Ted Cruz Obamacare: Republican Senator from Texas Goes On 21-Hour Rant Against Health Care Law
Republican Senator Ted Cruz went on a mission on Tuesday: to "speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand."
In what seemed like a never-ending rant against Obamacare on Tuesday -- with references to Dr. Seuss's "Green Eggs and Ham" and Star Wars -- Cruz did exactly as he intended to do, going on for nearly a full day. Cruz allowed other conservative politicans to step in and take over for periods of time to allow him to rest. After taking his time, Cruz finally wrapped things up after 21 hours.
Cruz framed his argument around the idea that he believes he is fighting for the rights of Americans, which was incredibly ironic considering his homophobic stances and complete disregard for human rights.
Cruz said that this is "a fight to restore freedom to the people. This is a fight to get the Washington establishment, the empire, to listen to the people. And just like in the 'Star Wars' movies the empire will strike back. But at the end of the day I think the rebel alliance, I think the people will prevail."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized Cruz for a "waste of time" as the government braces for a possible partial shutdown by next week.
Cruz's marathon lecture did not affect the 1 p.m. procedural Senate vote.
Cruz pushed for a final vote to take place as early as Friday so that the media attention is not getting hogged up by the college football games on Saturday or the NFL games on Sunday.
While many laughed at the fact that Cruz went on for so long, his supporters flooded Twitter with the hashtag #StandWithCruz and it grew to the point where it became one of the most popular hash tags on Twitter.