This explains so much (Ted Cruz)

[Curious]

I saw this earlier, but was heading to bed. I don't see that anyone has posted it yet. I think we discovered earlier that Ted Cruz's (is that the right way to spell that?) father was Evangelical or maybe a Dominionist.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... -tea-party

From the article:

In April, Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), spoke to the tea party of Hood County, which is southwest of Fort Worth, and made a bold declaration: The United States is a "Christian nation." The septuagenarian businessman turned evangelical pastor did not choose to use the more inclusive formulation "Judeo-Christian nation."

Seven months earlier, Rafael Cruz, speaking to the North Texas Tea Party on behalf of his son, who was then running for Senate, called President Barack Obama an "outright Marxist" who "seeks to destroy all concept of God," and he urged the crowd to send Obama "back to Kenya."

It's hard to pick just a few quotes out of this article, it's quite good, IMO. (emphasis mine)

Comments uttered by a politician's parent may have little relevance in assessing an elected official. But it's appropriate to take Rafael Cruz into account when evaluating his son the senator. Ted Cruz, the tea party champion who almost single-handedly spurred the recent government shutdown, has often deployed his father as a political asset. He routinely cites his Cuban-born father, who emigrated from the island nation in 1957, when he discusses immigration and justifies his opposition to the bipartisan reform bill that passed in the Senate. (Ted Cruz hails his father as a symbol of the "American dream" who came to the United States legally—though Rafael Cruz began his career in the oil industry in Canada, where Ted was born.) Moreover, Ted Cruz campaigns with his father; he had him in tow on a recent trip to Iowa (where the evangelical vote is crucial in GOP presidential primaries). Rafael Cruz regularly speaks to tea party and Republican groups in Texas as a surrogate for his son; during Ted Cruz's 2012 Senate campaign, his father was dispatched to events and rallies across the state to whip up support. And thanks to Ted Cruz's political rise, Rafael has become a conservative star in his own right. He has been prominently featured—and praised—at events held by prominent right-wing outfits, such as FreedomWorks and Heritage Action. What Rafael Cruz says—especially when he is speaking for his son—matters.

The elder Cruz is a North Texas-based pastor who directs a small outfit called Purifying Fire Ministries.* Rafael Cruz's inflammatory remarks and fundamentalist views have recently started to attract increased media attention. A few weeks ago, he sparked headlines when he told a gathering of Republicans in Colorado that Obama has vowed to "side with the Muslims," that Obamacare mandates "suicide counseling" for the elderly, and that gay marriage is a plot to make "government your god."

A sermon Rafael Cruz delivered in August 2012 at an Irving, Texas, mega-church has also come under scrutiny. At that event, he asserted that Christian true believers are "anointed" by God to "take dominion" of the world in "every area: society, education, government, and economics." He was preaching a particular form of evangelical Christianity known as Dominionism (a.k.a. Christian Reconstructionism) that holds that these "anointed" Christians are destined to take over the government and create in practice, if not in official terms, a theocracy. Rafael Cruz also endorsed the evangelical belief known as the "end-time transfer of wealth"—that is, as a prelude to the second coming of Christ, God will seize the wealth of the wicked and redistribute it to believers. But, Cruz told the flock, don't expect to benefit from this unless you tithe mightily. Introducing Cruz at this service, Christian Zionist pastor Larry Huch offered this bottom line: In the coming year, he predicted, "God will begin to rule and reign. Not Wall Street, not Washington, God's people and his kingdom will begin to rule and reign. I know that's why God got Rafael's son elected, Ted Cruz, the next senator." (In July, several prominent Dominionist pastors at a ceremony in Iowa blessed and anointed Ted Cruz, rendering him, in their view, a "king" who would help usher in the kingdom of Christ.)

There is much more at the article, including several videos. Frightening stuff :(

[E Street Fan]

How about we send Rafael Cruz back to Cuba and Ted Cruz back to Canada instead of sending President Obama to a country where he wasn't born and has never lived? I'm really tired of the hypocrisy and bigotry and outright lies from the Tea Party. Really, really tired. And Rafael and Ted Cruz scare the hell out of me.

[cindyluvs24]

So, daddy was able to take advantage of a liberal immigration policy, makes his $ in the oil biz, and now gets the tax benefits of a ministry. How handy.

[docmom]

Man, it's time to lose our scruples on the left and start making up lies the way they do on the right. They pull shit out of their ass and their lackies believe every word. I've had patients tell in all seriousness that they like the idea of universal insurance but they're worried about the suicide panels and dialysis only for the under 30's. If they say it, people will believe it...

[snarkyjan]

How about we send Rafael Cruz back to Cuba and Ted Cruz back to Canada instead of sending President Obama to a country where he wasn't born and has never lived? I'm really tired of the hypocrisy and bigotry and outright lies from the Tea Party. Really, really tired. And Rafael and Ted Cruz scare the hell out of me.

I like this idea. However, Cuba and Canada would be within their rights to consider the return of either Cruz an act of war,

[Curious]

How about we send Rafael Cruz back to Cuba and Ted Cruz back to Canada instead of sending President Obama to a country where he wasn't born and has never lived? I'm really tired of the hypocrisy and bigotry and outright lies from the Tea Party. Really, really tired. And Rafael and Ted Cruz scare the hell out of me.

This and especially the bold. That whole article was scary to me. There were several more parts that I really wanted to pull out, but I had already quoted quite a bit and I was trying to pick out just a couple more small bits and I couldn't decide what to grab. I had almost the whole article, so had to delete some.

The article did say that he is starting to get media attention, which is a good thing. Hopefully, that will torpedo any Presidential hopes he may have.

[Stephanie66]

He can't be President. He was born in Canada.

[RosyDaisy]

So, Ted Cruz, a senator born in Canada from a party that basically wants to send all immigrants packing is the son of a Cuban immigrant and accuse President Obama of not being a citizen? :shock: Wow...just wow! :shock: Oh, this is beyond hypocritical! Fuck you Rafael and Ted Cruz, just fuck you! :angry-cussingblack:

[alchemy]

He can't be President. He was born in Canada.

Although born in a foreign country, he still has the status of natural born citizen since he had an American parent. I too was born in Canada to an American parent and have been an American citizen from birth.

[E Street Fan]

I like this idea. However, Cuba and Canada would be within their rights to consider the return of either Cruz an act of war,

That's true. I live right next door to Canada, and I don't want to piss off the Canadians. I kind of like them. They seem to have their priorities straight.

[salex]

Although born in a foreign country, he still has the status of natural born citizen since he had an American parent. I too was born in Canada to an American parent and have been an American citizen from birth.

OK, but that would mean that Obama would meet the same standard no matter where he was born since Mom was from Kansas.

[mirele]

Nehemiah Scudder 2016. That is all.

[E Street Fan]

OK, but that would mean that Obama would meet the same standard no matter where he was born since Mom was from Kansas.

But Obama's father was Black, see. That cancels out Obama's mother having been a US citizen and therefore cancels out Obama himself being a natural-born citizen. Obama could have been descended from George Washington on his mother's side, but Obama Sr. having been Black wipes out all that.

My attempt at Tea Party logic.

[Mama Mia]

I thought there was some kind of rule that not only did the president have to ba a naturally born citizen, but also had to be literally born in the United States? I was under the impression that's what all the nonsense about Obamas birth certificate was about? Obviously I think the people doubting that he was born in the U.S. Are nuts, by I thought that was the reasoning?

[RosyDaisy]

The only reason people got their britches in a wad over President Obama was because he was black, and his citizenship was just a smokescreen. Birthers are nothing more than a bunch of ultra conservatives who don't want a black man as President. It's that simple.

[doggie]

He can't be President. He was born in Canada.

he cant be president because he is an idiot and shot himself in both feet and the head with his last escapade.

[PennySycamore]

I thought there was some kind of rule that not only did the president have to ba a naturally born citizen, but also had to be literally born in the United States? I was under the impression that's what all the nonsense about Obamas birth certificate was about? Obviously I think the people doubting that he was born in the U.S. Are nuts, by I thought that was the reasoning?

That was my understanding as well, MrsS2004. American Presidents have to be native born. I know their was some discussion of whether John McCain was qualified to run since he was born in the (Panama) Canal Zone where his dad was stationed at the time. The Canal Zone was considered American territory then and thus John McCain was born on American soil. Nobody raised this kind of fuss when Barry Goldwater was running for President. He was born in Arizona which was only a territory and not a state when he was born.

[Dysfundamental]

I thought there was some kind of rule that not only did the president have to ba a naturally born citizen, but also had to be literally born in the United States? I was under the impression that's what all the nonsense about Obamas birth certificate was about? Obviously I think the people doubting that he was born in the U.S. Are nuts, by I thought that was the reasoning?

John McCain was born in Panama, where his father was serving with the Navy at the time. He was born outside of the Canal Zone, but as the child of two US citizens he is considered a naturally born US citizen.

The first President to be born a US citizen was Martin van Buren; all the previous Presidents had been born as subjects of Great Britain. Van Buren is to date the only President for whom English was a second language; his family spoke Dutch at home.

George Romney was born in Mexico, but was deemed to qualify as a naturally born US citizen back when he entered the Republican presidential primaries in 1966.

It seems pretty clear that the framers of the Constitution didn't mean to disqualify the children of diplomats or serving military personnel, or for that matter vacationers.

[salex]

I thought there was some kind of rule that not only did the president have to ba a naturally born citizen, but also had to be literally born in the United States? I was under the impression that's what all the nonsense about Obamas birth certificate was about? Obviously I think the people doubting that he was born in the U.S. Are nuts, by I thought that was the reasoning?

There is something that they fight about related to this, because a few people said John McCain couldn't run because he was born to two American parents but outside the country (possibly on an army base, so some people said that made a difference)

Bascially, it is whatever reasoning they can pull from their asses, from what I can tell.

[doggie]

First Cruz would have to prove he was live born I have my doubts.

[snarkopolis]

I thought there was some kind of rule that not only did the president have to ba a naturally born citizen, but also had to be literally born in the United States? I was under the impression that's what all the nonsense about Obamas birth certificate was about? Obviously I think the people doubting that he was born in the U.S. Are nuts, by I thought that was the reasoning?

Yes born on American soil (or an Army/Navy base which is how McCain got in because he was born in Panama? I think.

[salex]

he cant be president because he is an idiot and shot himself in both feet and the head with his last escapade.

It seems, however, that some of the tea party prefers limping and lobotomized... so he could still be in the running!

[nelliebelle1197]

How about we send Rafael Cruz back to Cuba and Ted Cruz back to Canada instead of sending President Obama to a country where he wasn't born and has never lived? I'm really tired of the hypocrisy and bigotry and outright lies from the Tea Party. Really, really tired. And Rafael and Ted Cruz scare the hell out of me.

I would LOVE to kiss you for this comment.

[Lainey]

That's true. I live right next door to Canada, and I don't want to piss off the Canadians. I kind of like them. They seem to have their priorities straight.

We don't want him.

[doggie]

We don't want him.

So you hand us a turd and we just supposed to smile about it and accept it? this means war.