Coburn blames 'Cruz effect' for disappointment in Congress

[Formerly Once-Ler]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/coburn-blames-cruz-effect-for-disappointment-in-congress/article/2574329

Americans have little faith in Congress' ability to get anything done, and for that, people should thank lawmakers like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, according to former Sen. Tom Coburn.

"I call it the 'Cruz effect,'" the former Oklahoma senator said Thursday in an interview with Sirius XM host Pete Dominick. "Look, when you tell people you can accomplish something that you can't, for example, shutting down the government over the Affordable Care Act ..."

"When, in fact, you promise people in your speeches and your talk that we can do this ... we're going get rid of the Affordable Care Act, and all we have to do is shut down the government. Well, that's one thing to tell them that," Coburn said. "It's a whole other thing to be able to accomplish that, and build a coalition that once you shut it, that it doesn't get opened up 'till you win."

Cruz is one of several Republicans running for president. He currently polls behind former Hewlett-Packard CEO Cary Fiorina, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Donald Trump, according to RealClearPolitics.

"So what happens to that is, once you've told people that, and you've put your finger — 'everybody that doesn't believe exactly like I believe, you're not a patriot, you don't care about the country' — what you do is you create greater disappointment in the hinterlands, because you gave them a false hope, knowing that you couldn't accomplish it, but it was about yelling, and screaming, and waving the flag," Coburn said.

"And so what happens is, there becomes less confidence in the Congress and its ability to do its job," he added.

Coburn, whose specialty as a senator was dealing with government waste, retired from the Senate in 2014.

He left Congress' upper house with an 80 percent conservative rating from Heritage Action, 87 percent from the Club For Growth, 92 percent from the American Conservatives Union and a 71 percent rating from FreedomWorks.

Audio of RINOGOP Establishment hack Coburn at link

[sinkspur]

Coburn is, of course, right on target.

Ted Cruz thinks the solution to getting rid of rats is to burn down the barn. He thinks, through the sheer force of his pitiful will, he will force Obama to change his mind and sign a bill to overturn his signature his achievement.

I will never support Cruz because I think he's friggin' delusional.  He's not Ronald Reagan and never will be, no matter how much he thinks he is.