Cruz dons face paint in appeal to hunters, gun owners

[webfact]

Cruz dons face paint in appeal to hunters, gun owners
By MICHAEL BIESECKER and WILL WEISSERT

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's an image football fans in Iowa are likely to see this weekend: Ted Cruz, his face smeared with black greasepaint, sitting in a Louisiana duck blind with a borrowed shotgun.

His Republican presidential campaign said Tuesday it's spending $700,000 to air a gun-friendly ad during the NFL conference championship games.

Cruz has made the defense of Second Amendment rights a cornerstone of his presidential campaign, touting his past legal work fighting against gun control laws. But records suggest the 45-year-old politician's passion for the issue emerged relatively recently in his life, coinciding with his ascent in Republican circles in Texas.

Cruz was in Louisiana last week to film a campaign video with Phil Robertson, the gray-bearded patriarch of reality TV's "Duck Dynasty" clan. The junior senator from Texas, clad in camouflaged overalls, is shown squeezing off a couple of rounds toward the gray sky. It was not clear whether the candidate struck any ducks.

Looking into the camera, Robertson says his selection criteria for endorsing a candidate include "would they kill a duck, put 'em in a pot and make 'em a good duck gumbo." He then tells Cruz, "You're one of us, my man."

In his three years in the U.S. Senate, Cruz's voting record has earned an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. Fiery criticism of President Barack Obama's efforts to tighten background checks for gun purchases is a staple of Cruz stump speeches: The candidate quipped that back in Texas the term "gun control" means that you "hit what you're aiming at."

In an autobiography published last year, Cruz recounts how after he moved to Austin in 2003 to serve as the state's appointed solicitor general, he became concerned about leaving his wife, Heidi, at home alone while he traveled. The couple had previously lived in Washington, where each had jobs in the administration of President George W. Bush.

"Worried that an intruder might come through the window, I placed a hatchet beneath our bed, and started to tell her to grab the hatchet if anything happened," wrote Cruz. "As I was saying this, it struck me ... this was stupid. Heidi is 5-foot-2. The last thing I wanted was for my beautiful, petite wife to be trying to swing a hatchet at a large, menacing robber coming through the window."

The next day, Cruz recounts, he bought her a Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver to keep in the bedside table. According to his campaign, Cruz also owns a 12-gauge Beretta Silver Pigeon shotgun for bird hunting, though a spokeswoman declined to disclose when he bought the weapon. The campaign also declined to say whether he holds a permit to carry a concealed firearm.

According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Cruz purchased his first hunting license there in 2006, when he would have been 35. He then bought licenses in three of the last 10 years — 2008, 2014 and 2015.

Cruz's campaign said he purchased a Louisiana hunting license before the recent video shoot with Robertson, though the state's wildlife department refused last week to confirm that.

Records from Iowa show he also bought licenses in 2013 and 2015 at the Hole N' the Wall Lodge, site of an annual pheasant hunt hosted by home-state U.S. Rep. Steve King, typically attended by aspiring GOP presidential contenders. King has since endorsed Cruz and is now a national co-chairman of his campaign.

At the most recent hunt in Iowa, a smiling Cruz posed for media photos with about two dozen dead fowl while wearing immaculate tan and orange hunting attire, a shotgun resting on his shoulder.

The campaign's website also features a wide array of apparel targeted at hunters, including camouflage T-shirts, safety-orange hats emblazoned with his name, and even "Camo Cruzie" drink holders. Earlier this month, Cruz's campaign raffled off a custom Remington 12-gauge shotgun engraved with his logo.

Questions about whether Cruz is an active sportsman became a campaign issue during his 2012 run for the U.S. Senate in Texas. During a televised debate, Cruz's Democratic opponent questioned whether Cruz owned a gun and twice asked whether he was an avid hunter. Cruz responded that he was a gun owner, but declined to say how often he hunted. When pressed afterward, he said the question was a distraction from the race's real issues.

"He's been pretty forthcoming about saying he enjoys hunting but doesn't get to do it as often as he would like," Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told The Associated Press. "You don't have to have a hunting license to shoot guns."

She added that Cruz visits shooting ranges pretty often. He held a campaign rally at an Iowa shooting range last month.

"It's no secret that Sen. Cruz has been a passionate defender of the Constitution from a very early age," Frazier said. "He exercises his own right to bear arms regularly and often, and he's very glad to live in a country where he can do that."

In boosting his bona fides as a foot soldier for the Second Amendment, Cruz often cites his role in a 2008 court challenge to the District of Columbia's ban on private possession of most firearms in the nation's capital.

As solicitor general, Cruz helped file a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Texas and 30 other states in support of Dick Heller, a Washington resident who challenged the city's gun ban. In his book, Cruz details the case at length and slams the Bush administration for arguing in court that reasonable restrictions on gun ownership are constitutional if they protect "important regulatory interests."

"I was dismayed with the Bush administration's attempt to water down the Second Amendment and incensed with D.C.'s attempt to write the Second Amendment entirely out of the Constitution," Cruz recounts. "Unlike the Bush administration, we did not believe that laws infringing Americans' right to 'keep and bear arms' become constitutional whenever a federal judge finds them 'reasonable.' That's not what the Constitution says; instead, it says 'the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.' In my view, 'shall not be infringed' means exactly that."

In his written argument to the justices, however, Cruz took a more nuanced legal position. Responding to concerns expressed by the government that striking down DC's gun ban could jeopardize other gun control laws across the country, Cruz listed numerous "reasonable regulations" on guns he argued were constitutional, including state prohibitions on felons possessing firearms, as well as bans on owning machine guns and sawed-off shotguns.

In the end, the high court ruled 5-4 to strike down the DC gun ban, upholding the individual constitutional right to own firearms. Though he didn't directly represent Heller, Cruz's involvement in the case helped bring the then-relatively unknown Texas lawyer to the notice of top gun-rights supporters.

"Ted Cruz is one of our nation's leading defenders of the Second Amendment," NRA executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre says in a quote featured on the candidate's website. "For over a decade, Ted has fought tirelessly to defend our constitutional right to keep and bear arms, and his leadership was absolutely critical to our major victories before the U.S. Supreme Court."
___

Weissert reported from Austin, Texas.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-01-20

[FritsSikkink]

idiot

[edwinchester]

These people have absolutely no shame and would put on a gimp suit at an SM convention if they thought it would gain them the bondage vote.

[NeverSure]

No, he understands what Clinton missed in the Dem debate. A strong majority of Americans support gun rights. Trump also is making a point to support gun rights.

Hillary comes out if favor of gun control and in favor of Obamacare, both of which are unpopular with the majority of American voters. She's being stupid again.

This is an American election, you know.

[daoyai]

The repub election strategy seems to "how low can you go" to get the idiot vote, Trump will hump Palin, Cruz getting the ok from Phil Robertson without even showing that he can cook duck gumbo.... this election is a pathetic farce.

[DM07]

I saw that ad!

"He is gaaaaawdly!"

[expat_4_life]

Here is a good Cruz video:

Cruz Your Own Adventure
https://youtu.be/jkQz8vZ0jsU

[Songlaw]

idiot

And if he thinks camouflage will in some way mask this fact, he might want to give this (along with a host of other things) at least one more think.

[Tywais]

Hillary comes out if favor of gun control and in favor of Obamacare, both of which are unpopular with the majority of American voters. She's being stupid again.

The majority?

Gallop Poll

CBS News/New York Times Poll

[Chicog]

He can do what he likes. Now Trump's got Palin assisting him, it's time to Dump the Trump!

[arunsakda]

He should go Turkey hunting with Cheney.

Sent via a series of tubes

[Jingthing]

Will Cruz achieve his youthful dream?

[arjunadawn]

The repub election strategy seems to "how low can you go" to get the idiot vote, Trump will hump Palin, Cruz getting the ok from Phil Robertson without even showing that he can cook duck gumbo.... this election is a pathetic farce.

Maybe, but the democratic election strategy is far more idiotic (Read repugnant), though far more genius (Read treasonous)- import people, give them free stuff, then empower them to keep voting for more of other people's stuff by voting for democrats. America is clearly at Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point," which Romney foolishly noted. Trump, and to a lesser extent Cruz, evidence this.

American elections have been a "pathetic farce" since America completely divided one political party into two camps, and feigned offering voters choice. With the lesser of two evils Americans could only ever slow the slide into socialism; 2 steps left, 1 step right. We have seen with Obama what the worse of the two evils brings 3 steps left, 3 steps left... HRC would do the same. Cruz's pandering is no more than par for the course, like kissing babies, going to church... basically, political fellatio on the voters.

[NeverSure]

Hillary comes out if favor of gun control and in favor of Obamacare, both of which are unpopular with the majority of American voters. She's being stupid again.

The majority?

Capture.JPG

Capture2.JPG

Gallop Poll

CBS News/New York Times Poll

It depends on how you ask the questions, and what the responders think the end results would be. Most American guns owners that I know think that the end game is to take guns ala our friends in Europe and elsewhere. Try these polls by Gallup with different wordings. Look at the change in favor of gun ownership over the years.

First a poll on whether Americans should have guns at all, and next, whether Americans feel safer or less safe with a gun in the house. These are "feelings" people have that will cause them to vote. Both are recent Gallup polls here and here.

Note the Democrats - Hillary's people - also want their guns. So do women!

Cheers

Edited January 25, 2016 by NeverSure

[Publicus]

The repub election strategy seems to "how low can you go" to get the idiot vote, Trump will hump Palin, Cruz getting the ok from Phil Robertson without even showing that he can cook duck gumbo.... this election is a pathetic farce.

this election is a pathetic farce

The election is November 8th.

Presumably the post is about Cruz and the crew on the Republican party side being the pathetic farce. The thread is of course about Cruz and those clowns only.

Nobody's voted yet. Five months of state primary voting or caucuses (mostly primaries) then the nominating conventions during summer followed by the big one in the fall.

HR Clinton knows the ropes at the White House and in Washington. We likely share the view the Republicans making all the noise are doing so because they've lost contact with reality. One or another and one after the other suffer from Tourette's to autism and everything in between.

[Publicus]

Will Cruz achieve his youthful dream?

Looks like summer in Canada.

Ted however isn't going to win the Gold Medal there or here.

https://youtu.be/Fc3OO0IUPjE

Neither will baby Justin Bieber.

https://youtu.be/vWkrBo6qd7c

https://youtu.be/S9Ya4GAOCK0

Jim Carry too.....

https://youtu.be/2ic3xNfEP_o

Edited January 26, 2016 by Publicus

[noikrit]

Face Paint ...... The Circus continues ........

[Pinot]

The pandering hits high gear as the first test approaches. Trump does Palin, goes to church, Cruz in greasepaint camo.

Hey look at me!

[chuckd]

The pandering hits high gear as the first test approaches. Trump does Palin, goes to church, Cruz in greasepaint camo.

Hey look at me!

Now that's more like it. Stick to the editorial type posts.