Cruz Draws Cheers and Jeers From GOP; Spiders Blamed For Toyota Recall; Dick Cheney Opens Up About Heart Health
COSTELLO: As government operations rumble back to life from the shutdown, the man at the center of the two-week stalemate is facing passionate reviews. Republican Senator Ted Cruz is enjoying a big boost from his fellow conservatives and Tea Party loyalists. But other Republicans say he's grandstanding at the expense of his party.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the only thing he accomplished was gaining more supporters and fundraising for himself, but did absolutely nothing for the country and did a lot of harm to the Republican Party.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What he accomplished is bringing together people from all over the United States and he led and showed his leadership in organizing all of those people is a huge accomplishment particularly since the conservatives have been crying out for leadership for many, many years and he filled that void.</s>COSTELLO: CNN's Athena Jones is on Capitol Hill to break it all down for us this morning. Good morning, Athena.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, Ted Cruz has certainly made a name for himself, as you can see there. And we've been talking a lot about who won and who lost in this 16-day shutdown battle. Senator Cruz is being called both a winner and loser, and someone folks in both parties will be watching closely.</s>JONES: Failure has never looked so good.</s>SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: This is a terrible deal.</s>JONES: Perhaps that's because Senator Ted Cruz does not feel beaten. The day after Cruz was defeated in his battle to defund Obamacare, he was out shaking the hands of World War II veterans.</s>CRUZ: The American people continue to rise up. We're going to turn this around.</s>JONES: Cruz has energized his base. A Pew Research Center poll released this week shows his popularity soaring among Tea Party Republicans, jumping to 74 percent from 47 percent in July.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Out here in the real world, outside of New York and Washington, D.C., these people think Ted Cruz is a hero.</s>JONES: And donors are supporting him in a big way, to keep his fight going. Cruz has reportedly raised $750,000 these last few weeks. The president may think he silenced Cruz who famously spent 21 hours on the Senate floor railing against Obamacare.</s>CRUZ: I do not like green eggs and ham.</s>JONES: Cruz's Obamacare fight has not been without a price.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His colleagues in the Senate look at him as an adversary, a troublemaker, as a problem child. Not as somebody they want to cooperate with.</s>JONES: His hometown newspaper sharply critical of his performance since their endorsement last year. The Tea Party vows to fight on. The damage for Republicans is undeniable.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He may end up leading a party, the question is, is it a party that can compete nationally either for control of Congress or the presidency?</s>JONES: The Cruz factor giving late-night comedians plenty of fodder.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Obama has said that the day after the budget deal is made he's going to concentrate on immigration. Yes. He says he'll start by deporting Ted Cruz.</s>JONES: And one more word of warning for both parties, Cruz's aides says he hasn't ruled out forcing a government shutdown all over again a few months from now over Obamacare -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Can't wait. Athena Jones reporting live in Washington this morning. Thank you. Checking other top stories this morning, are spiders invading your car? Toyota is recalling almost 900,000 vehicles because of potentially dangerous problems triggered by spider webs. The car maker says spider webs can cause a short circuit that could make the power steering fail or force the driver's air bag to deploy. The problem affects 2012 and 2013 Camrys, Venzas and Avalons. Throughout his career, Dick Cheney's heart health has been documented. Well, now Cheney is opening up about his deteriorating health in a new book. He has had several heart attacks as you know including one, which you probably didn't know days after he was elected vice president. He recalled to CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.</s>DICK CHENEY, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Basically what I did was resigned the vice presidency effective March 28th of 2001.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So nearly for you entire time as vice president, there was a letter of resignation sitting there.</s>CHENEY: Pending.</s>GUPTA: How did President Bush react when you told him about this?</s>CHENEY: He was supervised, but he thought it was a good idea.</s>COSTELLO: You can see Sanjay Gupta's full interview with Dick Cheney Sunday night on CBS's "60 Minutes" and Tuesday night on CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." When it is a rock more than a rock? Answer, when you're in Goblin Valley State Park. Three Boy Scout leaders in Utah could face felony charges after they pushed over a 200-million year old boulder. The men say they pushed over the boulder because it was wobbly and they feared it might fall and hurt hikers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A kid was about ready to walk down here and die and Glen saved his life by getting the boulder out of the way.</s>DAVE HALL, FILMED INCIDENT: That thing wobbled. I looked at that main path and walkway and thought, one gust of wind and a family is dead.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had to brace himself. He had to get into position. That's more than a gust of wind. You've got to admit.</s>HALL: You know what? That earth, that dirt wears away every time there's a rainstorm.</s>COSTELLO: But that's a big no-no in this park. It's against the law to deface state parks. No charges have been filed yet. The symbolic image of the shutdown, panda cam and now a grown man in a panda suit giving out hugs and photos at the National Zoo. The pandas are back. The shutdown is over. Life is good. We'll be right back.