Fool's Mission Set to Unfold

Bloomberg reports Democrats Embrace the Ted Cruz Shutdown Strategy They Once Loathed

When Ted Cruz's strategy to defund the Affordable Care Act led to an epic government shutdown fight a dozen years ago, Democrats excoriated him as a villain. Now, they've adopted the same tactic, though with the opposite goal — preserving Affordable Care Act and other health-care subsidies.

Back then, the Texas Republican was the major force behind the failed effort to eliminate funding for the ACA, at one point giving a 21-hour speech that included a reading of "Green Eggs and Ham." House and Senate Republican leaders later confessed they thought the freshman firebrand's strategy was dumb, with no clear endgame, but they went along with it anyway. (Then-Speaker John Boehner, a fellow Republican, would later call Cruz "Lucifer in the flesh.")

The shutdown ended after 16 days when Republicans agreed to reopen the government — over Cruz's objections — without getting anything in return.

President Barack Obama then, like Donald Trump now, refused to negotiate to keep the government open. Meanwhile Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is faulting Republicans for the looming shutdown because GOP leaders aren't negotiating with him — the exact complaint Republicans had about Democrats 12 years ago.

While the tactics are the same, Schumer insisted Friday the fights themselves are very different — and that the public is on their side.

"They were taking something away. We're trying to restore something that they took away," he said. "It's a world of difference."