>>> ted cruz is backing down. remember this ted cruz? >> we saw the house of representatives stand strong, listen to the people, and stand strong against obama care. sadly as you just noted, what we then saw was senate republicans not unite but be divided. if senate republicans had united and supported house republicans, supported the american people, we could have had a very different outcome. >> that was ted cruz talking two weeks ago. actually while congress was still voting to open the government, raise the debt ceiling, and yes, continue funding the affordable care act to. day politico reporting that ted cruz is backing down and promised his fellow republican senators he will stop attacking them. according to politico, ted cruz attended a closed door lunch meeting with senate republicans where he told them he wont engage in the senate conservative funds hardball tactics to defeat his colleagues. the freshman conservative told his colleagues he would not intervene in their 2014 primary fights or fund raise for the controversial outside group. the jim demint founded senate conservatives fund aligned itself with ted cruz leading up to the government shutdown. even putting him in one of their ads. >> we need congress to stand up and defund obama care now. >> ted cruz is not disassociating with the group entirely according to the dallas morning news. cruzs spokeswoman says he will continue to work with them on common conservative issues as they arise. joining me now, jonathan capeheart, an analyst, and josh barrow, politics editor for business insider. jonathan, that was quick. >> well, i mean -- the story points out that he promises not to campaign against them in their re, in their re-elections. but i, look, i believe firmly this is a trust but verify situation. with senator cruz. there its nos nothing stopping him from going to the floor or going out to the cameras and saying, well, you know, the senate is not doing what it need to do. you just, you do not spend as many months as he has spent in the senate, however lit theyll hatheyll -- however lit theyll have been in the senate. beating the hell out of the constitution and republican colleagues and over one lunch decide i will back off. leave you alone. >> we are going to fiend out, josh, whether this means simply not naming names anymore or just kind of as jonathan said, be able to go out and say, the senate isnt working, and our side of the senate isnt working well. >> well, expect he will go out and say that. the senate conservatives fund. mitch mcconnell declared war on it. they have been backing his oement opponent in the kentucky senate race. and how the senate conservatives fund is working to help democrats by undermining the republican majority in the senate. i think ted cruz through a number of things forcing republicans into the shutdown has angered a lot of his colleagues and helped raise his profile nationally but maybe made them too angry to serve ted cruzs purposes. this is not a surrender by ted cruz. i would call it strategic retreat. i think he need to rebuild relationships there. clearly ted cruzs power to fame and power within the party and his own presidential run in 2016 involves running against the rest of the senate caucus as not conservative enough. this is not the end of ted cruzs fight. he main be a little less noisy for the next few months. >> we were all kind of marveling at how he can do this. we have never seen anything like it. attack your own party in the senate. so wilt not surprise me itch he actually stops doing this. it is unprecedented behavior already. lets listen to something meek lee said yesterday that sound lick like he may be pulling back. >> however justified, frus raci -- frustration is not a platform, anger is not an jenn, outrage as a habit is not conservative, theyre gargoyles of the left. for us, optimism is not just a message. it is a principle. american conservatism at its core is about gratitude and qup racing and trust. and above all, hope. its -- it is also about inclusion. successful political movements are about ive dent tieing converts not haerratics. >> in the future we will leave your mike open during that kind of video so we can hear the laughter. you finished laughing. >> i fin,ed laughing. >> ready to comment. >> platitudes are us. is he talking about -- his and senator cruzs behavior to their own colleagues in the senate. or talking about the conservative movement as a hole. and their vision for the country. where they want the country to go. because if you look at what they have done, vis-a-vis obama care, where is the hope? where is the looking forward? where is the coming together, the, the, the tolerance that he was talking about? where are the ideas? where are the real idea? that are coming out of senator lee and senator cruz to make those platitudes he mentioned so, so well. make them a reality. >> so here is, tea party republican mike lee. he seem to now have gone from attacking republicans to attacking the tea party. how dare he say -- anger is not an agenda. how dare he attack the tea party like that. >> a really interesting speech from senator lee. the whole speech is worth a read. this part was platitudes. there are substantive approximately see ideas in the speech. some of which are good. some are bad idea. he does seem to be trying to reengage with creating a positive policy agenda for the republican party. rather than just attacking. whats weird about it. it is so different than what he has been doing with senator cruz for the last few months. we have been seeing news stories about after shut down was resolved. congress went home. ted cruz went home to a heros welcome. got a standing ovation. in utah, lee was not as the well received. utah like texas is a conservative state. >> poll numbers went underwater. >> poll numbers want down. mormon conservatism is different. not as interested in this kind of disorder and trying to fight the government. and break everything. so, i think, lee maybe findinging that that didnt sell so well with his home base. hasnt sold well with the republican caucus. he may set out to do something constructive. i am pretty happy. >> jonathan capehart, josh barrow. thank
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 05:04:34 +0000
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