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Senator Ted Cruz continues to endear himself to his fellow Republicans, saying he doesn't trust either party on the budget. His remarks were particulary pointed towards John McCain as well.

Text via Raw Story:

“Madame President,” Cruz said to Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who was presiding over the Senate session, “the senior senator from Arizona urged this body to trust the Republicans. Let me be clear, I don’t trust the Republicans.”

“And I don’t trust the Democrats,” he continued after a beat. “And I think a whole lot of Americans likewise don’t trust the Republicans and the Democrats because it is leadership in both parties that has gotten us into this mess.”

Considering that Cruz is expected to run in 2016 for his party's nomination one wonders how he'll get any support, beyond the right wing fringe. He certainly won't win any popularity contests among his peers, but that's not really the point with someone like Cruz.

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The Daily Show's Jon Stewart took his audience through the good, the bad and the crazy that was the NRA's 2013 National Convention over the weekend. After pointing out that it looked a whole lot like a recycled CPAC convention with the same lineup of guests complaining about the same set of grievances, Stewart noted that they did eventually get around to the fearmongering and guns.

After showing some of Wayne LaPierre's "simple message" about how the only one that can stop a "bad guy with a gun" is a "good guy with a gun," Stewart pointed out that the message wasn't quite so simple at the convention this year, since the lot of them didn't seem to know just who the bad guys or good guys are, or what the definition of democracy and tyranny are for that matter.

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Democratic strategist James Carville on Sunday praised tea party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as "the most talented and fearless Republican politician" in the last 30 years.

In a panel discussion on Sunday, ABC News host George Stephanopoulos noted that recent news reports indicated that Cruz had been examining a possible run for president in 2016.

"The people love Ted Cruz because he's taking on his own party, his own leadership, he's taking on the other party," former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) opined. "He's trying to rock the boat to get us to stop moving towards this cliff that we're headed for as a country. So I've been in about 25 cities in the last few months, all you have to do is mention Ted Cruz and people get on their feet."

"I think he is the most talented and fearless Republican politician I've seen the last 30 years," Carville agreed. "I further think that he's going to run for president and he's going to create something. I'm not sitting here saying that he's going to win. And I think Sen. DeMint is right. I've listened to excerpts of his speech in South Carolina, he touches every button, and this guy has no fear. He just keeps ploughing ahead, and he is going to be something to watch."

"And a lot of Republicans feel this way," he continued. "You hear this a lot, 'If we only got someone who is articulate and was for what we were for, we would win elections. And we get these John McCains and these Mitt Romneys these squishy guys that can't do anything.' Well, there's one thing this guy is not: He ain't squishy, not in the least."

"We're anti-squishy men," Republican strategist Mary Matalin, who is married to Carville, volunteered. "We like really hard men."

(h/t: Mediaite)

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Jon Stewart did his best to make a mockery of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for being brazen enough to consider a presidential run in 2016, given the fact that he's not exactly popular with most of the country, or even within his own party, with his penchant to stick his finger in the eye of his fellow Republicans if it means he's elevating his own profile.

After going through a series of video clips and a long list of why most Americans should never take this man seriously, Stewart brought up the one other item that might prove problematic for Cruz should he decide to run for president -- and that's the fact that he was born in Canada. He was however, ready to put "the Donald" on the case since he's already been so helpful with investing President Obama's birth certificate.

I had to wonder after watching the clip above from the Daily Show if one of Stewart's staffers read this post on Cruz: 5 Reasons Ted Cruz Would Be A Democrat’s Dream 2016 GOP Nominee:

In a move that only surprised people who assume there’s some limit to the ego of Ted Cruz (R-TX), the freshman senator from Texas has let it be known that he is considering running for president in 2016.

“If you don’t think this is real, then you’re not paying attention,” says a Republican insider. “Cruz already has grassroots on his side, and in this climate, that’s all he may need.”

“There’s not a lot of hesitation there,” adds a Cruz donor who has known the Texan for decades. “He’s fearless.”

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The title is from Washington Post conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin yesterday, who took freshman Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) to task for mocking his fellow Republican senators in public over the weekend. Rubin's, and this morning Joe Scarborough's admonishments notwithstanding, it's hard to see Ted Cruz doing anything other than what he has been doing since he got elected to the senate, which is basically being a royal pain in the ass for everyone else. Certainly calling other Republicans "squishes" won't endear him to anyone.

Here is part of what Rubin wrote:

There is being principled, and then there is being a jerk. Putting down your colleagues to boost your own street cred with the base falls into the latter category.
...
Cruz’s actions suggest an immaturity and lack of sophistication about conservative governance. He might want to apologize to his colleagues for betraying their confidence and sit down and think what it is he wants to do in the Senate. Obstruction is easy; governance is hard. And if the answer is that only hackneyed gestures (e.g. push for repealing Obamacare with a Dem Senate majority, but offer no alternative) that interest him, then the people of Texas are being shortchanged. Worse, he’s doing nothing to suggest he’s a man of stature and future leader in the party.

And here are Cruz's full comments, upped to YouTube by FreedomWorks.

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who calls himself a "proud wacko bird," told CBS News that President Barack Obama was plotting to make immigration reform fail so that Democrats could campaign on it in 2014 and 2016.

In an interview that aired on Wednesday, Cruz explained to CBS reporter Jan Crawford that Obama was playing a political game on Republicans by pushing a path to citizenship as a part of comprehensive immigration reform.

"President Obama does not want an immigration bill to pass," he stated confidently. "I think the president wants to campaign on immigration reform in 2014 and 2016. And I think the reason the White House is insisting on a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally is because the White House knows that insisting on that is very likely to scuttle the bill."

Crawford pressed Cruz one what he would do with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who were already living in the United States.

"I think there could probably could be a compromise on that if a path to citizenship was taken off the table," he insisted.

Earlier this year, fellow Republican Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), one of eight senators helping to craft the immigration reform proposal, called Cruz a "wacko bird" for filibustering the nomination of CIA Director John Brennan over the administration's use of drones.

"If standing for liberty and standing for the Constitution makes you a wacko bird then I am a very, very proud wacko bird," Cruz quipped to Crawford.

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At an event for bloggers at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday night, tea party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-SC) toasted the late conservative activist Andrew Breitbart as a "great and fearless leader."

Following a confrontation with Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) over guns at a Senate Judiciary Committee, Cruz met up with conservative bloggers at the 4th annual Blog Bash, which bills itself as "the largest gathering of right-of-center bloggers."

"Let me tell you, the men and women in this room, you represent power and you represent democracy," Cruz told the crowd. "Let me tell you, each of you, you scare the hell out of Washington... Y'all are on front lines of taking this country back."

The Texas Republican ended his pep talk by holding up a beer in Breitbart's memory.

"I want to collectively remember our friend. And a toast to Andrew Breitbart," he said, turning up the bottle. "A great and fearless leader, and we all carry on with his unshakable, fearless spirit to speak the truth to power. And the more they quiver, the better job we're doing. God bless."

Cruz' speech sent the conservative blog Weasel Zippers into a state of giddiness.

"Must stop swooning… must stop swooning… I’m trying as hard as I can," blogger Zip wrote.

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is calling on Republicans to court "the 47 percent who are dependant on government," a false statistic that may have been one of the reasons former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election.

Speaking to The Shark Tank's Javier Manjarres at the Cuba-Democracy PAC luncheon on Saturday, Cruz seemed to take the wrong lesson from secretly recorded video of Romney telling wealthy donors that he wasn't worry about the "47 percent who are with him [President Barack Obama], who are dependent upon government."

"I think the reason why Republicans did so poorly in this last election was actually not primarily immigration," Cruz explained in video posted on Sunday. "I think it was two words: 47 percent. And by that I don't mean that unfortunate comment. I think Mitt Romney is a good man and a decent man who ran a very hard campaign."

"What I mean is the narrative of the last election," he continued. "The 47 percent who are dependant on government, we don't have to worry about them."

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Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham -- who once accused opponents of the Iraq invasion of trying to "subvert America" -- is now blasting the The Wall Street Journal for beating the "war drums" because the editorial board expressed support for President Barack Obama's use of drones.

Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday asked Ingraham what she thought of the split within the Republican Party after Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) criticized Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) filibuster of CIA Director John Brennan over speculation that President Barack Obama might target citizens inside U.S. borders with drone strikes.

"John McCain, Lindsey Graham and The Wall Street Journal editorial board, extremely dismissive of Rand Paul," Ingraham pointed out. "Wall Street Journal said, 'Calm down;' said, 'You don't have to do more than fire up impressionable libertarians in their college dorms.'"

"I thought to myself, when is the last time a Republican managed to capture the imagination of young people, some people on the left, Mitch McConnell, John Thune, John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio?" she added. "There was a wide range of Republicans and people on the left who said, 'You know something? I think the attorney general should be able to answer a simple question [about the use of drones] with an unequivocal yes or no.' He couldn't do that, and Rand Paul served an enormously important function during that filibuster. He wasn't waving his hands and ranting and raving, contrary to what the Journal condescendingly said."

Liberal contributor Juan Williams argued that the targeted killing policy needed to have transparency and judicial review, but Paul was "grand standing" with his filibuster.

"But the fact is that no U.S. citizen has ever been targeted or killed by a drone on U.S. soil," Williams explained. "And secondly, the Constitution gives the president authority to go after a U.S. citizen if that U.S. citizen is somehow involved in colluding with an enemy of the United States."

"I just want to say that I love the fact that we have the hawk, Juan Williams, and the dove, Laura Ingraham," Wallace snarked.

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) says that President Barack Obama "is the most radical president we've ever seen," but Republicans who failed to stick to conservative principles are also to blame for the nation's problems.

In an interview that aired Wednesday on Pat Robertson's 700 Club, CBN's David Brody told Cruz that the media had dubbed him "the Republican Barack Obama" and a "GOP rock star."

"I try to pay very little attention to the media," Cruz insisted. "It is, as you know, a fickle creature."

Instead, Brody said Cruz was focused on creating a "new Republican Party."

"I think President Obama is the most radical president we've ever seen, but I think an awful lot of Republicans failed to stand for principle and contributed to getting us into this mess," the senator explained.

During an appearance at a weapons manufacturer in Texas on Tuesday, Cruz accused both Democrats and Republicans of trying to "silence" him for using McCarthyism to smear Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel with suggestions that the former Nebraska senator had taken $200,000 from North Korea.

"Washington has a long tradition of trying to hurl insults to silence those who they don't like what they're saying," Cruz told the crowd.

"A lot of media attention has been focused on the attacks leveled on me and I would encourage all of you if you want to write stories on that great, knock yourself out, but I would ask for every ten stories you write, attacking me, perhaps write one story on the substance of Chuck Hagel's record."

Salon's Joan Walsh on Wednesday observed that Cruz was just the latest tea party lawmaker to use former Sen. Joe McCarthy's tactics while playing the victim.

"Playing the persecuted, he challenged reporters to at least investigate Hagel a little bit while they’re attacking him," Walsh wrote. "That’s good advice. Because if they do, they’ll find no substance to Cruz’s charges in Hagel’s 'record,' but a lot of substance to charges that he’s a 21stcentury Joe McCarthy in Cruz’s."

(h/t: The Huffington Post)