Posted on 09/26/2015 11:01:59 AM PDT by Isara
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a persistent thorn in the side of Republican congressional leadership, basked in the news Friday that House Speaker John Boehner was resigning.
As Cruz spoke at an annual meeting of social conservatives in Washington, the speaker was at the Capitol, making official what had surfaced earlier Friday: that he was stepping down at the end of next month amid GOP infighting on the Hill.
By the time Cruz took the stage at the Family Research Council's Value Voters Summit, he barely had to mention the Ohio Republican's name before drawing loud applause.
“You want to know how much you terrify Washington?" Cruz asked the crowd. "Yesterday John Boehner was speaker of the House."
"Y'all come to town and somehow that changes. My only request is: Can you come more often?" Cruz added, turning offstage to Family Research Council head Tony Perkins and suggesting weekly meetings of the group.
Speaking with reporters after the speech, Cruz warned Boehner against surrendering to Democrats before leaving Congress.
"I will say the early reports are discouraging," Cruz said, according to video from the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge. "If it is correct that the speaker, before he resigns, has cut a deal with Nancy Pelosi to fund the Obama administration for the rest of its tenure, to fund Obamacare, to fund executive amnesty, to fund Planned Parenthood, to fund implementation of this Iran deal, and then presumably to land a cushy K Street job after joining with the Democrats to implement all of President Obama’s priorities — that is not the behavior one would expect of the Republican speaker of the House."
Formally announcing his resignation later Friday, Boehner rebuffed the idea he would capitulate on his way out. "I'm going to make the same decisions I would've made" before deciding to step down, he told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.
While Cruz has avoided direct attacks on Boehner, the senator has a record of prodding House Republicans into confrontations with their leaders. In private, the speaker has reportedly done little to hide his disdain for Cruz, calling the senator a "jackass" at an August fundraiser.
At the Value Voters Summit, U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., introduced Cruz by tying Boehner's resignation to the senator's arrival in Washington three years ago.
"The good news is we're going to get new leadership in the House of Representatives, and I want to share with you why that's happening," said Bridenstine, who has endorsed Cruz for president. "It's happening because there was a newly elected senator who showed up and he started articulating principles that were consistent with the Republican platform and he started exposing the fact that Republicans over and over again were continuing to fund things with [continuing resolutions] that were antithetical to the beliefs of the people in this very room."
Cruz went on to deliver a more boisterous stump speech than usual, opening with new jokes about Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama. He cracked that with Chinese President Xi Jinping in D.C. to see Obama, the media was clamoring to cover the "historic meeting of the world's most powerful communist — and the president of China." On Clinton, Cruz continued to poke fun at the ethical cloud hanging over her campaign and Democratic disagreements about how many primary debates to have.
"You know, in a few months, we may see the first presidential debate held at Leavenworth," Cruz said, referring to the Kansas prison. "You know, if they can project a rainbow on the White House, maybe they can put bars on the windows."
It’s the grass roots. If Trump wasn’t in the race then someone like Carson or Cruz would be getting his support. Trump hasn’t exactly been out there in his speeches calling for the government to shut down over Planned Parenthood. It’s the very fact that Cruz put his money where his mouth was and forced the shutdown over Obamacare that the GOPe takes the conservative wing seriously.
Yes, that’s why the GOPe is taking the threat of the shutdown over Planned Parenthood seriously and also why the conservatives are willing to have the fight. Cruz is a leader and they are following his lead.
The electorate is of course a factor because the GOPe knows they are behind the conservatives in this fight. But with Trump out of the picture, that electorate wouldn’t be going to Bush, it would be going to a non-establishment candidate. The electorate would be making their voices heard one way or the other.
For every tiny nitpick of a Cruz vote you can make, we can point to Trump’s long history of supporting liberal policies and funding Democrat candidates. Somehow I doubt you’d give Cruz a pass if he had donated money to Pelosi.
Trump gave money across the board, he was not and is not a politician. No, I don’t like it but I accept it is the price of doing business in today’s political environment. Would Trump have even been allowed to play if he did not play by the rules of the power brokers, I think not. He worked within the existing system, he did not make the rules. But he beat the hell out of them and became a billionaire. When was the last time conservatives had a win of any kind? All the government shutdowns and threats of shutdowns have produced nothing but more losses. Sure, this is due mostly to the gope leadership. But Cruz is part of that gope ledership as evidenced by his votes for TPA and the corker bill. Both of these issues are directly in contradiction to everything Cruz says he stands for. And yet when push came to shove, Cruz voted the way the gope told him to. These are not nitpickey little things, these have the real probability of destroying us as well as other countries. What will happen when he is the president and the gope leans on him?
Cruz did not vote the way the GOPe told him to. He had his own reasons for his votes. And he did not vote for the final TPA.
Tell the GOPe leadership that Cruz is part of them. That would give them a good laugh.
Boehner’s resignation is a result of Cruz’ shutdown on Obamacare. That’s a win. If Cruz never gave the GOPe a real fight, Boehner would simply not be resigning now.
These ratings are based on deeds, not words.
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More at Conservative Review: https://www.conservativereview.com/2016-presidential-candidates
he needs to come out now and announce who he supports for the new leader.
Ted Cruz........Gotta rid the Senate of Mitch McConnell on Monday!!!
Fantastic. Boner’s resignation is a victory for Cruz.
This needs to stop with trumps pen and a phone!!
He needs to Build the wall
Yes it does.
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