WASHINGTON -- Shortly after leaving the Senate floor following a 21-hour gab-fest in opposition to the president's health care law, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took some sharp jabs at his fellow Republicans for abandoning him in the fight.
In an interview with conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, the Texas Republican accused his fellow GOPers of being "beaten down" by past legislative battles and of secretly being fine with allowing Obamacare to remain the law of the land.
"The single biggest surprise about arriving to the Senate is the defeatist attitude here," Cruz said. Losing the battle to repeal the Affordable Care Act, he added, was "honestly the outcome that more than a few of [the Republicans] desire."
Intra-party criticisms are not new for Cruz, who has ticked off colleagues within his own party since arriving to Congress. His most recent attempt to defund Obamacare through a continuing resolution to fund the federal government is the most recent incident to draw the ire of members of his own party.
Cruz had just finished carrying out a faux filibuster to stop the CR when he called into Limbaugh's show. Between the end of his speech and that interview, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had gone to the Senate floor to admonish Cruz for comparing those who didn't want to have that particular fight to Nazi appeasers.
Limbaugh didn't ask Cruz to respond to McCain's remarks, but did ask him to comment on revelations from Fox News host Chris Wallace that Republicans had sent him unsolicited opposition research when word got out that Cruz would appear on his show. The senator told Limbaugh that he was the target of an alliance between Democrats "and many of the Republicans who are scared of this fight."
"They are scared it won't work and Republicans will get blamed," Cruz said. "They have been here for a long time and they are beaten down and they don't believe it can happen."
Though exhausted, Cruz stayed through two commercial breaks to talk to Limbaugh before saying that he was going to take a nap.
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