Sen. Ted Cruz Praises Racist Jesse Helms: ‘We Need 100 More’ In the Senate
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, the Tea Party Republican born in Canada now serving the great state of Texas, says America needs 100 more racists in the U.S. Senate. To many of you, the name Jesse Helms is synonymous with racism. To others, the name means nothing. There really few, if any, to whom the name Jesse Helms means anything else.
Jesse Helms, a Republican five-term U.S. Senator from North Carolina, was a racist to his dying day. He unabashedly bashed African-Americans, opposed U.S. sanctions against South Africa’s apartheid, opposed integration, opposed the Voting Rights Act, and opposed approving Martin Luther King Day. Helms also opposed LGBT rights, women’s rights, the rights of the disabled, abortion, and many other rights today most Americans not only believe to be “God-given,” but instilled in the intent of our Constitution.
On December 5, 2002, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, Trent Lott, of Mississippi, attended the 100th birthday party of U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, another unabashed racist, and uttered these remarks:
“When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.”
Thurmond meant, if Americans had not embraced equality for African-Americans, had not passed the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act, had not done away with segregation, “we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.”
The nation recoiled in horror.
Lott was left no choice but to resign as the Senate Majority Leader. Even President Bush distanced himself from Lott’s remarks.
Now, we have Texas Senator Ted Cruz claiming America needs “a hundred more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.”
American needs 100 more racists in the U.S. Senate?
“The willingness to say all those crazy things is a rare, rare characteristic in this town, and you know what?,” Cruz said. “It’s every bit as true now as it was then. We need a hundred more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.”
Are you OK with this?
How is American not outraged? I am. I trust you are too.
I hope you’ll tell Senator Ted Cruz (Facebook, Twitter, Office), and Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Facebook, Twitter, Office), the head of the RNC, Reince Priebus (Facebook, Twitter, Office), and Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry (Facebook, Twitter, Office), that Senator Cruz’s comment are abhorrent and unacceptable.
Frankly, Cruz should resign from the U.S. Senate, after apologizing to the nation, but that won’t happen, because Cruz isn’t one bit ashamed.
We should be, for him, for the good of our nation.
It outrages me that eleven years ago, America was less tolerant of racism than we are today.
