I'm lookin' out for Number 1.
It worked last time. First,
convince the House crazies of your rightness, polls be damned.
Cruz has invited House conservatives to meet in his Dirksen Building office while ratcheting up criticism of GOP leaders in recent days.
Cruz’s message is simple and a repeat of 2013’s: President Obama and the Democrats will deserve blame for a shutdown, not Republicans.
Second, antagonize John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, who basically look like bumbling idiots.
On Tuesday he accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) of capitulation after news broke they planned to move a spending bill stripped of language that would defund the family planning group, which has been engulfed in controversy since the release of undercover videos detailing its fetal tissue program.
“Republican leadership’s position has been, in effect, to surrender across the board,” he said in a fiery floor speech.
Cruz, who is running for president, has an ally in another GOP dopeful (not a typo), Rand Paul. He's also obsessed with defunding Planned Parenthood and told reporters he wouldn't support a "clean" short-term funding bill for the government.
But Cruz's main leverage point rests with the House crazy caucus. If they get behind his mission to blow up the government over women's health funding, Boehner might think twice about floating a "clean" funding bill in the House. Pushing the measure could mean he not only needs the Democrats to pass a stopgap funding bill but also to keep his gavel should the House crazies challenge his "leadership."