He was selling "snake oil," "making a false and politically damaging promise," committing "a fraud on the American people," and "(doing) his country a major disservice." He was "creating a huge distraction" by pursuing "a fool's errand" and "the dumbest idea" one Senator claimed he had ever heard. He was a "false leader" engaging in "government terrorism."
 
In sum, he was a "joke, plain and simple," and as one especially distinguished colleagueaffectionately recalled, "Lucifer in the flesh."
And those were all descriptions from his own party.
Oh, by the way: Ted Cruz was also right.
The vilification Cruz endured from fellow Republicans back in October 2013 stemmed from his to-the-mattresses battle to shut down the government in hopes of defunding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or ObamaCare, before it could take full effect.
Now, Fox News is reporting that the once-hated program is more popular than the GOP's signature initiative — the recent tax cut. Which should be no surprise.
Because the lonely stand of the Lone Star State's junior Senator stemmed from his apprehension that "(President Barack Obama's) strategy is to get as many Americans as possible hooked on the subsidies, addicted to the sugar. ... If we get to January 1 (2014), this thing is here forever."
Don't look now, but coming up on five years later — and a mere two circles around the Sun since campaign pledges to repeal the legislation on "day one" helped propel Donald Trump to the White House — ObamaCare is not only "here forever," but has the GOP back on its heels electorally.
Last year, the same Republican leadership that had excoriated Cruz four years earlier deftly fumbled away any opportunity to fulfill the new president's repeal promise. The stake in the heart of the thoroughly outmaneuvered GOP's repeal efforts? A highly misleading and prejudicial CBO report (but I repeat myself) showing proposed repeal legislation would lead to the loss of coverage for 24 million Americans.
Amid the ensuing fearmongering, ObamaCare approval surpassed oppositionfor the first time, and has stayed in positive territory ever since, in sharp contrast to the biggest item in the GOP's current brag book. Amid its rising popularity, a majority of Americans now believe that President Trump is trying to make health care fail — and consider that a bad thing.
All of which has gleeful Democrats turning the tables — and fueling 2018 races on angst that Republicans will indeed rip away beneficiaries' health care "sugar." Candidates like endangered Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill claimthat health care is the No. 1 among her constituents — with some polls backingthe assertion.
But it turns out that ObamaCare (and even more so, Medicaid) addiction wasn't the only thing the former national debating champion was out ahead of.
In his epic 21-hour floor speech preceding the shutdown, Cruz observed that President Obama's promise that families could keep their health plans did not "meet reality because the reality is millions of Americans are at risk of losing their health insurance." That was two months before PolitiFact deemed Obama's claim its "lie of the year."
The Texan also anticipated the rising premiums and creeping collapse of the system that has also resulted in reduced competition, effective undercoverageand poor quality care.
And yeah, one more thing Cruz and several colleagues predicted: As then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid all but admitted, the collapse of ObamaCare would lead to demands for a single-payer insurance.
On cue, stage far left, enter progressive crowd-pleaser Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Democrats' newest rock star, congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and their siren duet of "Medicare for All".
But if you thought that formerly pie-in-the-sky proposal and its $32-trillion estimated price tag were the province of the party's rising socialist wing, think again. Medicare for All legislation has been co-sponsored by fully two-thirds of Democratic U.S. House members and a third of the party's Senate caucus. And look out below: That count includes potential presidential candidates Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren, ensuring single-payer will be front and center in the 2020 campaign.
Did I neglect to mention the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll showing that six in 10 U.S. adults now favor this shiny new government boondoggle — even more than the ACA?
So let's review: By throwing Sen. Cruz under the bus a month before ObamaCare's failures became evident — then failing to follow through on promised repeal of a program they had voted to get rid of more than 50 timeswhen it didn't count — Republicans have managed to:
  • embed an expensive failure into the hearts, minds and lives of millions of Americans
  • hand Democrats a potent wedge issue that overpowers Republicans' biggest accomplishment, and
  • set the stage for an even bigger government power grab.
Turns out the real "joke, plain and simple" is on the GOP and its electoral prospects. Somehow, I don't think the farsighted senator from Texas — or the rest of us facing the real prospect of the massive expense, underservice and effective rationing of a fully government-run system — are laughing.