“You don’t have to win every fight. You don’t have to fight every fight. But you do have to stand for something.”   — Ted Cruz

On Tuesday Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) suffered through a humbling set of events after speaking to his colleagues in the Senate. His fellow Republicans in the Senate joined with Democrats to stymie his efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. See, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is currently working hard to fund the government without openly attacking Planned Parenthood…which sure makes it seem like he’s working for the opposition. So, on Tuesday Cruz tried to force the issue by calling for a vote on the matter… it’s at this point when his colleagues joined together to shout him down, denying him a vote. (Only Mike Lee (R-UT) sided with Cruz in the effort.) What’s odd is that such a measure is usually granted without a second thought as it is seen as a courtesy that the Senators should lend each other.

Why would the Senate join together against Senator Cruz’s effort? Because it would put them all on record as either having voted for or having voted against even trying to defund Planned Parenthood… and they couldn’t have that stain on their record.

More and more, it is beginning to seem that there are very few people in Washington, D.C. who actually care about what the voters want.

It’s against that backdrop that Senator Cruz delivered an epic speech explaining what is really happening in Washington, D.C. and giving Americans the truth about why John Boehner (R-OH) was resigning as Speaker of the House.

Let’s start with Boehner:

“The speaker of the House, John Boehner, announced he was going to resign. And there was a lot of speculation in the media why the speaker of the House resigned. … I’m going to tell you why…

In this instance, there were too many ‘Republicans lead the Democrats’ than lead the Republican party. I believe if Speaker Boehner had done that … that he would have lost his speakership. A member of the House had introduced a motion to vacate the chair. Because House Republicans were fed up with their leader not leading.

So Speaker Boehner faced a conundrum. If he does what he and [Senate] Leader [Mitch] McConnell promised, he would have lost his job. And so what did he do? He announced that he is resigning as speaker and resigning as a member of Congress. That is unsurprising. But it also telegraphs the deal he just cut. It’s a deal to surrender and join with the Democrats. Notice he said he’s going to stay a month. He’s going to stay a month in order to join with the Democrats and fund Barack Obama’s priorities.”

Oh. Snap. His colleagues in Congress may not like him, but I LOVE Senator Cruz. It’s not just me either, if you poll grassroots conservatives what you’ll see is that Ted Cruz remains one of the most popular members of Congress. Isn’t that amazing? Congress is immensely unpopular and they hate Cruz. Cruz is very popular and he hates Congress…

Over at the Federalist, Ben Domenech offers a similar assessment to the one that Cruz gave.

From the Federalist:

Let’s be clear about one thing: John Boehner quit because he was going to get fired. It’s all fine and dandy to describe the Speaker as an “institutionalist” – a word we have not heard so frequently used since the Beltwaysplaining of Chief John Roberts – but if Boehner is, he was an institutionalist about to be rejected by the institution (or by the slimmest of chances, sustained as Speaker only by the good graces of the opposing party). Under Boehner’s leadership, the institutional standing of the Republican Congress has crumbled to record lows. He departs as the least popular Speaker in three decades. The idea that this approach was one designed to appeal to some higher purpose is simply laughable. One does not fall on a sword when your head is already in the guillotine.

But Cruz didn’t stop with John Boehner; he went on to tell the “real story of what is happening in Washington.”

See the full transcript at Conservative HQ:

“Mr. President, there is a reason the American people are fed up with Washington. There is a reason the American people are frustrated. The frustration is not simply mild or passing or ephemeral. It is volcanic. Over and over again, the American people go to the ballot box, over and over again, the American people rise up and say the direction we’re going doesn’t make sense. We want change. Over and over again, the American people win elections. In 2010, a tidal wave election. In 2014, a tidal wave election. And yet, nothing changes in Washington.  

Mr. President, I’d like to share with you and the American people the real story of what is happening in Washington. Why is it that our leaders cannot stop bankrupting this country, cannot stop the assault on our constitutional rights, cannot stop America’s retreat from leadership in the world? It’s a very simple dynamic when you have two sides allegedly in a political battle. One side that is relentlessly, unshakably committed to its principles, and the other side that reflexively surrenders at the outset. The outcome is fore other detained.  

I will give President Obama and the Senate Democrats credit. They believe in principles of big government. They believe in this relentless assault on our constitutional rights, and they are willing to crawl over broken glass with a knife between their teeth to fight for those principles. Unfortunately, leadership on my side of the aisle does not demonstrate the same commitment to principles…” 

Check out this awesome exit quote…

“You don’t have to win every fight. You don’t have to fight every fight. But you do have to stand for something.”   — Ted Cruz

We need more Ted Cruz’s in Washington and fewer John Boehner’s and Mitch McConnell’s. Take heart Senator Cruz, even if your colleagues in Congress don’t like you, millions of conservatives across the country sure do. We stand with you, Senator Cruz. We will join you in this fight and we will help you bear the burdens that come from waging a war for liberty, morality, justice and common sense. Please, keep fighting for us.

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