News To Us: Rafael Cruz’s Speech Crazy Even For Cruz

Politico's James Hohmann follows up our report yesterday on a speech given to Adams County Republicans last Friday evening by Rafael Cruz, father of U.S. Senate freshman and "Tea Party" darling Ted Cruz:

ColoradoPols.com, a liberal blog, posted a two-minute audio clip forwarded by a source in the room and then agreed to share a longer excerpt with POLITICO Monday night.

Cruz received loud cheers as he talked about his son’s 21-hour speech…

Sent the quotes, a Cruz spokeswoman stressed that this was “Mr. Cruz’s speech” and that “Senator Cruz has been in D.C. fully focused on the effort to defund Obamacare.”

The elder Cruz, 74, has stepped up his profile in recent months as his son’s star has risen and 2016 chatter increased. He and the freshman both spoke in Iowa this August at a Family Leader event. He accompanied the Heritage Foundation’s Jim DeMint for part of a nine-city summer tour focused on defunding the Affordable Health Care Act. He’s won praise from tea party groups and talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh.

He leans heavily on his Cuban heritage, even comparing Obama to Fidel Castro.

“I believe the most ominous words I’ve ever heard from Barack Hussein Obama was two years in a row at the State of the Union address when he said, ‘If Congress does not act, I will act unilaterally,’” said Cruz. “[It’s] no different than that bearded friend, or dictator, that I left back in Cuba.” [Pols emphasis]

Tom Kludt at Talking Points Memo recaps from our original audio:

A Cuban immigrant and a pastor, Cruz claimed that Obama has pledged to "side with the Muslims" if "the winds shift," prompting a reaction from an audience member.

"He is Muslim," shouted a woman.

"[Sen. John] McCain couldn't say that because it wasn't politically correct," Cruz responed. "It is time we stop being politically correct!"

He also said that the Affordable Care Act denies and rations coverage for elderly patients while claiming that the law includes "suicide counseling."

We don't mind saying we were at first a little surprised at the national attention that Rafael Cruz's speech in Adams County is now getting. Apparently these remarks are a bit more crazy strident than generally attributed to a man we've read might run for high office himself in some kind of father/son Paul family type of arrangement. It's possible, in fact likely, that he didn't know he was being recorded. But to be honest, as shocking as these remarks may be on a national stage, Obama a Muslim, Obama like Casto, Obamacare mandating "suicide counseling"–this really is par for the course rhetoric-wise at the county level of the Republican Party in Colorado.

This is when it occurred to us that our local crazies have maybe inured us, by which we mean all of us, to the kind of raging lunacy displayed by Rafael Cruz last Friday in Thornton. And folks, what if that is the real problem?

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Ted Cruz’s Dad Goes Nuts In Adams County GOP Keynote

Friday night, the Adams County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner was held in Thornton, attended by a slew of GOP 2014 candidates including gubernatorial candidates Scott Gessler and Greg Brophy, U.S. Senate candidates Ken Buck and Randy Baumgardner, and attorney general candidate Cynthia Coffman. The keynote address was delivered by Rafael Cruz, the father of U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and sometimes mentioned as a possible candidate for office in his own right. Based on audio we were forwarded over the weekend, Cruz's speech to the Adams County GOP was…memorable to say the least. Transcribed excerpts:

RAFAEL CRUZ: So Barack Obama said: If the winds shift, I will side with the Muslims.

IN CROWD: He is Muslim!

CRUZ: [Exclamation] McCain couldn’t say that, because it's not politically correct. It is time to stop being politically correct! [Pols emphasis]

CRUZ: Our lives? Well, look at what’s happening with our lives. From the cradle, 55 million babies have been murdered by abortion since 1973. At the other end, Obamacare, with denying care to the elderly, with care being rationed, with care being postponed for 12 to 18 months, with care being controlled by a group of bureaucrats, that on the basis of cost/benefit, will decide whether you get a medical procedure or not, they’re destroying our end of life. As a matter of fact, one of the things in Obamacare is that the elderly, every five years you must have end-of-life counseling. Translation: suicide counseling! [Pols emphasis]

CRUZ: I know I am in a Republican Party meeting. If you want to throw tomatoes at me, throw tomatoes at me. But unfortunately, you cannot say that the Republican Party is without blame. We have too many RiNOs in the Republican Party!

CRUZ: They have their minds made up, and basically their idea is this: you’re too stupid and I know what I’m doing. Well I’ll tell you what, we the people are not stupid. We the people ought to be smart enough to throw them out of office, or primary them, and put constitutional conservatives in their place!

This is the kind of speech that would definitely make Colorado Republican Party chairman Ryan Call, you know, a little nervous. Demands for intraparty purges against "RiNO" Republicans (for the uninitiated, this stands for "Republican in Name Only"), and senselessly raging about such fictional items as Obamacare "suicide counseling," is very popular among the Colorado Republican grassroots today–as energizing to the party's base as it is repellent to most other voters. At the same time, the younger Cruz has emerged as a hero among the grassroots right for his prominent role in the threatened shutdown of the government to stop Obamacare from going into effect.

If you're a "mainstream" Republican who might otherwise side with Call on the base craziness issue, what do you do during this lunatic speech, knowing the base is ready to devour any hapless "RiNO" who dares disagree?

You smile and applaud, that's what.

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