Ted Cruz attacks Republican Party "squishes"

Cruz mocked members of his party who were "yelling" about his threat to filibuster gun control

Published April 29, 2013 6:59PM (EDT)

  (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
(AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, mocked members of his party as "squishes" for their outrage over his threat to filibuster gun control legislation, in the days leading up to the vote.

Cruz had popped by a FreedomWorks meeting in Texas on Friday, and was speaking about a letter he wrote with Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, announcing their plan to filibuster gun control legislation. The letter, Cruz said, "generated more heat" from other Republicans.“We’ve had probably five or six lunches with a bunch of Republican senators standing up and looking at Rand and Mike and me and yelling at the top of their lungs. I mean really upset,” Cruz said.

"They said, ‘Listen, before you did this, the politics of it were great. The Dems were the bad guys, the Republicans were the good guys. Now we all look like a bunch of squishes.’" Cruz continued. "Well, there is an alternative. You could just not be a bunch of squishes.”

Watch:


By Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com.

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