Cruzin' along

By Mustang Bobby

Now that the House has been goaded by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) into threatening to shut down the government over Obamacare, he’s telling them that, well, when it gets to the Senate, it’s not going to happen. And now the Tea Partiers in the House who were left holding the bag arepissed.

“(Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so,” Cruz said in the statement.

“At that point, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American people. President Obama has already granted Obamacare exemptions to big corporations and Members of Congress; he should not threaten to shut down the government just to deny those same exemptions to hard-working American families.”

[...]

The reaction from House Republicans and senior GOP leadership aides to Cruz’s latest statement on the matter was swift and angry, both about Cruz’s lack of confidence in a vote and his urging of the House to “stand firm.”

“They said nothing is impossible if you fight hard enough, and the minute the House announces the vote, they give up the fight? It’s crazy,” one senior GOP leadership aide told CNN.

“They should walk the walk,” the aide said, predicting it would backfire on the conservative senators.

Another senior GOP leadership aide took a shot at Cruz declining to say whether he would filibuster the bill, telling CNN, “It is disappointing to see that Wendy Davis has more balls than Ted Cruz,” in reference to the state senate Democrat who filibustered an abortion bill in the Texas legislature over the summer.

So he basically got everyone all riled up to do what he told them, so they did it, and now he’s all “see ya later!” No wonder they feel like they got punk’d.

And yes, Wendy Davis does have more balls, metaphorically speaking.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)