November 20, 2014

Senator Ted Cruz shot an infomercial with Megyn Kelly Wednesday night about the horrors of Obama's immigration stance and how they can shutdown the federal government. OK, it wasn't an infomercial, but it was Fox News so that's just as good as one.

Here's our pal Ellen Brody of Newshounds filling us in:

Senator Ted Cruz visited The Kelly File tonight where he got more than eight and a half minutes of friendly air time to both attack President Obama’s plan to take executive action on immigration and promote his latest government shutdown scheme that he plans to blame on Obama.

First, with the gravest of faces, Cruz concern-trolled President Obama’s upcoming decision.

“The president is behaving in an unprecedented way,” Cruz announced.

That is, if you don’t count the similar orders issued by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Not surprisingly, Kelly didn’t mention that. She sat there with a, “This is so interesting” expression as Cruz went forward with the smears:

There is not in recent times any parallel for a president, repudiated by the voters standing up and essentially telling the voters, “Go jump in a lake,” He’s gonna force his powers.

That must be quite different than when Ted Cruz orchestrated the last government shutdown in order to force a defunding of ObamaCare, not long after the voters had just re-elected President Obama. Either that, or Megyn Kelly just didn’t want to risk making him look bad by pointing out his disingenuousness and hypocrisy.

Instead, she giggled as Cruz joked about Democrats who support Obama as having been smoking pot. Finally, at 5 minutes into the discussion, Kelly asked what, specifically, Cruz wants to do in response to Obama’s likely executive action.

CRUZ: Step one: The new Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, should stand up and say, “If you disregard the Constitution, if you disregard the law, if you issue this executive amnesty, the new Congress, for the next two years will not confirm a single nomination – judicial or executive other than vital national security positions until you end this illegal amnesty.”

…Step number two is, we need to use the power of the purse, the most potent power Congress has. When we come back in January, with a new Congress, we need to systematically pass appropriations legislation funding the Department of Defense, funding the VA, funding one department after another after another and then, once the vital functions are funded, we need to pass appropriations with riders specifically limiting the power of the Congress and the power of the president to spend money on illegal amnesty.

Kelly finally thought of a challenge, albeit one that seemed to be looking out for the GOP. She said the president would never sign such a bill and that he’d then blame the Republicans for not funding veterans’ care.

Cruz said, “Whatever happens, you can rest certain the president is gonna jump up and down and scream, 'Shut down, shut down, shut down.' It’s just like a year ago, that is, he forced a shut down a year ago, he wants a shut down now.”

All Republicans are speaking gibberish when it comes to shutting down the government and are sounding like Louisiana's Howdy Doody governor Bobby Jindal.:

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL: Two things. I don't think the president should shut down the government to try to break the Constitution. The reality is this. I do think the--

CHUCK TODD: You think the president would be shutting down the government?

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL: Oh, absolutely.

CHUCK TODD: So you do want Republicans to fight him on this to the point that it could shut down the government?

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL: Absolute-- I don't think the president should shut down the government.

CHUCK TODD: But you're twisting my question.

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL: But wait, wait.

CHUCK TODD: That means you want that kind of showdown?

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