Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) sat down with Bloomberg News’ Al Hunt the other day, who asked the Republican senator about the “nuclear option.” Alas, the message didn’t match the messenger (via Caitlin MacNeal).
HUNT: Will it complicate passing budgets or debt ceilings or anything?CRUZ: Of course it will. I mean, it will poison the atmosphere of the Senate.
I should note that I’ve only seen the transcript, and therefore have no idea whether the right-wing Texan was able to say this with a straight face.
Either way, let’s not forget that this is the same Ted Cruz who helped oversee his party’s government-shutdown strategy. Cruz has repeatedly drawn the ire of his own Republican colleagues who’ve been the targets of his extremist tactics. Cruz won’t endorse his own Senate allies. A “remarkable number” of lawmakers in both parties have come forward “to say that they think Cruz is kind of a jerk.”
He’s the guy who wants to talk about poisoning the atmosphere of the Senate? Maybe someone else can take the lead on defending institutional comity?
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."