Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor on Tuesday afternoon to speak against funding Obamacare in backing the continuing resolution approved last week by the House of Representatives.
"I intend to speak in opposition to Obamacare," the Texas Republican said in beginning his remarks at 2:41 p.m., according to a video complied by
The Washington Post. "I intend to speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand."
Nearing 11 p.m., Cruz was still speaking.
Throughout his comments, Cruz shared anecdotes on a wide range of subjects — comparing the Obamacare battle to fighting the Nazis in World War II, obtaining advice on what shoes to wear for his effort on the Senate floor, and even quoting actor Ashton Kutcher.
He also discussed how his father, Rafael, made him green eggs and ham as a child because of his favorite book — and Cruz later read the Dr. Seuss classic to his young daughters — Caroline and Catherine — from the Senate floor.
Here are some of Cruz' most memorable remarks compiled from videos in the Post and
Politico:
- " … You go to the 1940s. Nazi Germany. Look, we saw in Britain [Prime Minister Arthur] Neville Chamberlain, who told the British people: 'Accept the Nazis. Yes, they'll dominate the continent of Europe. But that's not our problem. Let's appease them. Why? Because it can't be done. We can't possibly stand against them.'"
- "This fight is not about personalities. Look, most Americans could not give a flying flip about a bunch of politicians in Washington. Who cares … ? You know, most of all of us are in cheap suits with bad haircuts. Who cares?"
- “I will credit my father, he invented … green eggs and ham. He did it two ways: The easy way was he would put green food coloring in. ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ was my favorite book as a little boy. You can actually do it — the food coloring is a little-bit cheating. But if you take spinach and mix it into the eggs, the eggs turn green.”
- “I don’t know if it’s the water, something in the air, the cherry blossoms, but people get here and they stop listening to the American people.”
- “The moon might be as intimidating as Obamacare.”
- “It is apparently very, very important to be invited to all the right cocktail parties in town. Now, I’ll confess: I don’t go to a whole lot of cocktail parties in town.”
- " … A speech that Ashton Kutcher gave. Such a terrific speech. It was a speech at one of these award shows, where he talked about the value of hard work. And, one of the things I remember he said was, 'In my life, opportunity looks an awful lot like hard work.'"
- “We don’t work for the lobbyists with tasseled loafers who walk the halls, but the single mom working in the diner.”
- “I like their little burgers … I’m a big fan of eating White Castle burgers.”
- "I don't believe there has been a day on this Senate floor that I haven't worn my argument boots. So I had a choice: Do I follow through and wear my argument boots, or do I listen to the very sage counsel from my friend from Kentucky [Sen. Rand Paul] and go with more comfortable shoes? … I took the coward's way out and went and purchased some black tennis shoes. Actually, I think they're the same model that the senior senator from Utah, Orrin Hatch, wears on a regular basis."