House Speaker John Boehner shocked at least some in a fundraising crowd this week when he took to the podium and slammed Sen. Ted Cruz, calling the presidential hopeful a “jackass,” sources at the event told the Daily Caller.
Boehner was speaking at a Steamboat Springs affair for Colorado Rep. Scott Tipton, when he mentioned how he appreciates how Cruz’s presidential campaign keeps “that jackass” off Capitol Hill, and too busy to tell leadership how to conduct business, the Daily Caller said.
Not all in attendance were pleased with the quip.
“I don’t think it’s terribly speaker-like, and I think it kind of goes against everything that [former President Ronald] Reagan ever said about disparaging Republicans,” said Ed MacArthur, the president of Native Excavating, to the news outlet.
MacArthur, who attended the event, also said: “It’s becoming very disturbing to me that we can’t have good, polite conversation. It all has to be at the throat.”
He then clarified he didn’t think Boehner’s right to free speech ought to be squelched.
“I do believe he’s got the right to say it,’ MacArthur said.
Another in attendance said he “about fell on the floor” over Boehner’s statement, the Daily Caller said.
“To build coalitions to work together in Washington, D.C., you don’t start it out by calling your colleague a jackass,” she reportedly said.
Boehner and Cruz rarely see eye-to-eye on policy and legislation. Cruz, meanwhile, frequently speaks from his campaign trail about the problems of Washington, D.C., entrenched politicians and establishment conservatives – two categories that are often used by political watchers to describe Boehner.
