Texas Sen. Ted Cruz slammed Republican leadership on Monday for slavishly serving the interests of major corporations — and worse, leading attacks from the Left on its conservative grassroots base.
The Democrats are “relentless” in pursuing their principles, Cruz said, which include ever-increasing government spending and unlimited abortion rights. They’re “willing to crawl over broken glass with a knife between their teeth to fight for their principles,” Cruz said.
Republican leadership “reflexively surrenders,” Cruz said. “President Obama simply has to utter the word shutdown and Republican leadership runs for the hills.”
Cruz explained three types of votes take place in the Senate: “show votes,” a limp-wristed attempt to placate voters by staging a pre-ordained surrender to Democrats; votes that simply grow government; “must-pass” votes that include continuing resolutions, appropriations bills, and debt ceiling raises.
The Texas senator compared GOP leadership to an NFL coach that declares “we forfeit” at every single coin toss. The “clean” continuing resolution rubberstamps Obama’s hard-left agenda.
“It funds 100 percent of Obama’s agenda, executive amnesty, Obamacare, the Iran nuclear deal. It is essentially a blank check to Barack Obama,” Cruz said.
“How is it that Speaker Boehner can promise there would never be a shutdown? Because I believe Speaker Boehner has cut a deal with Nancy Pelosi,” Cruz said. He believes Boehner plans to cling to his Speakership for another month in order to ram through a spending deal which will continue to fund industrial baby body parts seller Planned Parenthood, thereby avoiding a government shutdown.
Republican leadership told voters they needed a majority in the House of Representatives in 2010, and a majority in the Senate in 2014 in order to effectively oppose Obama. Voters delivered in “tidal wave” elections, Cruz said. But now, nine months after the November election in which Republicans gained nine Senate seats, voters ask Cruz in town halls: “What exactly have those Republican majorities accomplished?” The spontaneous response to their own question is “absolutely nothing.”
But Cruz said it’s far worse than that. “It would have been better if the Republican majorities did ‘absolutely nothing,'” he said, but they took the lead in imposing the cromnibus, Obamacare, executive amnesty, continued funding of Planned Parenthood, and confirming Loretta Lynch as attorney general — even after she promised to act as lawlessly as Eric Holder and to never oppose Obama.
“We keep winning elections but the people we put in office don’t do what they said they’re going to do,” Cruz said. GOP leadership is “quite competent and willing to fight. The question is what they’re fighting for.”
A list of major corporations’ priorities would be identical to that of the GOP leadership’s, Cruz said. Voters’ are far, far down on the list. And defunding Planned Parenthood isn’t among “the priorities of K Street,” Cruz added.
The billionaires who fund Democrats “don’t despise their base,” Cruz said, unlike top GOP donors. “They don’t despise the radical gay rights or radical environmental movement.”
“A very large percentage of top donors actively despise our base… who voted you and me into office,” Cruz continued. He added he’s talked with many New York Republican donors who ask three questions: Do you support same-sex marriage? Are you pro-choice? Pro-amnesty? “The people writing the checks agree with the Democrats,” Cruz said, and look down on the Republican base as “hicks and rubes.”
“Which is why the Republican leadership likes show votes,” Cruz said. But now, “voters understand difference between show votes and real votes.”
A restless base has sparked scorn and fear in the GOP establishment.
“Notice how much energy Majority Leader McConnell devotes to attacking conservatives? Notice how much energy Speaker Boehner devotes to attacking conservatives?” Cruz said. Boehner denounced Cruz as one of the GOP’s “false prophets” and a “jackass” on Sunday’s Face The Nation. He’s repeatedly and publicly mocked the same Tea Party voters who helped elect him and significant Republican majorities. His described his attitude towards dealing with conservatives as: “Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become prisoners, all right?”
Boehner is free to insult whomever he likes, Cruz said. But, he asked, “Where is that level of venom and animosity to President Obama and the Democrats? It’s Republican leadership that leads the onslaught attacking conservatives.”
Breitbart News has dubbed the season of Washington Kabuki as “Failure Theater” during Boehner’s embarrassing tenure as Speaker, during which he fought for the interests of the Chamber of Commerce and liberal GOP donors.
Email Katie at kmchugh@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.