Posted on 06/18/2014 7:47:50 AM PDT by SoConPubbie
“I don’t know Mr. King,” Cruz, a Texas Republican, said on CNN on Tuesday evening. “I’ve never met him. To be honest, I don’t think I had ever heard of him until he started getting on television attacking me.”
Before the senator’s comments, host Erin Burnett played a clip from last week of King calling Cruz “a fraud” and saying that the October 2013 government shutdown that he championed was ineffective.
(Also on POLITICO: Rep. King fears Cruz, Paul stronger)
In his appearance Tuesday night, Cruz elected not to push back, saying instead that there is too much bickering in Washington on both sides.
“He’s welcome to express his opinions, and he is entitled to them,” Cruz said of King. “I think there are far too many politicians in Washington in both parties that spend their time attacking each other rather than focusing on the substance.”
King has been a harsh critic of Cruz since the government shutdown, which the congressman thinks was harmful to the Republican Party and the country. Last week, after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s defeat in his congressional primary to tea party opponent Dave Brat, King said he feared that the result would embolden that wing of the party.
“We can’t allow Eric’s defeat last night to allow the Ted Cruzes and the Rand Pauls to take over the party, or their disciples to take over the party,” King said on MSNBC. “Because this is not conservatism to me. Shutting down the government is not being conservative.”
(Also on POLITICO: Cruz celebrates Cantor loss)
King has leveled a long list of attacks on Cruz over the past year. He has likened the senator to a “kamikaze pilot” and suggested that many people “think he’s crazy,” said that Cruz was “hijacking the party” and that “no one has done more to strengthen Obamacare” than the Texas senator.
There’s been lots of times that King was more than happy to stand up to Democrats. Don’t underestimate him.
Peter King is the consummate compromiser. Rumor has it he is in talks with the Democrats to change his name to Peter Queen.
The quote from King about “shutting down the gov’t” just shows what today’s GOPe is about. They don’t want to reduce the size of gov’t.
They just want to be in control of the ever-expanding power of that gov’t.
He'd rather attack a fellow republican than say a word against the regime.
What a useless collection of carbon.
The rest of us just wish we hadn’t.
I want to see “cut means cut”
Cut does NOT MEAN decreasing the ongoing increase.
Add me. Thx.
Nice.
King barely qualifies to be Court Jester.
Leni
Pete King is a just an irrelevant windbag political hack. He’s great for badmouthing fellow pubbies but nary a word against the Clintons, Schumer, Reid, Pelosi or Hussein Obama.
You’ve been added!
Relax Ted, you haven’t missed anything.
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