Representative Peter King went on CNN to talk with Wolf Blitzer about Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential announcement yesterday. His praise for his colleague was muted. Although Cruz “may be an intelligent person,” King said, ” … he oversimplifies, he exaggerates … he doesn’t provide leadership and he has no real experience.” He added, “To me, he’s a guy with a big mouth and no results.”
When asked to consider a future in which Cruz wins the nomination, King said, “I hope that day never comes. I will jump off that bridge when we come to it.”
King went on to say that although Senator Rand Paul seems like a “nice guy,” he would also take us “back to the 1930s.”
Given that it appeared that King simply didn’t think anyone was worthy of being the GOP candidate, Blitzer felt compelled to ask, “Any of those fellow Republican potential candidates likable to you? You like any of them?”
“Oh sure!” King said. “I’m not that tough a guy to get along with.” However, as King noted earlier in the TV hit, he is still working on his presidential bid, too, and will be visiting New Hampshire soon.
The New York representative mentioned that he was thinking about running in 2013, again citing dismay with Cruz and Paul. “I would hope that our party is not defined by Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. I’m not crazy about Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. But on the other hand, you know, guys like Chris Christie and Jeb Bush, I have a lot of regard for.”
In fact, he has a great ability to turn all news events into reasons to worry about Cruz and Paul. When he went on MSNBC after Representative Eric Cantor’s surprising primary loss last June, he said, “We can’t allow Eric’s defeat last night to allow the Ted Cruzes and the Rand Pauls to take over the party, or their disciples to take over the party.” When speaking to a group of firefighters a few days ago, King brought up Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.
In other words, Cruz’s presidential campaign and Paul’s imminently arriving one mean that Americans will probably get more opportunities to see Peter King on cable news than ever.
