Sorry for the crude title (and with due credit to Stephen King), but it perfectly captures what happened this week when Ted Cruz tried to use John Wayne to make Jesse Helms look desirable just before opining that Jesse Helms is what the GOP needs in massive doses. To cut the story down to the crucial line, Cruz relates that John Wayne apparently told Jesse Helms, when Helm called him to thank him for a large campaign donation, "Oh yeah, you're that guy saying all those crazy things. We need a 100 more like you!" And Cruz repeated that we need 100 more like Helms in the GOP.
Cruz failed miserably to make Helms seem palatable. Nothing can do that. Helms was a rank racist and unapologetic bigot; quite the ass. Clearly Cruz thinks the GOP needs to steer into the spin and go full frontal racist. I'm sure he's got a following in believing that, especially since he dared to air those opinions in front of the foaming-at-the-mouth right-wing Heritage Foundation.
But, Mr. Cruz, all you accomplished was to drastically diminish John Wayne in the eyes of the majority of Americans and the world. Well done, sir. Thanks for the history lesson.
Copyright (c)2014 Todd Grigsby, all rights reserved
