Former House Speaker John Boehner unleashed a hellish attack on his fellow Republican Ted Cruz in an interview published Thursday — branding him “Lucifer in the flesh” and a “miserable son of a bitch.”
“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life,” Boehner said at Stanford University, according to the school’s paper, adding the “Lucifer” comment in case anyone missed his point.
While he hates Cruz, the golf-loving Boehner had plenty of love for GOP front-runner Donald Trump, saying they regularly hit the links together and were “texting buddies.”
The former Ohio congressman thought the New York billionaire would capture the GOP nomination and added he would vote for him — but not Cruz if he won — in November.
Cruz later dismissed Boehner’s insults — saying he barely knew him.
“The truth of the matter is I don’t know the man,” the Texas senator said while campaigning in Indiana. “I’ve met John Boehner two or three times in my life. If I have said 50 words in my life to John Boehner, I’d be surprised, and every one of them has consisted of pleasantries.”
Cruz also vented on Twitter, writing “Tell me again who will stand up to Washington? Trump, who’s Boehner’s ‘texting and golfing buddy,’ or Carly & me?” — referring to his running mate, Carly Fiorina.
Fiorina, the former tech executive, meanwhile, spent the day trying to explain why she teamed up with Cruz after harshly criticizing him over the years.
“I think Ted Cruz’s tactics were wrong,” Fiorina told CNN in October 2013 about Cruz’s role in shutting down the government.
“There’s no honor in charging a hill that you know you can’t take, only casualties, although Ted Cruz maybe got name recognition and money along the way.”
In January, she went after the arch-conservative again, calling him a phony.
“He says one thing in Manhattan, he says another thing in Iowa, he says whatever he needs to say to get elected, and then he’s going to do as he pleases,” she said, labeling Cruz as “just like any other politician.”
But on Thursday, she said her comments were just politics.
“In a heated basketball game, since we’re in the Hoosier State, players foul each other sometimes. In the heat of a political campaign, sometimes you say things that turn out not to be true,” she told “Fox & Friends.”
Trump also campaigned on Thursday in Indiana, getting a boost from legendary basketball coach Bobby Knight, still revered in Indiana for leading the Hoosiers to three national championships.
With Associated Press