Sen. Ted Cruz, under attack by members of his own party, has a right to try to move the GOP toward a more conservative position,
Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly says.
Cruz wants to be the leader of the Republican Party, and he doesn't like the way it's being run, O'Reilly said Monday on
"The O'Reilly Factor."
"He thinks it's far too liberal, and it's not in-your-face enough, not confrontational," O'Reilly said. "So he's breaking away from the consensus middle to stake out his own area that he's going to be the leader."
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Cruz wants to be president and re-energize the tea party movement, O'Reilly said. "He wants people to coalesce around his view of the country. There's nothing wrong with that."
O'Reilly asked guest Karl Rove why mainstream Republicans don't debate Cruz rather than attack him. "Win the debate, that's what it's all about."
The Republican strategist Rove, who is one of
Cruz's critics, said the problem is that Cruz doesn't debate. Cruz's fellow senators complain to Rove that they have no idea what his plans are until he makes public statements.
"His fellow senators don't know where he's coming from," Rove said.
O'Reilly continued with what he called his defense of Cruz. He said the tea party won big in 2010, but failed miserably in 2012.
"You gotta win if you want to dismantle Obamacare," O'Reilly said. "Cruz may be the guy to take the tea party up again."
"Well, we'll see," Rove answered.
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