Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday addressed a comment he made at a Wednesday event that he would not have a problem if one of his daughters were gay and clarified that he still opposes same-sex marriage.
According to the New York Times, Cruz attended a Wednesday event hosted by prominent gay hoteliers and said, “If one of my daughters was gay, I would love them just as much.” Following reports on the comment, media outlets speculated that the statement signaled a change in tone for Cruz.
But in a statement Thursday evening, Cruz maintained his opposition to gay marriage and criticized the media for reading into his attendance at the Wednesday event.
“It speaks volumes that the New York Times considers it newsworthy that a Republican who believes marriage is between a man and a woman would meet with people who hold a different view,” Cruz said in the statement.
Crux explained that when asked at the event whether he supported gay marriage, he responded by reiterating his support for “traditional marriage.”
“One person further asked how Heidi and I would react if we found out one of our (4 and 7-year-old) daughters were gay. My reply: ‘We would love her with all our hearts. We love our daughters unconditionally,'” Cruz said in the statement.
“A conservative Republican who is willing to meet with individuals who do not agree on marriage and who loves his daughters unconditionally may not reflect the caricature of conservatives promoted by the left, but it’s hardly newsworthy,” he continued. “I know it’s been a long time since we’ve seen it, but this is what it means to truly be a ‘big tent Republican’ instead of a panderer.”
Cruz also introduced legislation this week that would create a Constitutional amendment protect states with gay marriage bans from lawsuits. A second bill introduced by Cruz would keep federal courts from weighing on on gay marriage bans until the Constitutional amendment is passed.
I wonder how many times, when speaking before a conservative, Evangelical, teahading type of gathering he has volunteered that he would love his daughter just as much if she were gay? My guess is an integer less than 1.
It’s big-tent when you risk alienating your audience by delivering a message that embraces an inclusiveness they may not currently support.
It’s pure, retrograde pandering when you tailor your message to your audience, and thereby reinforce their prejudices.
Cruz is no big-tent Republican. He’s not even a big-tent bigot. He’s more of a pup-tent bigot, or maybe even a sleeping-rough Christianist bigot.
He’s simply attacking The Times for questioning his supposed “open mindedness.” He makes no effort to shine a light on the glaring disconnect between his obviously conflicting statements.
The HRC could do to his statement with their red pen what they did with Jindal’s feeble attempts at defending his hopelessly outdated views, except there’d be 3 times the ink used in 1/10 the space.
He’s a craven manipulative ass who’d do or say anything for a vote.
I’m so damned sick and tired of Republicans and religious right types who say they’d love their kids, no matter what – right after saying everybody else’s gay and lesbian kids should be second-class citizens with no rights here on earch, and thereafter will burn in hell for all eternity.
Big Tent…come on in…you don’t get your full civil rights, but you are ok with that, right? As long we keep your taxes low.
They accept their own gay children while vilifying all others, they look the other way when ‘their women’ have abortions, actually encouraging them at times and they hand out corporate welfare by the billions while cutting aid to the ‘sad sacks’. They’re simply vile people.