Cruz Defends 'Duck Dynasty' Star From 'Thought Police'

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

CAITLIN MACNEAL – DECEMBER 19, 2013, 2:11 PM EST

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday defended 'Duck Dynasty' star Phil Robertson after he was suspended from the television show for making controversial anti-gay remarks in an interview with GQ magazine.

"If you believe in free speech or religious liberty, you should be deeply dismayed over the treatment of Phil Robertson. Phil expressed his personal views and his own religious faith; for that, he was suspended from his job," Cruz wrote on his Facebook page. "In a free society, anyone is free to disagree with him--but the mainstream media should not behave as the thought police censoring the views with which they disagree."

Cruz argued that people love 'Duck Dynasty' because it shows a family open about its faith.

"The reason that so many Americans love Duck Dynasty is because it represents the America usually ignored or mocked by liberal elites: a family that loves and cares for each other, believes in God, and speaks openly about their faith," Cruz wrote. Cruz has expressed his love for the reality show before. He talked about the "God-fearing" family "who love guns" during his September talkathon on the Senate floor.

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/cruz-defends-duck-dynasty-star-from-thought-police

[get the red out]

1. Well, corporations can do as they please with employees

And he caused problems for the corporation paying him, so this just sounds like a employee-employer dispute. And don't Republicans always come down on the side of the corporation?

[sharp_stick]

5. They really don't like it when

you point that out to them though. I've tried once or twice to mention the "right to work" rules that pretty much give A&E the ability to fire the duck guy and they get kind of pissy. They start misquoting the Constitution and spouting all kinds of religious liberty shit and then they slink away.

[get the red out]

18. That darned Constitution

Why doesn't it automatically change when the right needs it to then change back when it will affect liberals? LOL

[liberalmuse]

2. "Faith" is all fine and good...

but when it crosses into the territory where you hurt other human beings, then fuck your faith. Where were these people when Bashir and Baldwin were fired for expressing their thoughts? Hypocrites!

On edit: I'm not even going into the "free speech" issue with people who obviously don't "get" how it was meant to work. It's a colossal waste of time.

[dropboss11]

32. So people's philosophy should never offend you?

Religion offends. Even if you're an atheist that philosophy offends some. I may not agree with what the duck dynasty star said about beastiality and homosexuals, but because you may be offended does not mean he did not have a right to say it. It is free speech. What A&E channel does about it is their business, not yours.

[cosmicone]

3. Who cares what Ted Clown says?

We give him too much importance and exposure.

[frylock]

4. FEAR and GUNZ give cruz a big rubbery one

[kimmylavin]

6. Faith

If the things he said are an expression of faith (granted, I haven't been to church in a while, but I don't remember the priests talking about vaginas and anuses, nor about how one white man's experience means that Jim Crow didn't exist), maybe it's no wonder that more and more people are turning from religion.

[DeschutesRiver]

7. Sorry Ted, Phil's views are not being censored; but his actions had a consequence. Happens. nt

[get the red out]

21. If they are being censored

than the censor is doing a really bad job, since all I've seen online all day is all the shit he said.

[jtuck004]

8. Pimping for rich, racist, homophobe, Christians on the Senate floor, while 50 million

Americans may not have food or warm clothing on Christmas Day. On the other hand we did make sure the banks got $85 billion to profit from this month.

I suspect the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future said the hell with it and left.

Ho Ho Ho.

[Amonester]

11. Ted $crew$ should change his family name from $crew$ to $crooge

as far as I'm concerned.

$ame $creweR$ breed.

[jtuck004]

12. Scrooge, at least, changed his outlook. Cruz has no spirit.

He's just a walking lump of coal.

[Dustlawyer]

22. I wonder how big a bonus his Wall Street wife got?

[freshwest]

9. "God-fearing" family "who love guns" shouldn't be in the same sentence, Carnival. n/t

[KamaAina]

10. Carnival Cruz just flunked eighth-grade civics

The First Amendment protects Americans, including Mr. Duck Dynasty, from government action as a result of the exercise of the right to free speech. The duck guy is not being jailed or fined. Nor, to my knowledge, is A&E a subsidiary of the U.S. government.

See me after class, Rafael.

[Dustlawyer]

23. Cruz is a desperate opportunist who is hoping to connect with the shows audience.

This is nothing but another cheap political ploy to be important and avoid being marginalized. He is an obnoxious, egotistical asshole!

[Paladin]

25. He must have slept through Constitutional Law at Harvard, as well.

No surprise, there.....

[KamaAina]

28. I trust Obama wasn't his professor!

[matt819]

13. Thought police?

I think not. Frankly, I don't care what he thinks. I don't care what Cruz thinks. You run the risk of crossing the line when you actually speak. At that point it's not the Thought Police at work but rather the Bigot Police. And it's not a free speech issue either. These people are free to say what they like. That doesn't mean others can't respond, equally freely. Sometimes I think these people just don't understand. Anything. And I don't care where their degrees are from. Something went haywire with these people.

[Blue Owl]

14. Ya got yer mallards, and then you got yer dummards

n/t

[MyNameGoesHere]

15. Pssst. Señor Rafael Eduardo"Téodoro" Cruz, Phil probably calls you a wetback behind your back.

You really want to defend him?

[notadmblnd]

16. And I quote

"those with that platform, with a microphone, a camera in their face, they have to have some more responsibility taken."


The village idiot- Sarah Palin

[Gothmog]

17. The First Amendment only applies to State Actors

Unless a governmental entity is doing the censorship, the First Amendment does not apply. Here the TV network is free to take whatever steps they want and there is no violation of the First Amendment. This is basic constitutional law. Here is a brief explanation of this requirement from Cornell Law School http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/state_action_requirement

The state action requirement stems from the fact that the constitutional amendments which protect individual rights (especially the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment) are mostly phrased as prohibitions against government action. For example, the First Amendment states that “[c]ongress shall make no law” infringing upon the freedoms of speech and religion. Because of this requirement, it is impossible for private parties (citizens or corporations) to violate these amendments, and all lawsuits alleging constitutional violations of this type must show how the government (state or federal) was responsible for the violation of their rights. This is referred to as the state action requirement.

[Doctor_J]

19. The idiot is entitled to think and express his thoughts.

A&E is entitled to not provide a platform for his ravings.

[Cha]

20. Finally get to see what all this jindal-phil robertson-

scruz crap is all about.

Freakin' hateful "Bible Thumper".. they're the worst kind of bigoted assholes on the Planet.

I'm thinking Jesus would have to forgive this idiot for using his name Falsely.

So "suspended".. does that means he gets to come back after he "apologizes" for being such an ugly bigot?

[fujiyama]

24. This is not a free speech issue whatsoever

A&E is a corporation (jointly owned by ABC and Hearst), and I thought corporations are Ted Cruz's friends.

And corporations are private entities that can determine the kind of people they air. And in this case, they have decided that they don't want to broadcast racists and homophobes.

Besides where were they when Alec Baldwin and Martin Bashir were booted?

[louis-t]

26. Not censorship. No one told him not to say that.

His employer just figgered he wasn't stupid enough to say something like this. They figgered wrong.

[IggleDoer]

27. "Thought Police"????

Really? Do these guys think?

[EC]

29. Well, Mr. Cruz...

you're a lawyer, you know about contracts...I'm sure that there is a morals clause that covers this. He signed the contract.

[Bradical79]

30. Birds of a feather...nt

[SkatmanRoth]

31. Ted Cruz aligns himself with rednecks and knuckle dragers

But we already knew that