Michele Bachmann. Louis Gohmert. Rand Paul. Ted Cruz. These are the leaders of the TeaBircher pack who still cling to their shreds of hope that they can (and must) de-fund Obamacare.

Here's the text of an email I received from FreedomWorks earlier this week:

Despite this being the perfect chance for Republicans to back up their rhetoric on fiscal responsibility, they are caving to big-government Progressives. Again. Boehner and many of his Republican colleagues have spent years – and won elections – by criticizing ObamaCare. They’ve correctly described the program as a costly, burdensome assault on free market principles. Now these same people have a golden opportunity to withdraw funding for the law, and what do they do? Nothing.

Wednesday afternoon, Tea Party Nation sent a dejected email blast out to their members, too. Judson Phillips wrote:

Why am I not even surprised? Charlie Brown has a better chance of kicking the football that Lucy is holding than we have of seeing the House Leadership support conservatives. Sixteen Republicans stood up to the House Leadership and voted against the Rule for the Continuing Resolution. That Rule has now passed. What that means in plain English is that there is no chance to defund Obamacare. There is no chance to reduce spending. There is no chance to stop the $250 million gift to Egypt’s Islamist government.

Oh, boo hoo. Don't cry, teabirchers, because Ted Cruz is here to save the day! The Hill:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Wednesday that he will object to a government spending bill if it does not cut off funds for President Obama's signature healthcare law. Cruz, a staunchly conservative freshman, said he will offer an amendment to delay the flow of funds to implement the healthcare law when the Senate takes up a continuing resolution to fund the federal government. "I believe we should continue to delay such funding at least until economic growth returns to historic averages, and I intend to object to consideration of any Continuing Resolution that does not include a vote to delay funding of Obamacare," Cruz said in a statement.

No, Cruz doesn't want to just de-fund it. Yes, he wants to kill it, just like his pal Michele Bachmann.

"In my view, Obamacare should be fully repealed, and I have introduced legislation to do so," he said. "At a minimum, however, it should not be implemented at time when our economy is struggling so mightily, at a time when its implementation could push us into a full recession."

Good Lord, where do these nutbags come from? It's not implementation of Obamacare that could push us into a recession. It's these whacknuts who think their games with the budget and austerity won't push us into recession. Why didn't Cruz just say "Die, and die quickly"?