He comes off as a clod is all. It's no difference to me why he does--it's that he does that determines his political fate. I hope--because I understand that being a clod has a certain limited appeal in some circles. So upon hearing that Cruz wrong-footed it at a do for Arab Christians, I simply thought he was being a clod again. So he mentions standing with Israel--Israel and Hamas have been in the news recently, which might have brought Israel to mind, and then, there is the shared history of people experiencing persecution. It didn't strike me at first that he'd done anything more than be sort of off-topic.
But in reading further, I find I am in agreement with Rod Dreher and Rep. Dent. It looks to me like he was changing the subject from Arab Christian persecution (which is, in light of recent events, an extremely dire situation), to soliciting support for a regime in Israel that is perceived to be anti-Arab and there is some perception that they are anti-Christian, or at least, discriminatory, as well. It does not help that his response to the criticism he received was to blast his detractors with the charge of anti-Semitism. One does not need to be an anti-Semite to have reservations about Israel's policies as a government.
It seems like what Cruz was saying, in effect, mirrors the literal Biblical words:
Genesis 12:3: “And I will bless them that bless you and curse him that curses you.”
Which seems to be a significant token amongst certain, mostly dispensationalist fundamentalist Christians, whose support of Israel has a lot to do with their hope in the return of You Know Who. Where Ted Cruz became possessed of the idea that this is a helpful spirit to inject into a forum where there are people with real-world issues to relate--not "next-world" aspirations, is not actually even all that much of a puzzle. But I think it is really telling about his character that he pulled that kind of stunt.
The US is a diverse nation, and we are one nation in a diverse world. Cruz's signifying and tone-deafness suggest that he just isn't capable of relating to the challenges of leading a nation like ours in the world we have because he sees things in a terribly limited and even mean-spirited way.
I find his POV actually scary.
2 comments:
you may also want to take a look at Cruz's rather peculiar brand of Christianity, Dominionism.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/10/30/left-accept-ted-cruz-dominionist-messiah.html
makes him more than a little scary
The whole "seven mountains" thing is a naked, almost comic-book villain recipe for world domination at the expense of other people's freedom to even dissent, that I have a hard time understanding why more people don't find it as shudderingly uncomfortable as I do. From the historical rewrite at the hands of twerps like Barton, to the messianic subway sandwich-board shouter rhetoric of some of the folks who even getting elected into office--I am at a loss. I see a theocratic horrorshow. I can't entirely get with people for whom this registers no problems.
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