Americans for Tax Reform Leader Grover Norquist slammed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his fellow tea partiers who pushed a defund-Obamacare strategy in an interview with the National Review.
“It’d be a good idea if they stopped referring to other Republicans as Hitler appeasers because they opposed the strategy they put forward which failed,” Norquist told National Review’s Betsy Woodruff. “I think if you make a mistake as big as what they did, you owe your fellow senators and congressmen a big apology — and your constituents, as well, because nothing they did advanced the cause of repealing or dismantling Obamacare.”
Though Norquist didn’t name specific Republicans, he singled out the strategy championed by Cruz.
“They hurt the conservative movement, they hurt people’s health care, they hurt the country’s economic situation and they hurt the Republican party,” Norquist continued. “And a lot of congressmen and senators are not going to win because we spent three months chasing our own tail — or at least, parts of the conservative movement spent three months chasing their own tail.”
Norquist also told Woodruff that the strategy was similar to the failures in the most recent Iraq war.
“These are the people who said, ‘Plan: Step One, Invade Iraq. Step Two, It turns into Kansas,’” Norquist said. “Could I ask if there’s anything in between Step One and Step Two? ‘Oh ye of little faith.’”
