No hypocrisy in Cruz opting for Obamacare, S.C. tea partyers say
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South Carolina tea party members arent turned off by Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruzs decision to seek family health care coverage through the governments Obamacare program that hes vowed to dismantle.
I think what hes doing is pretty admirable, said Laurens County tea party president Dianne Belsom. It sounds to me like hes saying Im trying to be like everybody else.
Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas and the first Republican in the White House race said Tuesday he is looking for new family health insurance after his wife took an unpaid leave from her job at Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs Houston office.
Heidi Cruzs exit during her husbands presidential run means the Cruz family will soon lose its health insurance coverage through her job and needs another policy.
Ted Cruz is eligible for Obamacare through his Senate seat.
The decision struck some as hypocritical because Cruz a likely favorite of tea party-aligned voters in South Carolina has been one of Washingtons most outspoken critics of Obamacare, vowing to repeal it at practically every opportunity.
Belsom said Cruzs move is an attempt to not be seen as elitist against what she said was a costly health care reform package forced upon a majority of Americans.
He still supports the repeal of this thing, she said. The spin against him is because hes the medias public enemy No. 1, she added.
Some South Carolina political watchers agree, saying that Cruz might even be better positioned to strengthen his tea party credentials ahead of Februarys GOP primary for opting to join a federal health care exchange.
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No hypocrisy in Cruz opting for Obamacare, S.C. tea partyers say