WASHINGTON — Ted Cruz called in the doctor to knock down ObamaCare — Dr. Seuss, that is.
The Republican senator from Texas recited Seuss’ “Green Eggs and Ham” during a wide-ranging, 21- hour quasi-filibuster to blast the health-care law.
During his marathon speech, which ended Wednesday in the Senate, Cruz sang praises of White Castle hamburgers, quoted TV’s “Duck Dynasty” and referenced the World Wrestling Federation.
Cruz not only read “Green Eggs and Ham,” he supplied his family’s recipe for the dish.
“I will credit my father. He invented . . . green eggs and ham,” he said. “He did it two ways. The easy way was he would put green food coloring in . . . The food coloring is a little bit cheating. But if you take spinach and mix it into the eggs, the eggs turn green.”
Cruz said he was a “big fan” of White Castle, noting that the company had stopped expanding its business because of the extra cost imposed on it by ObamaCare.
“I like their little burgers,” Cruz declared.
He took a swipe at Congress, calling his austere workplace “a little bit like the World Wrestling Federation. It’s wrestling matches where . . . the outcome is prerigged.”
He cited the “Duck Dynasty” philosophy that “most things can be fixed with duct tape and extension cords.”
The reality shows motto “Faith, family and facial hair” also made it into the Congressional Record.
“If we continue doing this long enough, we may have facial hair on the floor of the Senate,” said Cruz, referring to the long beards of the stars of the reality show.
Later, Ashton Kutcher’s name echoed through the Senate chamber as Cruz praised a speech the actor gave at last month’s “Teen Choice Awards.”
“Ashton Kutcher … talked about the value of hard work,” said Cruz. “One of the things I remember he said was, ‘In my life, opportunity looks an awful lot like hard work.’”
In a bizarre digression, Cruz compared conservatives’ struggle to stop ObamaCare with fight between the rebel alliance and the empire in the “Star Wars” movies.
“Just like in the ‘Star Wars’ movies, the empire will strike back,” said Cruz.
“But at the end of the day, I think the rebel alliance, I think the people will prevail.”
He carried the analogy a step further, comparing fellow conservative Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to young Jedi hero Luke Skywalker.
Mimicking the breathless voice of Darth Vader, Cruz intoned: “Mike Lee, I am your father.”
At one point, Cruz went so far as to compare fighting ObamaCare to fighting Nazis.
“Look, we saw in Britain [Prime Minister Arthur] Neville Chamberlain, who told the British people: ‘Accept the Nazis. Yes, they’ll dominate the continent of Europe. But that’s not our problem. Let’s appease them. Why? Because it can’t be done. We can’t possibly stand against them,’” he said.
Cruz even had something to say about himself: “Twenty years from now if there is some obscure trivial pursuits question, I am confident I will be the answer.”