Harry Reid Calls Cruz a 'Laughingstock'

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blasted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for being a “laughingstock” and claimed Cruz did not know how to legislate. 

Reid told the Huffington Post that Cruz “proved he has a great fundraising operation” and then pointed out other Republicans who criticized the Texas senator.

“What do you think that vote was last night from Republicans? That was a message to Ted Cruz: ‘What the hell are you doing?’… He is a laughing-stock to everybody but him,” Reid said. “What has he accomplished other than raising some money for president? And if this man can get the nomination to be the Republican nominee for president, I pity the Republican Party.”

Reid slammed Cruz for talking down to others in the Senate, saying that though Cruz “might be able to work a calculus problem better than I can,” he “can’t legislate better than I can.” What Reid failed to note is Cruz that Cruz said he came to Washington to not legislate like Reid and those in the permanent political class have historically done by expanding the size of government without listening to those outside of the Washington bubble. 

“Ted Cruz is smart,” Reid said. “He has always been able to talk down to people. He is now in the Senate. People are as smart as he is. He can’t talk down to anyone anymore. But he has still not accepted that in his own head. He still thinks he’s smarter than everybody else.”

A Cruz spokesman said Cruz “remains focused on making Washington listen to the people who are being harmed by Obamacare” and that “no one outside the Beltway cares about politicians squabbling.”

Though Reid claimed that Cruz is a “laughingstock,” a recent national poll by the left-leaning Public Policy Polling found that Cruz was not only the 2016 frontrunner among national Republican primary voters, but Republicans also now viewed him “more broadly as the leader of the Republican Party” over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).