WASHINGTON – Republican leaders Sunday piled blame on Sen. Ted Cruz for the failed tactics that forced a government shutdown and damaged the GOP’s reputation.
“Have a little bit of self-restraint,” former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said in remarks aimed at Cruz (R-Texas) on ABC’s “This Week.”
“It was a mistake to focus on something that couldn’t be achieved. And that’s what that was. It was tactics,” he said.
He said that Cruz’s fight to defund ObamaCare, which caught on in the Republican-run House, only distracted Americans from the huge problems with the law.
“ObamaCare, flawed to its core, doesn’t work,” said Bush, a potential 2016 GOP presidential contender. “It might actually be a politically, a better approach to see the massive dysfunction. But we don’t even hear about that because we’ve stepped on that message.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that Cruz had given Obama a “political gift” in the shutdown.
“The tactical choice that he embraced hurt our party,” Graham said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“The tactic of defunding the government unless he repealed his signature issue was as poorly designed as ObamaCare itself, almost,” he added.
Cruz remained defiant.
“I don’t work for the party bosses in Washington. I work for the people of Texas and I fight for them,” Cruz said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Cruz is still greeted by enthusiastic crowds in Texas. His rebellious stand against ObamaCare and establishment Republicans also has made him a hero of conservatives and Tea Party members across the country.
“The reason people are frustrated all over the country is that far too many people get elected and they think they’re there to be part of the club,” he said.
He blamed fellow Senate Republicans for folding in the shutdown fight with Obama.
“Senate Republicans should have united and supported House Republicans,” said Cruz. “How would this have played differently if, when the House stood up and led, Senate Republicans had marched into battle side-by-side and said we are united and saying we should fund the government, but we should not fund ObamaCare.”
He also called for the resignation of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
“The program she implemented, Obamacare, is a disaster. It’s not working. It’s hurting people all across this country,” said Cruz.