CNN Hammers 'Deluded' Ted Cruz; 'Kid Playing With Matches'

On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, CNN lambasted Sen. Ted Cruz who led a 21-hour Senate floor speech against Obamacare.

During the speech by Cruz and other Republican senators, CNN hosts Piers Morgan and Chris Cuomo mocked Cruz as "deluded" and a "kid playing with matches." Chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash called it "by many people's account here a fool's errand."

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"Dana, one question really, amongst other things he may have been eating, can we include magic mushrooms?" Morgan snidely asked on Tuesday night's Piers Morgan Live, after clips played of Cruz reading the story "Green Eggs and Ham" and relating that he liked White Castle burgers.

"[E]ven the senior members of your own party led by John McCain and others lambaste you as wasting everybody's time, doesn't it just park you into the deluded and ridiculous category?" Morgan followed up.

The next morning on New Day, co-host Chris Cuomo took shots at Cruz.

"I know I said to you before this is like Christmas in September for you, for the Democratic Party," Cuomo said to liberal guest Van Jones. He then smacked Democrats for not keeping Cruz in check.

"I have to say, is there a little shame to be put on the Democrats as well to sit back and watch effectively this kid playing with matches that this is going on? Why aren't they stepping up and saying, okay, this is great to watch you guys attack yourselves, but this is bad for people?"

"This is a tough day for your party," Cuomo said to GOP strategist Ana Navarro. He added of the speech, "there is a recklessness to it. We have the shutdown coming. People in your party are saying we don't like this, but they're saying it sotto voce, they're saying it quiet. What are they so afraid of?"

On Tuesday's Piers Morgan Live, chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash relayed that "the bottom line is, Piers, this is, by many people's account here a fool's errand, because he [Cruz] knows that this is basically a long speech. It's not technically a speech that will delay anything."

She asked Cruz point-blank, "You knew from the start you were not going to be able to defund ObamaCare. Why put Congress through this?"