Posted on 04/23/2015 7:06:26 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
This NYT story, an obvious attempt at a gotcha that’ll damage Cruz among his base, will do more damage to the two businessmen within their own circle of allies, I suspect. It’s one thing for Ted Cruz, social conservative, to socialize with gay friends. It’s another for gays to socialize with — gasp — Ted Cruz, social conservative.
During the gathering, according to two attendees, Mr. Cruz said he would have no problem if one of his daughters was gay. He did not mention his opposition to same-sex marriage, saying only that marriage is an issue that should be left to the states.
The dinner and “fireside chat” for about a dozen people with Mr. Cruz and his wife, Heidi, was at the Central Park South penthouse of Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner, longtime business partners who were once a couple and who have been pioneers in the gay hospitality industry.
“Ted Cruz said, ‘If one of my daughters was gay, I would love them just as much,’” recalled Mr. Reisner, a same-sex marriage proponent who described himself as simply an attendee at Mr. Weiderpass’s event…
Mr. Cruz also told the group that the businessman Peter Thiel, an openly gay investor, is a close friend of his, Mr. Sporn said. Mr. Thiel has been a generous contributor to Mr. Cruz’s campaigns.
If you think, as the NYT obviously does, that opposing gay marriage necessarily means you’re driven by hatred of gays, then yeah, that’s one odd dinner party. And in fairness, some of Cruz’s rhetorical flourishes during the gay rights/religious liberty debate did make him seem less likely to attend an event at the home of SSM supporters than, say, Jeb Bush might be. But Cruz doesn’t categorically oppose gay marriage, as the Times is forced to admit. He’s personally opposed but thinks the states should decide, even if that means the practice is gradually legalized. Nor is it news that Cruz’s base includes some prominent gay right-wingers. Peter Thiel, a libertarian, has been donating big bucks to him for years, starting back when he ran for AG of Texas. Weiderpass and Reisner are apparently strong supporters of Israel, an obvious point of common ground with Cruz. Other potential Cruz backers, although straight themselves, are outspoken in supporting gay marriage despite their alliance on most other issues with the GOP. The most famous example: David Koch, one half of the “Kochtopus” that haunts lefty dreams nightly. Cruz seems to respectfully disagree with most SSM supporters, assuming they’re not trying to shut down pizzerias for declining to cater gay weddings, and some famous SSM supporters seem to respectfully disagree with him. (Shucks, even Mike Huckabee cops to having gay friends.) If you liked him before reading this, why would you like him less now?
But I don’t know. Maybe I’ve achieved a status of such candy-ass RINO-hood that the Times’s radar on what will and won’t alienate social conservatives is better than mine. Supporting gay marriage obviously will alienate them. Attending a gay wedding might (although opinion seems to be divided on that) for a similar reason, namely, that some who regard marriage as a sacred union between men and women conclude that that means they shouldn’t tacitly recognize a gay marriage by witnessing it. It’s not clear what sacred precept is violated, though, by saying you’d love your daughter no less if she were gay; it’s even less clear which one forbids having dinner at a gay friend’s home. But I’ll leave that to the comments to hash out. In the meantime, WaPo finds 61 percent now support gay marriage, a new high nationally although not dramatically higher than the numbers have been in recent years. Republican opposition is strong at 34/63, but interestingly not as strong when you ask whether states should be allowed to ban the practice. In that case, support stands at just 52/45. Maybe there’s some small section of SSM opponents who think that gays nonetheless have a constitutional right to marry. Other than that, I’m not sure what explains the discrepancy.
Exactly.
Meeting with these guys was fine, they’re all about defense and Israel. But frankly, this particular venue was probably a mistake. It received notoriety a while back because the owner had wild parties, one in which a guy was found dead in the bathtub. Ultimately, no criminality was found—but, have to think there was a better place to meet.
Yep, sure would be nice. I’m afraid that the only person who can do that successfully is the Good Lord.
So?
“Leftists really do not understand the concept of love the sinner and hate the sin.”
They understand it very well, but the concept flies directly agains their agenda of destruction, so they ignore it and act as if it does not exist.
“ALINSKY RULE 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.” If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.”
There is an Alinski corollary to that rule:
Never worry about your own rules; do whatever it takes to gain power.
These rules only work when you have a friendly media. That is what Alinski took for granted. That state still mostly exists; but there is a small amount of new media that now contests the domination by the old media.
Yes. Like a regular public rally location or a good restaurant or whatever. We agree. Thanks
This is called The Left Being Stupid Again.
To all anti Ted Cruz trolls: pay attention here. You will learn something.
It wasn't a mistake unless you really believe the lies of the media.
Concern trolls will be concerned.
/johnny
Yes, he most definitely is afraid of you.
Ok. Well, Jesus visited Hell, so.....
I think the thing to do with this incident is to watch what he does with it.
Agreed.
When I ran for the California Assembly I got endorsed by the Log Cabin Republican club.
I told them that I despised their lifestyle but that I wouldn’t sponsor or vote for any legislation that aided their cause but neither would I sponsor or vote for any legislation against them.
Providing they didn’t push themselves on the straight community.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel
An interesting person.
Typical bogus paraphrase from NYT saying Cruz said “he would have no problem” if a daughter were gay when in fact he said he would love her just as much. That’s not the same thing.
My wife and I are militant social conservatives
In 2005 we welcomed a dying from AIDs homosexual into our care and provided for him till he went to hospice 10 months later
He was a family friend and a Belle Meade dandy but no one else would take him
He rightly suspected folks with a trust in Christ would....even though we have a house full of kids....he called me one night at 2am on the street in downtown Nashville right after my 2nd in 11 months open heart crying after having been mugged
He had AIDs dementia....infected his brain stem
Onyx you may remember this....a lot of folks here and all of klown posse ridiculed me for this
Both my wife and momma had known him decades and mother helped us with it financially
Cruz attempting dialogue with right wing homosexuals is courageous
And we detest homosexual activism and all that entails
I also have two lesbican aunts who were abused and molested as young girls
I get on warmly with them and they are very socially conservative and church going
But they think queer nation activism is shameful
What would Dick Cheney do?
Re: “. . . loving the sinner is nowhere in the Bible.”
The whole mission and ministry of Jesus was about loving the sinner to save us from the destruction of our sin. I think you misunderstand the premise of the New Testament.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in tha while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.