Yesterday at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, we were reminded exactly why Texas Senator Ted Cruz was such a miserable failure in his bid for the 2016 GOP nomination: Because he’s a complete moron and right-wing nutjob.
While Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was testifying before the committee, Cruz kept asking why the Obama Administration won’t label terrorist acts as “radical Islam.” He kept beating that one point, and finally Secretary Johnson told the always annoying Senator Cruz:
“Senator, I find this whole debate to be very interesting, but I have to tell you, when I was at the Department of Defense giving the legal sign off on a lot of drone strikes I didn’t particularly care if the baseball card said ‘Islamic extremist’ or ‘violent extremist’. I think this is very interesting, but it makes no difference to me in terms of who we need to go after. And who is determined to attack our homeland.”
Exactly! You can call it a loaf of moldy bread for all the difference it makes. If we insist on calling it Islamic terrorism, then is Cruz ready to call Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof radical Christian terrorists? No, of course not, because Cruz considers himself to be a Christian and doesn’t want to besmirch an entire religion as a result of the acts of a few radical assholes who claim to be adherents to a certain faith.
While he was at it, Secretary Johnson also reminded Cruz that the war against ISIS and other extremists will never be won by arguing over what terminology we use to label them:
“The other point I’d like to make is that I have to think in practical terms in Homeland Security. I think this is all very interesting, makes for good political debate, but in practical terms, if we in our efforts here in the homeland start giving the Islamic State the credence that they want – to be referred to as part of Islam or some form of Islam – we will get nowhere in our efforts to build bridges with Muslim communities.”
Do ISIS and Al Qaeda commit their acts of atrocity in the name of Islam? Yes, but that is a perversion of the true Islamic faith, which is about peace and submission to God, very much like Christianity. ISIS is not Islamic. It is merely a gang of murderous thugs who want to kill with impunity and then say they do so with God’s blessing. But that is a lie, and they will be defeated.
So, Teddy Boy, here’s a tip for you: Let it go, man! And shut the hell up!
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.