Santorum Smacks Down Cruz: Shutdown Theater ‘Did More Harm’ Than Good

Remember the days when “The Village” (anyone with half a brain’s nickname for the DC establishment and their press lackeys) were telling us that the Republicans were the nation’s political “grown-ups”? Truth is, anyone who was actually paying attention knew that trope was about as genuine as that “Louis Vuitton” bag being hawked by some street vendor in the East Village – in fact, if there’s an apt metaphor for today’s GOP, it’s the epic food fight scene in the film classic “Animal House”. And look who just flung their Jell-o at Ted Cruz!

Former Pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum became the latest Republican to criticize Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) for his actions during the 16-day government shutdown, telling NBC’s Meet The Press that Cruz “did more harm” than good.

“I would say that in the end he did more harm,” Santorum said. “I think it was not his objective. I think his objective was a laudable one. I think he didn’t do a very good job in pointing it out. I mean, it’s one thing to have a goal and another thing to have a plan to get you to that goal, and he didn’t figure that out.”

Cruz has faced criticism from Republicans in and out of Congress, but he remains unfazed. “Who cares?” he said of the criticism during a speech in Texas last week.

Santorum is right: The Texas Senator’s crusade against funding the government unless President Obama’s health care law was defunded has unquestionably damaged the GOP. Just 32 percent of Americans approve of the Republican Party, according to a recent Washington Post poll, and Americans overwhelmingly laid the blame for the shutdown at the feet of Cruz and the GOP.

When a top player within the usually lockstep hard right wing of the GOP goes after a fellow traveler, you know the fun is just getting under way…

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.