"The strategy in Washington is to launch personal attacks"-- and you don't, Cruz?

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Cruz: I don't work for party bosses
By Lucy McCalmont, October 20, 2013

Sen. Ted Cruz says he's not bothered by the tensions and anger from his Republican colleagues over his strategy to defund Obamacare, saying he doesn't work for "party bosses."

"Not remotely, because the people I work for are the women and men and men you just saw. I work for 26 million Texans. That’s my job to fight for them. I don’t work for the party bosses in Washington. I work for the people of Texas and I fight for them," Cruz said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."

The freshman Republican from Texas also took a shot at his Republican colleagues, whom he said would commented "very differently" if cameras were inside their closed-door meetings. 

"You know what was very interesting about some of those closed-door discussions? What I said in those closed-door discussions, I would’ve said the exact same thing if CNN”s camera was sitting in the room. What I say privately to my colleagues is the same thing I say publicly," Cruz said.

"And you know what’s interesting? Virtually every person in that room, that was criticizing what Mike Lee and I were doing, would’ve said very different things if a camera was in this room. Because what they’re telling their constituents is very different from what they’re saying behind closed doors," he added.

Cruz also brushed off reports that his effort to defund Obamcare, which led to to government shutdown was a fundraising strategy.

"Not remotely. This is a deliberate strategy. The strategy in Washington is to launch personal attacks, some of which you read, and to encourage the media to do what a lot of folks in the media like to do, which is to cover this like it’s a Hollywood gossip column. ‘This politician versus this politician! Who’s, up, who’s down?’ Who cares?," Cruz said.

The Texas senator added he wouldn't be dragged into the "back and forth."

"I understand you want to drag me into the back and forth with other Republican senators, and that’s fun to cover, I’m not interested in playing that game," Cruz said.
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