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Republican leaders piled blame on freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for failed tactics that forced a U.S. government shutdown, but Cruz remained defiant.

"Have a little bit of self-restraint," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told ABC's "This Week," in a message to Cruz. "It was a mistake to focus on something that couldn't be achieved."

"Shutting down the government, in my view, is not conservative policy," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "There will not be another government shutdown. You can count on that."

Even ultra-conservative former Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott, who himself got cross-wise with the Senate and had to resign his leadership position, said about the right-wing insurgents, “You roll them. I do think we need stronger leadership, and there’s got to be some pushback on these guys who think they came here with all the solutions.”

"It will not happen," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CNN's "State of the Union." "The American people will not stand for another one of these things."

"Let's face it -- it was not a good maneuver," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a supporter of the deal that ended the showdown, told The New York Times. "And that's when you've got to have the adults running the thing."

"The tactic of defunding the government unless [President Barack Obama] repealed his signature issue was as poorly designed as Obamacare itself, almost," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told "Face the Nation."

Cruz told "State of the Union" he was not bothered, even "remotely," by the growing criticism by senators of his own party. "I would do anything and I will continue to do anything I can to stop Obamacare," Cruz told ABC's "This Week," when asked whether he would rule out pushing the government to the brink of another shutdown in January unless the Affordable Care Act is defunded. http://www.alipac.us/f9/gop-surrender-caucus-hits-sunday-shows-critici
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Senator Ted Cruz’s leading role in leveraging the government shutdown based on his irresponsible and dangerous agenda in an attempt to defund the ACA has inflicted reprehensible devastation upon the American people and the nation’s economy. His obvious lack of remorse for his actions with his subsequent messages that he “would continue to do anything he can, to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare” is further reason to expel this senator before he paves the way to yet another destructive government shutdown.”

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I use the internet for good, not evil. I look for knowledge to improve humanity, not to debase it or seek out the lowest common denominator.

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Joe Scarborough on Friday again berated the 2012 Republican field, decrying them for pandering to "the lowest common denominator in a way that dooms conservatives from making gains next year in a race for the White House."

The Morning Joe host also compared Tea Party conservatives to the John Birch Society: "...For the record, America, these are the people that Bill Buckley kicked out of the conservative movement in the mid-1960s."

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The Tea Party's corporate controllers encourage their prejudices as part of a "look elsewhere" strategy that allows them to blame the poor, the unemployed, unions, minorities, immigrants, non-"Christians", pro-choice defenders, gays, "liberals" (etc., etc., etc.) for all their problems - the same appeal to the basest instincts and the desire for easily-identifiable "enemies" the lowest common denominator could feel "superior" to that Hitler and others of his ilk used in their rise to power.

Thankfully the modern American public in general is more informed and sophisticated in their understanding than societies of the past, and support for the Tea Party has dwindled considerably.

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