the Democratically controlled Senate and president of the same party are almost certain to continue funding the Affordable Care Act.
The GOP senator responded that the issue is “not about anybody. It's not about us. It is about listening to the American people and stopping this disaster, this nightmare, this train wreck that is ObamaCare."
Cruz then described “the strategy on the other side” as twofold. “Number one: Confuse the voters” with procedural obfuscation and complexity “so that they don't understand what's going on.”
Second, he noted, is to “make it all about personalities” even though most Americans "could not care less about any politician in Washington."
People ask, why does Congress have, you know, 10, 12, 15 percent approval rating? It's because for years, Congress has ignored the will of the American people.
Limbaugh then stated that Cruz has been accused of ignoring Senate rules and behaving as an “outsider” who doesn't consult the leaders of the GOP before taking action.
The Texan responded that in all the times he and his fellow Republicans in the chamber have met, not one alternative to ObamaCare was proposed.
Also, “each of the hundred senators, we were elected by our constituents, and I've got an obligation not to my colleagues, but to 26 million Texans to fight for them,” he noted.
Cruz then explained that on Friday or Saturday, the Senate will vote whether to close discussion on the measure. If Sen. Majority Leader Henry Reid gets 60 votes to do that, the Nevada Democrat will then file one amendment that will eliminate the House's attempt to defund the program if passed with 51 votes.
The GOP senator then called the final tally a “show vote” so all 46 Republicans can go home to their districts and say: “Gosh, I voted to defund ObamaCare, and marvel of marvels, we lost.”
Along those lines, Cruz said that the single biggest surprise he found after arriving in the Senate is “the defeatist attitude here.”
I mean, we don't even talk about how to win a fight. Many of these are my friends, but they've been here a long time, and they're beaten down, and they don't believe we can win."
However, “the only reason we got to where we are is because the American people have risen up in incredible numbers,” he stated. “That is why the House voted last week to defund ObamaCare.”
But Cruz said reaching their ultimate goal will be difficult.
Unfortunately, there's an alliance between the Democrats, who certainly don't want to discuss the merits of ObamaCare because it is such an abysmal failure, and many of the Republicans who are scared of this fight. I mean, they're scared that it won't work and that Republicans will get blamed.
The Texas senator concluded the interview by encouraging the radio host and his listeners to sign up at the DontFundIt.com website, then “light up the phones to your senators all this week.”
Earlier in the program, Limbaugh responded to criticism of Ted Cruz “from his own party; the attempt to ruin him and mock him in his own party and from the so-called conservative media,” including himself and the Fox News Channel.
Cruz “doesn't need any advisers here,” the radio host stated. “He doesn't need any pressure. The man is not a coward. Ted Cruz isn't afraid of anybody.”
It's a man doing what he was elected to do, fighting for limited government, fighting for individual freedom and liberty, rolling back the biggest assault on individual freedom in our lifetimes outside the Soviet Union and foreign enemies -- and doing that, fighting for freedom, is said to be detrimental to the Republican Party, which used to be known as the party of limited government.
“Anyway, Cruz won't have any of it,” Limbaugh declared. “He's not talked out of it. He's not talked down from it. He's not intimidated.”
