Sorry, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), complain about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) all you want. This Tea Party darling isn’t looking to make friends.
Cruz spoke with ABC’s Jonathan Karl in his first on-camera interview since the President signed an 11th-hour budget deal Wednesday night. The Texas Senator, who spearheaded the movement to defund Obamacare, has come under intense scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats for his efforts, but he didn’t come to Washington to make friends.
“There’s an old saying that, ‘Politics, it ain’t beanbag,'” Cruz said. “And, you know, I’m not serving in office because I desperately needed 99 new friends in the U.S. Senate.”
Many in Congress have blamed Cruz for the rift between the Tea Party wing of the GOP and the old-guard members, with some like McCain and Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) taking to the airwaves to slam their colleague, especially as the government shutdown waned. But it doesn’t faze the Texas Senator, who said he is just doing what he was elected to do.
“You know what, there’s an inverse relationship. Given the choice between being reviled in Washington, D.C., and appreciated in Texas, or reviled in Texas and appreciated in Washington, I would take the former 100 out of 100 times. …
“I have a job that I was elected to do, and that is to represent 26 million Texans and the fight for them. And they are frustrated just like people all over this country.”
Check out Cruz’s interview below, courtesy of ABC. The full interview will air Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
