New York State GOP is honoring Ted Cruz despite Cruz's hostility to the state
I think just about everybody is still scratching their head at the New York State GOP's tone-deaf decision to invite Sen. Ted Cruz to headline their annual dinner on May 29. As the
New York Daily News editorial page
puts it:
Two choices are offered to New York Republican Chairman Ed Cox: Cancel plans to have Texas Sen. Ted Cruz headline the party’s annual dinner or speed the GOP’s long demise in the state.
In featuring Cruz as the prime speaker at the May 29 affair, Cox has entered a death embrace with New York’s political Public Enemy No. 1 of the moment.
Cruz represents the unthinking, doctrinaire strain of conservatism that doomed Mitt Romney’s electoral chances, such as they were, and threatened to alienate Republicans from key voting blocs, including Cruz’s fellow Hispanics.
He will be toxic to any hope that New York’s GOP might regain even slight relevance.
In the wake of the Newtown massacre, Cruz threatened to filibuster any and all reasonable gun control measures, up to and including background checks for purchases at gun shows.
Rough stuff ... and that's before the paper turned its focus to Cruz's opposition to Hurricane Sandy relief aid. But for that, let's let one of Cruz's fellow Republicans, Long Island Rep. Peter King,
do the talking:
King followed up Tuesday, saying of Cruz: “He went out of his way to attack New York on the bill. It’s a little early to forgive and forget.”
King continued: “There were really false and phony charges made against the Sandy aid, and if Ted Cruz had prevailed, my constituents would be homeless.”
Those are fair points by King. It's truly unbelievable that his party would honor a guy like Cruz. But given that there's no end in sight to the Cruz worship, the interesting question here probably isn't whether the the New York State GOP will get it's act together—it's whether guys like Peter King will ever do anything to stand up to the likes of Ted Cruz other than issuing press releases and offering tart quotes to the media.