Chuck Todd excoriated Ted Cruz on Monday’s “Morning Joe” after the senator questioned the accuracy of a recent NBC News poll about the government shutdown.
The survey, which NBC pollsters said they were “shocked” by, showed Republicans with their worst ratings in the poll’s history, and blamed the GOP for the shutdown.
“Morning Joe” played footage of Cruz saying that the poll was “heavily weighted” with an “awful lot” of Democrats.
Todd didn’t mince words in his response, saying that a Republican “echo chamber” was distorting Cruz’s thinking.
“The problem is two-thirds of the country is thinking something else,” he said. “And that’s what you see in our poll. It wasn’t just Democrats, it was independents and it was the one half of the Republican Party that doesn’t associate itself with the Tea Party wing of the party.”
He called Cruz’s recent appearance with Sarah Palin “odd,” adding, “What planet are you living on here?!”
I have seen birds puff themselves up to make their opponents think they are mightier than in reality. That’s pretty natural. Cats do the same thing. These people have to know that they are a minority. They have to know that most Americans are just on a different sheet of music and don’t see things their way.
That would be Cruz and Palin–all feathers, no bulk.
Our national government has been shut down for two weeks for all but essential services. On Thursday, if the debt ceiling is not raised, we will go in to default. The default endangers our status in the world. Our military won’t get paid. Social Security checks wont be sent out. Medicare and Medicaid bills won’t get paid. Our nation’s debts wont be paid.
This kind of default has never happened before. The United States is seen as a reliable country with whom to do business. No more after the idiot squad has its way. Stock market and bond markets will go into free fall in all probability. We could go into another recession. Millions of Americans stand a chance of losing their investments and their retirement.
Those of us not in the echo chamber of unreality suffer from fear of the unknown. We have tried to be responsible and plan for the future, plan for our children, plan for our retirement. How the hell do you plan for something like this?
Cruz and Palin called for the President’s impeachment. Let’s impeach Cruz. We can’t impeach Palin, she is a quitter.
The tea party fiddles and puffs its feathers while Rome burns.
Charles Pierce in Esquire expresses my sentiments for sure. My father too was a WWII vet and my mother worked for the Dept. of the Army during the entire war.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/republicans-using-wwii-vets-for-political-agenda-101413
I harken back to Karl Rove on election night – and Dick Morris on Hannity (repeatedly) saying the same thing. They got a whooping and they still do not get it. The NBC poll was spot on in regards to the election.
My fear is that the tea party folks would rather see Rome burn than to try and come together and do something constructive. You can see it with our repeated fiscal crisis that Congress has manufactured – but still kicks the can down the road every few months. Even the plan under consideration right now kicks the can down the road. The R’s are always looking to kick it right before an election time (one year delay in Obamacare)
Cruz and Palin are like Gomez and Morticia, the Addams family. They represent the misfits, freaks and weirdos of the country.
Oh, the fear mongering!!
Wolverine, how can you be so casual? The only people I know who aren’t concerned about the default are street people who have nothing to lose.
Tough guy doesn’t cut it. You had better be a little fearful also. What’s going to happen if that govt. pension dries up? What if your kids want to buy a house an the interest rate has tripled? A default pretty much blows the underpinnings out of the housing recovery. What if you need to sell your house and move to more suitable accommodations?
I hope for your sake you don’t have to regret those words “oh the fear mongering.” Meanwhile, this blog will continue to address the absolutely irresponsible actions on the part of tea party republicans. I see them as the enemy as much as I see any enemy who wishes our country harm.
That’s OK. We see your ilk in exactly the same way.
Which makes me wonder why you would dirty your typing fingers coming here….
My ilk, whatever that is, has not made a conscious effort to destroy the economic underpinnings of this country. My ilk may vote for things you don’t like but they haven’t endangered the country. Ted Cruz and his cowardly sycophants in the house and senate are flying their political planes into buildings with the purpose of bringing down the economic stability of this nation.
“My ilk, whatever that is, has not made a conscious effort to destroy the economic underpinnings of this country.”
Well, except for no budgets, 1+ trillion dollar deficits and no restraint, demonizing the free markets, attempting to panic the markets over a “default myth,” and Obamacare……you’d be right.
Guys like Louie Gohmert, Paul Ryan and John Boehner are nit wits trying to appeal to the masses to further their political careers. Ten years ago they spent like Tammy Faye Baker. Now they pretend to be deficit hawks because that’s what they think their base wants.
This new group, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, these are guys who actually believe in the principles that they purport to believe, and they intend to act to implement these policies because they think they’re what’s best for the nation. They won’t be swayed by popular opinion. Ron Paul has been doing this for decades.
It sounds like at whatever the cost.