Then again, nobody takes Howard Dean seriously.

(CNN) – Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean on Thursday described Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and others who support threatening a government shutdown in order to defund Obamacare as “irresponsible” and “petty, radical-right people.”

“We can do better this, and I think the American voters are going to throw these people out,” he said on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” “If they keep doing this, the impossible may become possible. We could take back the House in 2014.”

In Texas this week, Cruz is holding town halls rallying supporters around the idea of urging Congress to strip money for the president’s signature health care plan before voting on the next funding measure in September.

But Dean argued “people do not want to put up with this kind of stuff” and “it’s about time Ted Cruz started thinking about America and not himself.”