Even before CNBC blamed the meek jobs numbers on Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) yesterday, MSNBC host Chris Matthews shed some light on why the left is so afraid of the Texas senator. After maligning Sen. Cruz for comments he made during a speaking engagement in San Antonio over the weekend, Matthews explained that Sen. Cruz is the “greatest challenge to progressives.”
“You will laugh at what Ted Cruz actually said to deserve this monologue,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “But listen exactly to what Ted Cruz says at the end, but more importantly, if you want to know why the left is terrified of Ted Cruz, listen, because Chris Matthews says it out loud.”
MATTHEWS: It’s a little weird, but is Chicago part of America? Is Philadelphia -- my hometown where I'm going to address the National Constitution Center tomorrow -- is Philly part of America? Is L.A.? Is San Francisco? Is Austin, Texas? The reason I'm asking this stupid question is because this partisan gunslinger, Ted Cruz, is out there today defining who is and who isn't an American.
Remember Michele Bachmann asking the press on this show to conduct a person to person investigation of who in the U.S. Congress is anti-American? Well, Cruz is worse. The same Senator who suggested the nominee for the Defense Secretary was taking money from the communists in North Korea now decrees what part of this country are in and which parts are out, which parts are American and which parts aren't.
This is McCarthyism writ large. Disagree with this guy and be prepared for the accusations. We are witnessing, I think, the greatest challenge to progressives to moderates and reasonable conservatives in modern memory. It's an indictment against the great majority of Americans. To compromise he says is bad. To support the law he says is wrong. To oppose his brand of right-wing politics is to stand accused by him of being un-American.
“Stop. There it is. Why are they destroying Ted Cruz… You are witnessing the biggest threat to modern progressivism, and liberals, and reasonable conservatives. There are no reasonable conservative standing next to a progressive. There are none,” Glenn said. “That's why they're taking him down – because he is the biggest threat to progressives in modern history. That's fantastic.”
“So he is the biggest threat to progressives. That's why they're after him. But before you jump on the bandwagon, I have to play this partisan gunslinger. The guy who's so partisan his own party is taking him down, and he's standing against both parties. So I guess he's also admitting here that there truly is only one party, the progressive party, and let's remember, that was the goal in the beginning,” Glenn continued. “But before you jump on the bandwagon of Ted Cruz, we have to play the ‘McCarthyism writ large,’ a speech where Ted Cruz was telling people how to judge who's American and who's not?”
MATTHEWS: Cruz returned to his supporters this weekend where he got shouts of approval Saturday night from his most fervent backers. Here he is drawing the line between them and his fellow Senators and, by the way, all the people represented in Washington.
SEN. CRUZ: Having spent the past month up in D.C., it is really great to be back in America.
“There it is. McCarthyism writ large. Did you hear what he said? ‘Great to be back in America.’ May I ask an honest question? Is there a soul outside of the media elite, outside of the social elite, outside of the political elite that actually thinks Washington, D.C… is actually the real America,” Glenn asked. “It's not the real America. They don't have to live under any of the laws. They don't even have to have the healthcare they jam down everyone's throat. That's not America. That's some fairy dust land. That's some kingdom that they have set up.”
“I got to tell you, there's a lot of common sense out there right now and a lot of stuff has been changing,” Glenn concluded. “Have you seen this Ted Cruz guy? This guy is good. He's an American. He'll stand-alone. He'll do it in a heartbeat.”