Saturday, September 13, 2014

Some Perspective on Ted Cruz


Some perspective on Ted Cruz is needed. Here is what he said a year ago, when Obama was talking about bombing Assad:

"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) spoke out Tuesday against President Barack Obama's resolution to authorize a military strike against Syria, warning that the United States should not become "Al Qaeda's air force."

...The Texas senator also warned against arming Syrian rebels against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, saying such a strategy would make "no sense."

“I’ll give you one of the simplest principles of foreign policy that we ought to be following: Don’t give weapons to people who hate you," he said. Don’t give weapons to people who want to kill you.""

See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/ted-cruz-syria_n_3867006.html

He did not handle the "In Defense of Christians" meeting last week as well as he should have, but we should not paint an ally as an enemy. We don't have so many that we can afford to alienate any of them.

I have been in communication with one of his aids, and he is taking the right position in Syria. We do not have to agree with him on Israel, and he does not need to agree with us on that. We need all the help we can get to prevent the establishment of an Islamicist government on Syria... because if that happens, it is all over for the Christians there.

Update: Not that I agree with how Ted Cruz handled this, this article, published earlier in the day on September 10th by the Washington Free Beacon, is the reason why he made such a point of vocalizing his support of Israel: Cruz Headlines Conference Featuring Hezbollah Supporters. This is the kind of thing that Cruz probably would expect to come back to haunt him in future political attack ads, and so he beat the drum of support Israel to inoculate himself against such attacks. I don't think he expected the kind of reaction he got -- and it should be noted that he did not get a negative reaction to the statement that we should protect Jews. The reaction was to his assertion that Arab Christians had no better friend than Israel, and if you know the history of Palestinian Christians since 1948, the reaction was completely understandable. However, I can also tell you that I have already had an Evangelical that asked me if Arab Christians supported Al Qaeda and ISIS, as a result of this flap. This incident has not helped Senator Cruz, and it has not helped the cause of Christians in the Middle East either. Those who have been skewering Cruz over this should ask themselves one question, however: why are they beating up a man who has consistently opposed the policies that helped create ISIS, and yet we do not hear them skewering Obama, who is the one who has been advancing those policies. Obama met with middle eastern Christian leaders, at a round table that went very nicely -- and he even acknowledged that Assad has been protecting Christians, but there is no indication that he is changing his policies which seek to oust Assad... which are even less excusable in the light of that admission. Hezbollah has been helping Assad fight off Al Qaeda, and ISIS. They may not be your favorite entity in the Middle East, but they are at least helping to defend the Christian population of Syria. If Christians can welcome the help of Hezbollah, despite some of their less pleasant aspects, maybe we can work with Ted Cruz towards the same end.

Update: Here is a video that will help those who don't understand why Palestinian Christians would not agree that Israel is their best friend:



Update: Only 22 Senators voted against arming the so called "Free Syrian Army," which has actually been slaughtering Christians. One of them was Ted Cruz. Most of us live in a state with at least 1 Senator that voted to fund the Jihadists who are allied with ISIS. They are they ones that we should be calling out, not the ones who are doing the right thing.