Today is another installment in a series of posts that will examine the statements of one of the candidates for US President, taking a measured and scholarly examination of this particular individual's expressions in speeches, debates and comments to the media and looking deep into the meanings of words and the very concepts of truth itself. I call this series of posts...
Today's analysis is going to focus on the subject of Syrian refugees. However, at the end of that part of today's post, I will also look at the recent topic of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's death and the subject of nominating a replacement.
But first, Syria. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has not been alone in fanning the flames of hysteria over Syrian refugees coming to America. However, Cruz backed up his fear-mongering with some "facts". For example, Ted Cruz misrepresented the words of the U.S. national intelligence director James Clapper, claiming that James Clapper “said among those [Syrian] refugees are no doubt a significant number of ISIS terrorists.”
During a campaign stop in Michigan back in October, Cruz said President Obama’s plan to accept more than 10,000 refugees from war-torn Syria was “nothing short of crazy” due to the possibility that ISIS could embed operatives among the refugees, who could then unleash terrorist activities within the United States. Once more, Cruz cited Clapper had concluded there were a “significant number of ISIS terrorists” among the refugees headed to the U.S. “There is a reason the director of national intelligence said among those refugees are no doubt a significant number of ISIS terrorists,” Cruz said. “It would be the height of foolishness to bring in tens of thousands of people including jihadists that are coming here to murder innocent Americans.”
But that’s not what Clapper said. Speaking at the second annual Intelligence and National Security Summit on September last year, Clapper said such a possibility was a “huge concern,” but he added that the U.S. has a “pretty aggressive” screening program. He said he was particularly concerned about refugees being taken in by European countries that might not have such tight screening.
But Ted Cruz continues to hold on to his line of argument. Right after his win of the GOP Iowa caucus, Cruz was still working this angle in New Hampshire, continuing to assert that the The 2013 immigration bill "expanded President Obama’s ability to bring Syrian refugees to this country without mandating any meaningful background checks."
Ted Cruz has never let a little old thing like the truth get in the way of a good talking point. Not even repeated refutations of Cruz's lies and half-truths slow him down. But while Ted has distinguished himself above other GOP candidates for his total disregard for facts, that alone is not why I've dedicated a portion of my blog to the topic that TED CRUZ IS A LYING FUCK BASTARD. My biggest concern has been the willingness of his audience to believe these deceptions.
Which brings us back around to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. At the Republican Presidential debate Saturday night, hours after Scalia's death, Cruz took up the point that Sen, Mitch McConnell made immediately after Scalia's passing.
"We have 80 years of precedent of not confirming justices in an election year," Cruz said at the CBS Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, arguing that the vacancy on the court should instead be filled by the next president in 2017.
In fact, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed by the Senate in 1988, an election year.
After debate moderator John Dickerson interjected to note the error, Cruz, a former Supreme Court clerk, took a long pause and finally conceded he had indeed gotten his history wrong.
But the audience didn't approve -- noting its displeasure with Dickerson by booing.
So Ted Cruz makes a factual error but it's the moderator who gets booed for calling it out. And therein lies the problem with people like Ted Cruz. Cruz can lie constantly but the people he's reaching out to don't care. They want to believe him and they will believe him even in the face of facts to the contrary. And guys and gals, there are enough of those stupid yahoos out there to make Ted Cruz a viable threat. Ted has no incentive to not feed his audience what they want. Which means just more lies, deceptions and errors that his supporters will eat up. So this series of posts is not just a small voice speaking out from the darkness against Ted Cruz but also against those who are so willing to believe him. This is why it is important to remind anyone that TED CRUZ IS A LYING FUCK BASTARD.
One last thing before I wrap up today's post. Click here for Stephen King's opinion of our boy Ted.
Thank you for coming by the blog today. Remember to be good to one another and I'll be back with another post tomorrow.
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Returning in THREE days...
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