This page was last updated on April 30, 2016.
Cruz campaign full of half-truths and lies; Thomas M. Finch; Beaver County Times; April 20, 2016.
The BCT has published at least 40 letters from Mr. Finch since December 2004. At least 31 of these letters were anti-Bush and/or anti-Republican and they never disappoint. Here is one example. You can find the remaining Finch letters I critiqued in the critique archives. As usual, this letter is little more than a string of leftist talking points. I wish he could get a regular column in the BCT. I also wish he could get at least five minutes per day on a local radio and/or TV station. The most recent letter was “No choice among Republicans.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Last Thursday’s op-ed page in The Times offered senseless Tea Party, neo-con rants trashing Hillary Clinton and Gov. Tom Wolf, and practically all Democrats in general.”
[RWC] A blast from the past. During 2008-2011, Mr. Finch was fond of the term “neo-con,” but he hasn’t yet defined it for us.
“Equally disgusting was Roy Whipple’s misguided endorsement of ‘lyin’ Ted’ Cruz -- not my words, but Donald Trump’s. Fellow GOP candidate John Kasich’s team declared that Cruz exhibits a ‘disturbing pattern of untruthfulness ...’ The website Politifact Scorecard analyzed hundreds of Cruz’s statements and found that 80 percent of them fell into categories between half-truths and outright lies. What a paragon of electable virtue.”
[RWC] As you read this, keep in mind Mr. Finch didn’t provide one example of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) lying. Instead, Mr. Finch relies on accusations by Mr. Cruz’s competition without specific examples. As for Politifact, though I use it when I can find credible corroboration, keep in mind it’s owned and operated by the Tampa Bay Times, and it’s no secret the mainstream media leans left.
When Mr. Finch wrote “not my words, but Donald Trump’s,” he seemed to imply Mr. Trump was a more trustworthy source than he. If Mr. Finch was going to use Politifact as a source, he should have mentioned it’s Politifact’s opinion Mr. Trump is a bigger liar (90%) than Ted Cruz. Oops.
“Cruz being a ‘constitutionalist’ isn’t what makes him unpopular. This is a man who had no reservations about shutting down the government -- no matter who got hurt by it -- just to feed his own arrogant ego. You call that a man of principles? Cruz has been described as the ‘most hated man in the Senate’ -- for good reasons.”
[RWC] As for “shutting down the government,” it takes two – or more - to tango, plus the full government never really shuts down. No single person, including the President, can legally shut down the federal government.
“If he’s such an expert on the Constitution, he should recognize the concept of ‘separation of church and state.’ I’m pretty sure the founding fathers addressed that. Instead, he fights to display the Ten Commandments in Austin? How stupid was that?”
[RWC] Mr. Finch seems to want readers to believe Mr. Cruz lost the case (Van Orden v. Perry) about the “Ten Commandments in Austin” on the State Capitol grounds. Mr. Finch knows that’s not true.
Mr. Cruz was Solicitor General (SG) of Texas and it was his job to represent Texas in court. As Mr. Finch knows, by the time Mr. Cruz became the SG, Texas had already won the case in a federal district court. As SG, Mr. Cruz argued the case before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. Both courts found in favor of Texas.
So, where did the phrase “separation between church and state” come from if not the Constitution? It’s from a letter President Thomas Jefferson sent to the Danbury (Connecticut) Baptist Association. Here’s the relevant excerpt from that letter:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.”
In case Mr. Finch forgot, “In God We Trust” is the official motto of the U.S.
“An egotistical demagogue like Trump would be a lousy president -- but he might do something good just by accident. Cruz is a liar who would be even worse -- I know he won’t do anything beneficial, even by accident. He’s just a smirking snake-oil salesman, who doesn’t play well with others.”
[RWC] It’s interesting. Almost every day we hear both Democrats and Republicans assert they are tired of “establishment” Democrat and Republican politicians. When someone actually takes on “the establishment,” however, the gal/guy is claimed to have an “arrogant ego,” no “principles,” and “doesn’t play well with others.”
Need proof “establishment” Republicans fear Mr. Cruz? Consider the words of former House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) at an event held at Stanford University.
“When specifically asked his opinions on Ted Cruz, Boehner made a face, drawing laughter from the crowd.
“‘Lucifer in the flesh,’ the former Speaker said. ‘I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.’”
“Boehner described other Republican candidates as friends. In particular, he said he has played golf with Donald Trump for years and that they were ‘texting buddies.’
…
“While he did not praise Trump’s policies, the former Speaker did say he would vote for Trump in the general election if he becomes the Republican nominee. He said he would not, however, vote for Cruz.”
During a CNN interview on April 28, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) said, “I fully agree with John Boehner. Maybe it gives Lucifer a bad name by comparing him to Ted Cruz.”
Did Messrs. Boehner or King ever say anything comparable about Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) or Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)?
Mr. Finch meant to write, “I know [Mr. Cruz] won’t do anything [lefties would find] beneficial.”
© 2004-2016 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.