WASHINGTON: Former US House speaker John Boehner, who stepped down last year, let fly with a stunning critique of fellow Republican and 2016 presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, labeling him the devil incarnate.
"Lucifer in the flesh" is how the ever-blunt Republican bigwig described Senator Cruz of Texas, who is struggling to block billionaire Donald Trump's march to the Republican presidential nomination, according to the Stanford Daily newspaper.
"I have Democrat friends and Republican friends," Boehner said. "I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life."
Boehner's remarks were made at a public talk late Wednesday at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
During his tenure as the top lawmaker in Congress, Boehner rarely held back when frustrated or dissatisfied -- especially with the gridlock in Washington.
But even by his standards, the Ohioan's unvarnished appraisal of a fellow Republican lawmaker who is running for nation's highest office was startling.
Cruz prides himself on standing up for his beliefs, but he also is widely seen as one of the more intransigent members of Congress.
Critics on both sides of the aisle blamed him for triggering a 16-day federal government shutdown in late 2013.
Boehner often expressed exasperation with those he viewed as blocking the work of Congress, and that temperament was on display at Stanford as he called members of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus "goofballs."
He also revealed he is friends and "texting buddies" with Trump and has played golf with the brash billionaire for years.
John Kasich, the Ohio governor who is trailing in the Republican nomination race, "requires more effort on my behalf than all my other friends," Boehner said. "But he's still my friend, and I love him."
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