Grandiosity and pure nastiness

Following the Wall Street Journal's particularly negative editorial on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) Tuesday, the New York Times and the Washington Post followed suit...

From the Times: "In just the first hour of his speech, Mr. Cruz said his fellow senators were no more sincere than professional wrestlers and that accepting the health law was like appeasing the Nazis. His own goal of tearing down ['Obamacare'], he said, was a dream on par with President John F. Kennedy’s promise to put a man on the moon. This combination of grandiosity and pure nastiness helps explain why the senator has become the least popular man in Washington."

And from the Post: "According to some conventional wisdom, even if Mr. Cruz loses [in his current attempt to defund Obamacare], he wins, gaining popularity among the GOP base and, hence, clout on the Hill. In that view, Mr. Boehner would be under pressure once again to use the spending bill for another symbolic attack on the health-care law. We hope, instead, that Mr. Boehner and a large majority of his party learn a different lesson: that Mr. Cruz’s extreme path is a road to ruin, for Republicans but, more important, for the country."

Cruz began a lengthy speech on the U.S. Senate floor close to 3 p.m. Tuesday in an effort to draw attention to his fight against funding Obamacare. The speech went well into Wednesday morning, though he will be forced to yield around noon.

@eScarry