William Shatner: Cruz's Belief Captain Kirk Was Republican Is 'Silly'

[Stuart G]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-william-shatner-star-trek

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who is a big fan of "Star Trek" spoke with the New York Times Magazine about his favorite character from the show, Captain James Kirk.

Cruz described the character as "a passionate fighter for justice."
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who is a big fan of "Star Trek" spoke with the New York Times Magazine about his favorite character from the show, Captain James Kirk.

Cruz described the character as "a passionate fighter for justice.


And when asked whether he felt Kirk would have been a Republican or Democrat, Cruz told the New York Times Magazine that "it is quite likely that Kirk is a Republican."



However, William Shatner, who played the role of Captain Kirk, took issue with that, calling Cruz's hypothesis "silly."

from Shatner's Twitter act:


William Shatner
✔ ?@WilliamShatner
Star Trek wasn't political. I'm not political; I can't even vote in the US. So to put a geocentric label on interstellar characters is silly


1:48 PM - 23 Jul 2015

[Octafish]

1. Capt. Kirk believes all sentient beings are equal under Federation law.

No way that's Ferengi.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Kirk was a serious "social justice warrior"

as the right-wing kiddies like to say these days. Cruz must be thinking of the "Mirror Universe" Kirk who worked for the Imperial Star Fleet, an organization much more in keeping with Cruz's views and philosophies.

[Stuart G]

3. Strange thing for Cruz to say...but,

then again Cruz is very very strange..

beam me up Scotty!

[Kelvin Mace]

4. Yes, I am always mystified

when conservatives claim the Star Trek universe, especially Kirk and Company embodied conservative ideals. They are more like the Klingons, but without all that "honor" nonsense.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. It's amazing how they miss the whole philosophy of the show.

[exboyfil]

5. In fairness to Cruz

it was a B.S. question. While I loved Star Trek both it and The Next Generation did little to show what human society would be like in a resource limited case. Star Trek presupposes technology solves that problem. I prefer Babylon 5 and its Downbelow to show a more realistic picture of a human society in such a Star Trek technological world (both are great stories but diverge greatly from what I would expect the future to be - I don't buy the existence of warp drive or jump gate technology - also interacting with other nearly human races).

[BillZBubb]

6. Actually, Star Trek had episodes highlighting those issues and Cruz is an idiot.

Creator Gene Roddenberry did believe in the promise of technology, but he also was a strong believer in social justice. Many of the episodes dealt with Earth's societal problems through the lens of other civilizations.

Warp drive was a device, like the transporter and other human like beings, to allow the Enterprise to introduce the problems and possible resolutions.

[Archae]

7. Besides, Gene Roddenberry hated religion.

Well, he didn't hate it, but he disliked it a lot.

"God" always turned out to be a egomaniac, evil creature, spoiled brat kid, or a computer.

[exboyfil]

11. Which is interesting

because the transporter basically verifies the existence of a soul. Only under a very special set of circumstances is it possible to have more than one copy of an individual (thinking Riker or the split person Kirk). It should actually be the ideal cloning machine since if biology is just chemistry which is just physics there should be nothing special about making additional copies of an individual.

I think Babylon 5 was a superior show when it came to dealing with religion. It was shown as a source of conflict but also great comfort for individuals. An early episode where the different societies were showing what their religion was like has highlighted by Sinclair showing the vast multitude of Earth religions.

[Robbins]

8. Star Trek

It's non-parisan show but it has liberal overtunes.Roddenberry despite flaws was very liberal.

Cruz is idiot If he thinks star trek is like the tea party.

[Stuart G]

12. I agree with you, Cruz is an idiot.

No matter what he thinks of star trek..He is still an idiot. He is really much worse, he is a selfish, egotistical idiot,..................................... not just a regular idiot!!!!!!!!!!

[Baitball Blogger]

10. The best representation of a Republican in that series is a Ferengi.

[hifiguy]

16. They walk among us every day, albeit in disguise.

The difference between a Ferengi and the average plutocrat is nothing more than appearance.

[IDemo]

17. Or a Tribble if you're a Duggar

[Baitball Blogger]

21. LOL!

[tanyev]

13. Cruz must be thinking of mirror universe Captain Kirk.

[ladyVet]

14. Cruz is an idiot, for sure.

The Federation was about as liberal as it got, what with all that touchy-feely, everybody is equal stuff.

I did love mirror-universe Spock, though.

Oh, heck, I loved regular-universe Spock.

Spock, Spock, Spock, Spock, Spock!

Wooooooooo

[hifiguy]

15. Kirk's creator, Gene Roddenberry was a democratic socialist and

an outspoken atheist. Don't think there were any Repukes on the Enterprise.

Wrong again, Tiddles.

[Liberal_Dog]

18. Captain Kirk Always Tried His Best To Avoid Using Force

So, I just can't see him in the same party as Lindsey Graham.

[Motown_Johnny]

19. Kirk could have killed the Gorn

but instead, he showed the advanced trait known as "compassion".

Republicans don't do compassion.

Case closed.

[daleo]

20. The Prime Directive

Non-interference with other cultures. That is about as non-Republican as it gets.