Posted on 02/04/2015 6:36:11 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I suppose it’s better that this GOP laundry is being aired now, a year out from the first Republican presidential primary. Better now than an October Surprise by a malicious Democrat hack two weeks out from the presidential election.
The Daily Mail’s David Martosko asked 10 potential GOP candidates about their past use of marijuana:
Rick Perry, Donald Trump and John Bolton say they have never smoked pot; Rand Paul hints that he ‘wasn’t a choirboy’ – but won’t answer directly. Marco Rubio refuses to answer, saying no one will believe him if the answer is ‘no’; Carly Fiorina will only say she opposes legalizing weed. Spokesmen for Govs. Scott Walker and Gov. Chris Christie, and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, ignored questions entirely.
The biggest headline was reserved for Sen. Ted Cruz:
EXCLUSIVE: Top Republican contender Ted Cruz ‘foolishly experimented with marijuana,’ his campaign admits after Bush confesses to high-school pot use.
“Teenagers are often known for their lack of judgment, and Sen. Cruz was no exception,” a Cruz spokesperson told The Daily Mail. “When he was a teenager, he foolishly experimented with marijuana. It was a mistake, and he’s never tried it since.”
Cruz’s admission comes less than a week after Jeb Bush admitted to the Boston Globe that he smoked weed at the elite prep school he attended as a teenager.
Again, it’s good that these revelations are surfacing now. No candidate wants to worry that his high school football buddies (or debate teammates) are going to get a call from a reporter asking about that epic party in 1988.
Also included in the Daily Mail article is this comment from an anonymous congressional staffer:
But Cruz’s conservative political base may not look kindly on the news. An aide to a Democratic senator told Daily Mail Online: “Just wait until the tea party gets its hooks in this. I mean, we all have skeletons and even moral crusaders eventually topple of their own weight, right?”
You can practically hear the breathless staffer gleefully panting this into his cell phone from a dark corner of his office as he rubs his hands together, fantasizing about the (literal) lynching that will be visited upon Ted Cruz on the steps of the Capitol, courtesy of the tea party.
The anonymous aide is correct on one point. We all have skeletons.
Most people — tea party supporters included — understand that teenagers sometimes make poor decisions. But teenagers change. Most grow up and learn from their mistakes. People are usually willing to forgive youthful indiscretions when an individual shows over time that he has changed his ways and is sincere about repudiating the past behavior.
People tend to be less forgiving of individuals like President Obama, who wrote nostalgically — almost fondly — of his high school pot and cocaine use in Dreams From My Father. Obama wrote that being high, “could at least help you to laugh at the world’s ongoing folly and see through all the hypocrisy and bullsh** and cheap moralism.” He also boasted several times on the campaign trail, “I inhaled…frequently! That was the point!” Sides-splitting stuff there.
Parents tend to get a little irritated when their elected officials make comments that put drug use in a positive light. And voters — at least those on the right — don’t particularly like politicians who say, “Don’t do drugs” with wink and a smile.
Considering that the revelations about Cruz are for something that happened some 30-years in the past and given his words of contrition about behavior he calls “foolish” and a “mistake,” this skeleton is not going to “topple” Cruz. He will not be thrown under the tea party bus and no one will care about this in a month (except for that anonymous Dem staffer who will still be trying to figure out how on earth this did not turn into the biggest scandal since Watergate).
One Ohio tea party leader put it in perspective, saying that Cruz should be judged on his current record rather than on decisions he made in his teen years.
“While I don’t condone the use of pot, I’m not going to judge his qualifications based on a poor choice he made in his teen years,” said Amy Brighton, co-coordinator of Medina Tea Party Patriots. “A constitutional scholar and an ardent supporter of conservatism – obviously, he has matured since then. Like all the presidential hopefuls, I’m going to judge him based on whether he has fought – both in words and actions – to restore personal and economic freedom.”
Why should it? Unlike the Rats, conservatives aren’t looking for a Messiah, we already have one.
Standard Alinsky BS of holding candidates to their own rules.
They wish thy could stir this up....but they really don’t get us.
I find it rather funny that they get their panties all bunched on whether or not a GOP candidate smoked weed while the President is an admitted coke head.
Alcohol is by far the most Dangerous Drug in America, there simply is no comparison to the controlled substances not available by prescription in terms of costs,accidents,deaths, lives ruined. Alcohol surpasses ALL Controlled Substances not available by prescription combined, by a factor of at least 10.
Could. Care. Less.
I’m thinking that the MSM are going to shake their heads in confusion a lot this cycle when Tea Party members/supporters don’t behave according to the malicious and bigoted stereotypes the MSM has created about us.
The shrugging of shoulders to Cruz’s pot use is going to be a good example of that.
How about this you weasly little democrats: it makes me like him more. Now run along—get on with your scheming.
You people have no hope of ever understanding reality, Mr. “aide to a democratic senator.”
Amen. Their (they’re? there? they?) little Jedi mind tricks only work on weak-minded Liberals (but I repeat myself).
No.
Now lets discuss real unemployment, illegal immigration, energy and the mess in the middle east.
So, Ted smoked mj as a youth.
Yeah, that really compares to the CokeHead-in-chief.
CRUZ 2016
The ONLY CONSTITUTIONAL FIGHTER we have!
I know about 10 people who didn’t try a little pot.
My father, born in 1912, tried pot several times as a teen. My mother waited until she was in her 50s to try it once.
I smoked it for about 2 months in high school, I didn’t like it.
It gets worse. I understand he forgot to take his library books back on time.
I heard he went through the supermarket Express Lane with MORE than 15 items, once.
Oh good gravy Gertrude. So you think his competitor’s sheets are clean? You can’t be that naïve, can you? And that is from regular, persistent use, not a puff or two.
In principle, maybe....but in reality, I think that’s somewhat debatable....especially under a system of shared health care costs. There is a lot of public money spent on drug abuse outside the law enforcement realm. It’s just not that simple.
His stand on H-1b visa’s is the real stumbling block.
As a teen I never smoked dope or used any drugs other than tobacco and alcohol as that was the only ones I knew about or were available.
The enemies are completely exposed as frauds, faggots, whormongerers and tax cheats and they just don't care and continue politickin' on
We panic because 100 years ago when we were in diapers we peed on our mama before she got the diaper on
Get real, Pubbies
Go out and say nothing about whatever THEY say about you and continue (or start, as the case may be) to blast them with the reality ... they take it in the ass ... they get down on knees ... be graphic, 'cause it's all real and ain't no lie
Some of them even get off watchin' a man get his head cut off or burned alive
Instead ... it's ...
My esteemed colleague on the other side of the aisle who's leadership I respect ...
BLECHH !!
Seesh, they have run out of ammo asking such a question.
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