Here is Mr. King, a Republican congressman who represents Long Island, speaking on Tuesday afternoon about Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, who is bringing the federal government to the brink of a shutdown because he wants to cut all the money for President Obama’s health care plan.

“My sound bite is to say he’s a fraud,” Mr. King said. “I start with that, and then I go on. It takes me two or three minutes to explain it.”

Jumping ahead to that third minute, Mr. King said precisely what he thought of the Cruz tactic: “It is just a form of governmental terrorism.”…

About two-thirds of the Republicans in the House of Representatives agree with him, Mr. King asserted: “A lot of them are intimidated by the Ted Cruz wing. There were robocalls and efforts in districts throughout the country during August against Republicans, telling them why they had to support defunding Obamacare.

“What do you accomplish? You build up this mailing list for Cruz, and a fund-raising list. And you also are going to generate primaries against people who I would consider to be good Republicans, pretty solid conservative Republicans.”

Among the leaders of the Senate Republicans, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is facing a primary challenge from a conservative who is further to his right. Bucking Mr. Cruz could hurt Mr. McConnell in that contest. Nevertheless, on Tuesday he made it clear that he was not going to back Mr. Cruz in his fight.