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In a 45-minute speech delivered at an Iowa fund-raising dinner last Friday sans teleprompter and notes, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, said that Republicans were to blame for not holding the line against Democrats.
Cruz urged fellow Republicans at the Reagan Dinner to become part of the grassroots rebellion against the Washington establishment. In what felt very much like a tea party rally, Cruz slammed Obamacare, and the media, calling on his audience to get on his mailing list.
“I’m convinced we’re facing a new paradigm in politics,” Cruz told about 600 guests at the Iowa Events Center. “It is the rise of the grass roots … it has official Washington absolutely terrified.”
Cruz could be a potential runner in the race for president in 2016, defended his unsuccessful fight to withdraw funding for Obamacare, a fight that led to a more than two-week government shut-down. Observers believe that the futile fight left the GOP bleeding, and many I the Republican congressional leadership have said the move was a tactical faux pas.
“One of the things we accomplished in the fight over Obamacare is we elevated the national debate over what a disaster, what a train wreck, how much Obamacare is hurting millions of Americans across this country,” Cruz told his listeners.
