the best and the worst of ted cruz. here's number three from ted cruz. in july, he made an impassioned case at the western reserve -- western conservative summit in denver. the conservatives had to block the president's health care law at all costs, because of all things people might like it. let's listen. >> on january 1, the exchanges kick in. and the subsidies kick in. once those kick in, it's going to prove almost impossible to undo obama care. the administration's plan is very simple. get everyone addicted to the sugar, so that obama care remains a permanent feature of our society. >> david, this is the strangest acknowledgment. he is saying it might work. people might really like it, so make sure we screw it up before it gets to them. >> what he is saying is, they might like being ensuinsured. we have to stop this. but there is a big at your picture, too. one reason they were so desperate to stop obama care, when we fight about obama care, what we're fighting about is whether the u.s. government has a role in social policy and making things better

and that's ted cruz. the person who brings this in a theological and frankly tea party populist sense, and that's rafael cruz, is telling the truth. >> you know what? i just want to say that this reminds me of what we always believed about the marxists. the real communist who is did it for a living. they would say anything that they believe would advance their cause. truth to them was whatever advances the cause. it sounds so much like the parallel to that. >> you know, it's interesting, too, and wayne got at this. that rafael cruz really represents the full synthesis of the religious right and the tea party right which we talked about the last few years. there's a tremendous overlap there. and they both are factions based on grievance, feeling they're not in the mainstream. and these people are -- you know, gives these speeches, goes to these mega-churches and talks about this stuff. they say, yes, your son will deliver us. they mean it politically and spiritually. >> any connection between benjamin fran

here is number three from ted cruz. in july he made impassioned case at western conservative summit in denver. the concerns had to block the president's health care law at all cost. because of all things people might like it. lets listen. >> on january 1 the exchanges kick in and the subsidies kick in. once those kick in, it's going to prove almost impossible to undo obama care. the administration's plan is very simple, get everyone addicted to the sugar so obama care remains a permanent feature of our society. >> this i guess the strangest acknowledgement. people might really like it. lets mess it up before it gets to them. >> he's saying they like being insured, people can go to the doctor when they are sick. one reason they are so desperate to stop obama care, what we fight about is whether the u.s. government has a role in social policy and making things better for the average americans. the tea party talking about disrupters, say no, government solution, we need less and less and less of it. if obama care works it

cruz tonight so a lot of republicans i think tonight look at ted cruz and wish ted cruz would go back to canada. >> joy reid, everything steve just said is what both raphael cruzes call establishment republicans trying to go left. i listened to steve carefully. i don't hear leftism in steve schmidt. >> ted cruz is perfectly following the conservative model of rush limbaugh and other talk radio hosts. they constantly prick at the sort of hurt feelings and anger and range of their listeners to keep them hopped up and excite and listening all the time every quarter out they got to keep rolling them over. ted cruz follows that model. irony is that people like rush limbaugh and ann coulter are happy to have a democrat to beat up in the white house. this he don't have an interest in winning elections. it doesn't do them any good to have a republican in the white house because then what would they talk about? they would have to become devoted to that president which doesn't help their ratings. ted cruz is following the model of the people who least want to win elections, but he's using and c

that is how we got to ted cruz. ted cruz was the hair-on-fire guy. he was the tea party primary challenger to a guy whose hair was slightly less on fire. but it was texas, so even after picking the truly whacky guy in the primary, the republicans were still able to win the general election in texas, so now we all have ted cruz to zeal with in washington. the same pattern held in two other places in the last election, kentucky in and utah. in kentucky -- the last couple of elections. in kentucky, mitch mcconnell and the republican establishment had picked their candidate, who they wanted to run for that seat, who they knew who could win that seat. the guy on the left. that guy on the left lost to rand paul in the primary and then rand paul won the seat. in utah, they ousted the incumbent republican senator, bob bennett, and replaced him with mike lee. because it's utah and utah is that red a state, that was enough to get somebody as out there as mike lee into the united states senate. usually the purification process works in a way that makes republic

to ted cruz's point, no one is ever pure enough as ted cruz. and until -- if the republican party were to come together around some common agenda, ted cruz would be dead in the water, because his polls shtick. >> you know, the president had a light touch there, wayne. he said the other day that he knows who the members of his cabinet are by who's ted cruz has called a communist. that's tough talk, but the look of the guy, the political face he puts out there of anger and hatred, only then can you joke about guy saying -- >> well, no, think about this. go beyond the words that he uses. i know it's difficult to do. but it's not just the words he's using, it is what he is -- the way he is saying it. he is talking about absolutes. and so when he talks about someone being not just different than me, but a communist. not someone who just has a different point of view, but as evil, that's the implication there, it resonates among the constituencies that he's trying to appeal to. he lives in and lives off of a political universe where it's us and them,

. >> does ted cruz stand out to you? >> put five red necks on a mower. >> i'm being unfairly targeted by a bunch of hacks and haters. if dueling were legal in kentucky it would be a challenge. >> the last five years have not been a great time. >> a jumble of unfocused noise out of touch with the things you care about. ♪ like a song you hear that lingers in your ear ♪ ♪ but you can't forget from sundown ♪ ♪ >> this week marks one year since the 2012 presidential election and if this is the annual checkup, it's largely the president's health care law that's going through a major stress test. and right now, the white house is reaching out for support in the face of continuous oh criticism of the law and its rollout. later this evening, the president will speak about the benefits of health care reform at an organizing for action event. and later this week, he'll travel to texas to thank volunteers helping people enroll in the new health care exchanges. the president is keeping up a furious public information push,

i want to play what he said about ted cruz. >> does ted cruz stand out to you as a potential light of the republican party? >> look, i'm not going to disqualify anybody, but i think i've indicated some of the names i think are most effective in becoming elected and we'll see where it goes. >> he could have started that with bless his heart, but he didn't, followed by that but that he then went into. is there a problem for cruzzed credibility and electability. >> mitt romney called his own self severely conservative, which no one believed anyway. i'm not really sure -- i could care less what mitt romney thinks about ted cruz and the 2016 elections. he's lost, he's done, go live in malibu. but my bigger point is here in south carolina don't forget gingrich only won with 40%, mitt romney got 28%. rick santorum came in third with 17% in south carolina. it's a very tricky state. you have evangelicals up in the upper part of the state. you have folks in columbia, they don't like a lot of the social issues unless you're in the suburbs and people in the downstate don't like the social issues

he's an are a dent supporter of ted cruz 2016. this is a clip from his appearance here on "hardball" in september. it's remarkable. >> obama is president, ted cruz can be president. >> this is serious business. is he eligible to be president? you've been touting the guy. >> i think he's eligible. i'm giving you a yes answer. >> if obama was born overseas even that crazy theory of donald trump is true he still would be eligible to be president by that standard. >> we're talking about ted cruz. >> can't you project an inch mentally. >> i'm telling you president obama is the president. if he's eligible to be president -- >> you brought this up. >> what better way -- yes. >> was he a legitimately elected president of the united states? >> i wasn't in congress to determine that. that was determined before i got here. >> howard fineman he won't do it. he's afraid of losing one or two votes. >> if you dig down to the very core, to the ninth level of -- to the ninth level of the anti-obama movement, you find people who not only view him f

do you think ted cruz is a good actor? >> obviously, he's a great actor. i mean, you know, he's -- look at what he's done so far. you know, he -- he has risen to the top of the -- to the tea party. coming from harvard. so, you know, he's been able to pull off this populist routine quite effectively. >> herman cain did that last year. that's not difficult. >> well, look, a half dozen people have done it out of the millions and millions that would like to do it. and cain, you know, he lasted a couple weeks. i think ted cruz has already outlasted -- i'm just saying that his acting skills are, i think, impressive, despite, you know, some so-so performances he might have turned in that were caught on that film. >> right. okay. now john, chris christie is another republican in that top tier of 2016 hopefuls. but you've written, and i'm quoting you, that sheparding christie through a competitive republican primary will be vastly more difficult than anybody seems to be figuring at the moment. and you say that this is partly to do with questions about a, quote, top

>> you know, if it's the primary voters who vote every time, i think it will be ted cruz. chris christie may already be toast because during hurricane sandy, he put his arm around president blackenstein and put his arm around kenya cooties. >> what would he say about america if ted cruz was to win the presidency? >> you mean overseas? >> yeah, what would it mean for americas and america's reputation, do you think? >> we don't know until -- he became president what it would mean. the republicans are the masters of the are you kidding he candidate? when ronald reagan first ran people are like are you kidding he? ronald reagan, the bonzo guy getting into politics. george w bush when he first ran people thought it was his father, sarah palin they have no shame. so i'm not surprised it will be ted cruz, better than rick santorum. >> let take a break and come back to talk two two things dear to your heart, sex and drugs. >> wow. >> either order, doesn't matter. when we made our commitment to the gulf, bp had two big goals: help the gulf recover and learn from what happened so we

bit before he became ted cruz. this is totally surprising to me. it's an unnecessary picking of a fight. i don't think it gets him anything, but it shows even more than rand paul has just shown the inability to resist the temptation, to score cheap points with the narrow band of his party. again, it just doesn't serve anybody oes purpose including his own. i'm not sure why he's doing it. >> john, you and mark know how to look at these things over the long run. you've done two great campaigns. here's the question. how do you bridge a gap where you keep widening the river? it seems the tea party types like paul and more so in the case of ted cruz want to make it crystal clear that anybody's a moderate or nonconcerted republican party. anybody who's east coast is not one of them. why do they want to shrink the size of what they call the republican or conservative movement? why do they want to do this now? >> well, i think, obviously, chris, they think it's in their political interest to do that. the only thing i take

you know, he is -- ted cruz is very on message. i think that's the one thing you can say positive about him. >> i agree with that part. >> that's really it. he is a critic of anything and everything, and you know, if the senate were like it was 20 years ago, i think i would agree with him. >> i hope he runs for president. i hope he runs for president, guys. because i want to see him up there perhaps against hillary clinton in the general election. perhaps not that far, but i think it'd be good for the country to hear this guy out. i think he's surgically political. i think he makes a point of not going after abortion or same-sex marriage, but he always talks how to not -- these things he pushes. very carefully pushing the buttons for people. we'll see. anyway, jonathan capehart and josh marshall, thank you. we'll be right back after this. so, this board gives me rates for progressive direct and other car insurance companies? yes. but you're progressive, and they're them. yes. but they're here. yes. are you...? there? yes. no. are y

>> you know, if it's the primary voters who vote every time, i think it will be ted cruz. chris christie may already be toast because during her can sane did, he put his arm around president blackenstein and put his arm around kenya kootties. >> what would he say about america if ted cruz was to win the presidency? >> you mean overseas? >> yeah, what would it mean for americas and america's reputation, do you think? >> we don't know until -- fe he became president what it would mean. the republicans are the masters of the are you kidding he candidate? when ronald reagan first ran people are like are you kidding he? ronald reagan, the bonzo guy getting into politics. george w bush when he first ran people thought it was his father, sarah palin they have no shame. so i'm not surprised it will be ted cruz, better than rick santorum. >> let take a break and come back to talk two two things dear to your heart, sex and drugs. >> wow. >> either order, doesn't matter. are taking charge e of their type 2 diabetes with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my bl

doug, i ask you first, he left out senator ted cruz. why? >> he represents a different strand of republican than romney, but despite the controversy he moved close to the top of the republican presidential trial heats indicating a couple things. first, the party is divided. two, there is no clear frontrunner, and three mitt romney, who lost the race he probably could have won is really somewhat out of step of what is going on. >> we want to hear from the governor on who he actually would pick from his party to run. in his own comments about senator cruz, let's watch that. >> paul ryan, jeb bush, marco rubio, a long list of capable people, but chris christie stands out. >> does ted cruz stand out to you as a potential in the republican party? >> i will not disqualify anybody, but i think i indicated some of the names i think would be most effective and we'll see where it goes. >> what role does senator ted cruz play in the republican party? >> he is the voice of the anger against washington, d.c. and obama care. i have to say the verb that wa

. >> because ted cruz can't be elected president. >> i know. i know that. you do lose. and ergo, the democrats win. >> to this win, christie has made one thing clear. that republicans are still obsessed with purity. the day after christie's landslide victory, sean hannity let louis on the new jersey governor. >> if you want to look at a liberal record on issues like guns, gay marriage, controversial appointments, this governor has no idea what's going to hit him. if you can't beat hillary clinton in the exit polls in new jersey on the day you are the

it really was a discussion of -- >> let me bring you to ted cruz. so i'm going to read from national review here. it says, norquist defenders owe conservatives an apology. norquist is not happy with defenders. he told reporters today they have a lot of policies to remake and bridges to rebuild. this is governor norquist talking about apologies and bridges to rebuild. quote, it would be a good idea if they stopped referring to other republicans as hitler appeasers because they proposed a strategy which failed. i think if you make a mistake as big as they did, you owe your senators and fellow congressmen a big apology and your constituents as well because nothing they did helped the cause of obama care. could you take us a little further? who are the "they" in this, and are they rto members? >> no. what happened was there was a republican strategy going into the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling. and that was to move the cr, the budget, past the debt ceiling, so you had one deadline, not a soft deadline that was going to be pushed through, bu

ted cruz fighting against obama care a few weeks ago is looking better. i do not believe the hilary story. >> i could believe that? >> look, somebody may have said let's present this to the president. >> this white house is pretty ruth'. i can imagine senior people saying we got to protect our guy. let's chunk biden under the bus. >> i agree they are ruthless -- >> this is the chief -- >> i know -- >> he's admitted it. it's one of his ideas. >> sometimes they put out claims they are considering someone just to like due up the femmests, make them happy, we were thinking of a woman. for one thing it's always bad to switch your president main stream, looks like you made a mistake and number two, despite biden makes career moves, he has a common man's touch that is absent -- >> i think he's good for barack obama, he sort of humanizes him. >> when clinton was president and -- well, you weren't here then so you may not remember this but he kept nominating attorney generals all of whom has nannies they were paying off the books and joe biden had to go to the whi

. >> because ted cruz can't be elected president. >> i know. i know that. you do lose. and ergo, the democrats win. >> to this win, christie has made one thing clear. that republicans are still obsessed with purity. the day after christie's landslide victory, sean hannity let louis on the new jersey governor. >> if you want to look at a liberal record on issues like guns, gay marriage, controversial appointments, this governor has no idea what's going to hit him. if you can't beat hillary clinton in the exit polls in new jersey on the day you are the most popular in your state, don't think it's going to get better. it's likely going to get worse. he's not in the mainstream of conservatism. >> michael crowley. chris christie standing up to that mind-set will do him a world of good in a general election. the question is can he sustain the primary process if he's got the likes of limbaugh, beck, and hannity against him? >> it's going to be really hard. mitt romney tried to do this, but romney fled from all his positions on those issues in a way that we're not seeing christ

>> he's voted with ted cruz. they joked the only two senators with two votes each or rand paul and ted cruz because they've gotten jon cornyn and mitch mcconnell to go with them so many times. >> but ted cruz who is not helpful was asked by somebody if he's going to endorse jon cornyn a couple of months ago he said no. >> he's got religion on that. last week he said he would not endorse insurgents against his colleagues. designee has moved a little bit. ted cruz has. >> yeah. >> he's been burned. >> mike, thank you very much. coming up -- >> great to have mike on the set. you're trying to push him off and that makes me sad. >> the texans took a three score lead in the first half last night but then one scary moment changed the whole game. we'll show you what happened. ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ ♪ stacy's mom has got it goin' on ♪ [ male announcer ] the beautifully practical and practically beautiful cadillac srx. get the best offers of the season now. l

so he might as well hang out with ted cruz. but the other thing the republican party is stuck with, reverend al, is its own base. there is a verse in the bible that talks about sewing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. and that is exactly what the republican party has done. it has spent decades pandering to extremists. people who hate the federal government, people who want to destroy the social safety net for the poor. people who are not comfortable with the diverse america. and they can't run away from those people now. those people are the tea party. they're base voters. and the party can't run away from them. the establishment thought that they would just be able to use their votes and control the tea party's energy, but they cannot. >> reaping the whirlwind. >> exactly. they're reaping the whirlwind. >> you know, joan, when you look at that fact that about a year ago when we had the election almost a year ago exactly in a couple of days, if you looked at 2012, in the ratings, the opinion polls, the ratings of october 2012

ted cruz absent disaster scenario put forth. if they nominate somebody like ted cruz. there will be millions of other people who might have voted republicans who point vote republicans. you don't think that cruz for example because is he of hispanic heritage could convince hispanic americans that, look, my vision to the country, smaller government, a more conservative approach to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is better for you. you don't think he could do that the tea party does. and let's see if they are right. i don't as least not as of tonight. in light of your question. if it's somebody like chris christie he has to reach out to the tea party and show respect for them and try to win them over and listen to them and make clear we're not going to agree on everything, but, you know what? i do respect you. but the tea party also has an obligation. they can't be as rigid as they are. because, if they are, telling you, this side will sit home. if this guy gets nominated, and this side will sit home. if this republican gets nominated and that's. >> democrats won'

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and clearly ted cruz is the new sarah palin. but don't assume this is about 2016. clearly this guy is an attention junkie, but he may be smarter than he looks. he may be smarter than he acts. >> what do you think he hopes to gain by appearing on the tonight show? basically file off a few edges? >> that too. but his goal may not be the white house. i think this guy sees beyond that, and he wants some kind of jim demint gig where you really don't have to be accountable for senate votes. you don't have to get the american people to elect you president. you don't have to conduct that awesome responsibility of being president. when jim demint left the senate, he got a driver and a limo and a big fat expense account. >> you think he wants to elevate himself and then make the big bucks. okay. >> yeah. he's heading for k street. don't let him fool you. >> all right. he recently made a joke about a nigerian scammers that he was asked to apologize for. here it is. >> you know, have y'all noticed you know the nigerian e-mail scammers? they've been a lot less active lately bec

but ted cruz uses him as a surrogate. rafael cruisz has sat down and discussed strategy on how to win latinos over to the republican party with groups such as heritage. so it's somebody that is a surrogate for ted cruz and the republican party so this isn't really helping them with their whole rebranding thing that they're trying to have going on. >> well, she does bring up a good point. you have a number of republicans including steve stockman and senator jim enhoff, michele bachmann has said the house could consider impeachment of president obama. what does this mean for your party looking ahead to 2016. >> it's not helpful today and i've been a campaign manager on several campaigns where i get a phone call from a family member and said, chip, i made some comments we may need to talk about. never helpful when a family member goes way off the talking points and says something like this. i agree with daniellea a little bit. this happens at the end of bush's term when they call him a racist and compared him to adolf hitler

ted cruz points to his father as a role model. he uses him in speeches to try and gain favor to talk about his tough upbringing, his conservative roots. that's all fair game. again, it might be silly and nonsensical to many. to some. but the fact, the political reality is, you're going to have to answer those questions, as dumb or silly as they seem. that's just part of the process. that's what makes it so difficult. >> sam. >> yeah, and it's also -- i mean, aside from the irony that, you know, you've got a guy who is a cuban national with a son from canada talking about a president going back to a country that he was -- he's not from. but, yeah, the bottom line is, ted cruz has put his father out there as being essentially his intellectual guru. and you hear the rest of that speech, it gets -- it arguably even gets worse. he's talking about that president obama is a secret marxist. that's why he can't say the words "under god" in the pledge of allegiance as if it would met him. i mean, this bizarre stuff. and this guy raised him,