Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) may be the brightest light to adorn the Republican party in many years. He knows how to make the case for conservative ideas, pointing, for example, to the contrasting fates of Detroit and Houston to illustrate the superiority of conservative policies. So it’s particularly galling to see that rather than train his fire at Obama and the liberal machine that cocoons him, Cruz has become a one-man wrecking ball against Republicans. His most recent foray into sabotaging his colleagues concerned the debt-limit increase…

This is not the first time Cruz has showboated at the expense of his party. In March, the president had proposed gun-control legislation. This put red-state Democrats in an awkward position. Cruz attempted to ride to the Democrats’ rescue by threatening to filibuster any gun-control measure. Wiser Republican heads prevailed, and the measure did come to the floor for a vote, where Democrats handed Obama and Reid a defeat.

Cruz claimed later that he had been vilified for “fighting on this.” No, he was criticized for trying to turn a winning hand into a losing one. A filibuster would have permitted Obama to thunder indignation about Republican obstructionism, while allowing Democrats to escape an uncomfortable vote.