"Hi, I'm Ted Cruz. Scott Walker is killing my Iowa cred."
Ted Cruz, who was
courting gays for money in a New York Penthouse just months ago, is now pushing his pander burners into overdrive to win back Iowa's social conservatives. It must be killing him that Scott Walker has stolen his
evangelical thunder while Trump is upstaging his misbegotten straight talk among tea partiers. Poor guy can't even break into
double digits.
Enter Cruz's latest video. It's everything you'll never be able to stomach. Cruz opens by saying, "I'm here with Dick and Betty Odgaard and we're talking about their incredible journey fighting to defend religious liberty." Yep, you guessed it. The gays are wielding their ugly equality agenda again and Cruz is pulling back the curtain.
If it's just too much for you, Eric Levitz brings us the basics.
Dick and Betty Odgaard own and operate a bistro inside a converted church in Grimes, Iowa. The Christian couple began renting out the space as a full service wedding venue in 2008. In the video, Cruz and the Odgaards fondly reminisce about all the beautiful weddings the venue hosted – back before a gay couple asked to rent the space in 2013 and put an end to the festivities.
The Odgaards informed the gay couple that they did not wish to host a wedding that was contrary to their faith. The next day, the couple filed a lawsuit against the venue, and news of the dispute went viral.
“It was devastating to be told that we were bigots,” Betty Odgaard told Cruz.
Sorry about that, Betty. The gay couple who found out they weren't human enough to access the same goods and services being provided to others were probably pretty devastated too.
To find out how things are turning out for Cruz and the Odgaards, head below the fold.
There's more than a few things worth noting here, but let's just stick with two. First, this couple owns a private business, period. The fact that it happens to be a converted church isn't irrelevant. They're not clergy. They're Christians who own a business.
Second, Ted Cruz is a candidate on the ropes in Iowa—doing anything he can to claw back into the hearts of social conservatives.
As for the Odgaards...
The Odgaards settled with the couple, paying them $5,000 and agreeing to stop discriminating against same-sex couples. Barred by their faith from participating in gay weddings, the Odgaards were forced to stop hosting weddings altogether, rendering their business unsustainable. The bistro plans to close by the end of August.
The Odgaards weren't "forced" to do anything. That's called a choice, folks. Being gay isn't.