[commandar]

>These are senators, not 5 year old children.

The behavior of Ted Cruz, et al successfully shutting down the government for a few weeks over something party leadership told them wasn't winnable would seem to indicate that there's really not that much difference between the two.

Yes, it's worse now, but it was already headed there when the ACA was passed.

[WildUtah]

I'm writing just to point out that Ted Cruz had nothing to do with the government shutdown, except taking unearned credit for it. House Republicans were the body that planned and forced the shutdown. The Senate passed a clean CR over minority objections before the shutdown.

I would not deny that the Honorable Junior Senator from Texas does comport himself like a five year old.

[commandar]

You are, of course, correct. While Cruz was essentially the face of the wing of the party responsible for the shutdown, he didn't have a direct vote causing it.

The point still stands, however, that the party leadership did not want that fight and knew that they were unlikely to get any real concessions. Boehner, for all his flaws, got pushed into it by the even more unreasonable element of the GOP.