In an Associated Press image that drew comment and criticism on Twitter on Sunday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is seen speaking with what appeared to be a gun aimed straight at him.
The photograph — taken by the AP’s Charlie Neibergall — actually captured a background poster, with a large semi-blurred image of a handgun pointed at Cruz’s forehead, straight between the eyes.
Cruz was appearing Saturday at CrossRoads Shooting Sports in Johnston, Iowa. During his speech, Cruz, an outspoken proponent of Second Amendment rights, encouraged residents to adopt what he called a Texan approach to guns by simply “hitting what you aim at.”
Of course this was the speech that we covered yesterday where Cruz also said, "It's sad to see the Democrats take a horrific crime and try to use it as an excuse, not to go after people with serious mental illness or people who are repeat felons or criminals, but instead try to use it as an excuse to take away Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens."
Which kind of helps to make that photo seem satisfying in a strange way.
However it most certainly did not make those on the Right very happy:
Guess the Political Party: AP Photo Lines Pistol Up with Senator, 2016 Candidate Ted Cruz’s Brain: Of course, ... http://t.co/pfN1CNiSlI
— Tweetonpolitics (@tweetpoliticsUS) June 21, 2015
Just a touch misleading to suggest that the AP "pointed" the gun at Cruz's brain.After all I am not at all convinced there IS a brain to point a weapon at in the first place.
However Cruz WAS smart enough to give the donations back from that Council of Conservative Citizens group that might have helped inspire Dylann Storm Roof's killing spree.
So there's that I guess.
Let's face it Ted Cruz is a joke, and so is his candidacy.
The only thing that keeps him from being the biggest joke in the 2016 campaign season is the possible inclusion of Donald Trump.
Update: Here's a second AP photo.
Cruz loves him some guns. He knows that the purpose of a hand gun is to be pointed at a living being in order to kill it and he is not just fine with that, he revels in the gun's purpose. So I think the photo is entirely appropriate.
ReplyDeleteWhat a maroon
DeleteWhat a moran.
DeleteVernD
It's the Republicans who take an incident a d use it to satisfy their agenda rather than addressing the actual issue. Kind of like using 9/11 to invade Iraq.
ReplyDeleteSorry if I missed it, but did the AME shooter have a history of serious mental illness or was he a repeat felon or criminal?
ReplyDeleteIn a lot of these shootings, my memory gives me the impression these people are under the radar and have no history of mental illness or criminal record. It's only AFTER the shootings that they dig down and find some signs that should have been red flags but were missed or ignored.
The shooter's friend said Roof talked about starting another Civil War and killing people when he was drunk. The friend said he dismissed the talk because the guy was drunk. The friend said he learned to tell someone next time what someone is planning on doing.
Delete9:40 If the killer is WHITE, then every effort is made to prove them mentally unstable. Black? Shoot first, ask questions later, we know the drill. Cruz looks like he needs X Lax, he looks constipated.
DeleteI agree with his friend. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go report pretty much every fucking poster at c4p.
DeletePerfect shot! Sorry, couldn't help myself!
ReplyDeleteHe'll never be POTUS! He doesn't have the kindness needed!
Why does the right wing have a problem with the pictures? Do they think that guns should be pointed at everyone but themselves? After the jokes Cruz made in the wake of the violence, he of all people should have no right to complain.
ReplyDeleteThey didn't seem to have a problem with Sarah Palin's "crosshairs" did they? And those were intentional.
DeleteMildred
True, and nobody came forward to tell her off afterwards, either. It is just fine when "their" side does despicable things.
DeleteBravo, Mildred!
DeleteThis is an artistic rendering in the highest order!
ReplyDeleteThe precise depiction is using the accepted photography rule of three's and we agree the clarity is unparalleled.
I think the artist captured the subject(s) in the purest possible form contributimg to the overall ambient feeling.
We are without a doubt witnessing the creation of an absolute masterpiece.
Unequivocally, the artist captured history in the making.
Bravo!
The photographer couldn't avoid the shot since he was placed on that side of the room.
DeleteWhat I meant was satire of Cruz with the gun toward his head.
DeleteI think it is poetic justice for the creep.
It IS a masterpiece.
Of wishful....
Oh. Never mind.
I think the photographer deserves a Pulitzer.
DeleteBeaglemom
Lol...
DeleteI think he looks like Grandpa Munster.
ReplyDeleteGrandpa Munster had a soul, he was loved. Not so much Rafael "Canadian" Cruz.
DeleteYes!
DeleteCanadian only by accident of birth, please! Born in Canada, brought up in the USA. You do the math.
DeleteTed Cruz -- ugly inside and out.
I have to ask....what the heck is the matter with his campaign staff??? It's called OPTICS people! Staff members, especially at at venue like this, should have toured the area first, with either Cruz or a stand in, and checked out all possible angles. It only takes a few minutes and would have saved the senator from this embarrassment of Twitter riches. Of course, he is the chosen one, so maybe they don't think it matters? Stupid, stupid, stupid and oh so avoidable.
ReplyDeleteHe'll have to call Donald Trump to show up...he will have a sad sac look as DT says "look at this poor slob so close yet so far"! By the way "Your Fired"!
DeleteTed Cruz needs a better advance staff. Anyone with campaign experience would have positioned the candidate away from that poster.
ReplyDeleteHis staff is probably a lot like him!
DeleteBut, perhaps there are a couple in his group that have tired of his campaign baloney. Could there be one or two of them that set this photo op up on purpose? I suspect so!
Love it, love it!
these guys are not interested in being president and doing the work of a president -- they are extremely interested in the money and the ego stroking
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%. I frequently wonder how much the "average" GOP/TP "presidential candidate" rakes in during a campaign that they know they don't have a chance of winning the nomination and will never complete.
DeleteThe Republicans have a serious image problem, in that not one of their candidates is decent-looking. That's not to say that a President needs to be a model, and, yes, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were no pin-ups, but usually you can find one or two aspects of a person's appearance that are compelling.
ReplyDeleteBut looking at Ted Cruz -- not one part of his face, head, hair -- isn't off-putting, or just aging. It's not a beauty contest, but he'd have to be a completely different personality to overcome his inherent ugliness.
So true. Homely group. It would help if one of them was at least likeable, but sadly not a one is. Christie looks like Tweedle Dum, Walker looks stupid and has cross eyes. Perry is just plain STUPID. Huckerbee woul crap if he won the election, too much like hard work being president. He just wants to sell books, and potions.
Delete++++++++
DeleteAnd he is so smarmy.
Bang, bang!!
ReplyDeleteAnd, poor Texas has to own him! (except for the Austin area of their state - as they tend NOT to vote for Republicans! Smarter folks reside in that city!)
Every one of Texas' major cities -- Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio -- voted Democratic in 2012, the second consecutive presidential election in which they've done so. I might add so did El Paso.
Deletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/11/red-state-blue-city-how-the-urban-rural-divide-is-splitting-america/265686/
We're the side that prides ourselves on bothering with facts.
Don't believe you one bit, 2:04 PM All cities, with the exception of Austin, voted Democratic. I've lived there and lived in Austin. You are full of caca!
DeleteThose cities you named did not vote majority for President Obama. Are you kidding? For crying out loud - the cities you indicated are the ones that voted for Ted Cruz - they vote majority on the right and extreme right in many parts of TX!
They do count the votes you know and report them.
DeleteThe great divide: President Obama carries top 4 Texas cities and still gets trounced in Lone Star State
Look at the map - http://houston.culturemap.com/news/city-life/11-07-12-the-great-divide-obama-carries-top-four-texas-cities-and-loses-by-15-point/
Texas is certainly Republican, but the idea that Austin is sole source of progressive politics in Texas is flawed. Did you know that Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, Austin and El Paso, the most populated cities in Texas, voted for Obama in the 2012? How about that Houston is the largest US city to have an openly gay mayor, Annise Parker, who is also a Democrat? ...
DeleteHere is my point: The idea that Austin, less than 4 percent of the state population, is the democratic oasis in a red dessert, fortifies the status quo and allows Republicans to continue winning state office by default for generations to come.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlie-saginaw/the-unexpected-places-whe_b_3759449.html
It reminds me of the quote Sarah Palin likes to say:
ReplyDelete"When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself."
Christ would say:
"Don't focus on the speck in your brother's eye while ignoring the log in your own eye."
oh puh-leeze. That bitch is always pointed her finger and projecting her faults onto others.
DeleteWho said, "Live by the sword, die by the sword"?
DeleteHeh, and Palin, true to her own chronic and peerless hypocrisy always points.
DeleteLike a nightmarish Stephen King story.. The gun nuts, who have always personified their guns, are being stalked by their own weapons!
ReplyDeleteMildred
Oooooh, I like that!
Delete"Stalked by their own guns"...
DeleteLove it!
That Raphael Cruz, he's a real 'Merkin.
ReplyDeletePun intended.
Cruz is one all-around UGGLY SOB.
ReplyDeleteOh, if only...
ReplyDeleteSigh....yeah.
DeleteBut! Guns don't kill people! People kill people!
ReplyDeleteMeghan in PA
And, wall posters of guns don't kill people!
DeletePeople kill people until the people are cray cray and don't know right from wrong. Then it is the gun that kills.
DeleteFor Christ's sake! GUNS kill people - because PEOPLE point the GUNS at their targets to do them harm!
DeleteEasy to figure out for most Americans!
And yet, it is a point lost on so many.
DeleteDylann Roof’s Cousin Says Killer ‘Went Over The Edge’ After Love Interest Chose Black Man Over Him
ReplyDeleteThe cousin of white supremacist mass murderer Dylann Roof has reported that Roof’s racism and hatred toward African-Americans began when a love interest chose a black man over him.
According to Roof’s cousin, Scott Roof, the 21-year-old right-wing terrorist held this grudge for two years as his resentment for black people grew and turned him into the monster who gunned down nine African-American churchgoers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina last week.
In a phone interview with The Intercept, Scott Roof reported that his bigot cousin “was normal until he started listening to that white power music stuff… He kind of went over the edge when a girl he liked starting dating a black guy two years back.”
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/06/22/dylann-roofs-cousin-says-killer-went-over-the-edge-after-love-interest-chose-black-man-over-him/
Waiting for the Wasilly Retards (both of them mother and daughter) to blame the Democrats for setting up Cruz in that picture
ReplyDeleteThey're next.
DeleteWhat's the problem? According to the gun worshipers, there are no circumstances under which guns can be considered in a negative light. In addition, Cruz was speaking at an event featuring guns and the people who worship them. It is not as though someone dragged Cruz from a gun-free event and forced him to hang out in a place with gun posters.
ReplyDeleteNikki Haley To Call For Confederate Flag To Be Removed From South Carolina Capitol
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/south-carolina-confederate-flag_n_7637644.html
It reminds me of Palin and the turkey shoot. She knew exactly what was going on there. Cruz’s handlers set this up. Both Palin and Cruz use the victim meme to their benefit in media.
ReplyDeleteCalm down Ted , it's really just a surveyors weapon.
ReplyDeleteBTW Rafael AKA "Ted" Cruz chose to stand by the sign. The photographer did not photoshop nor move the sign in any way, much like the camera crew that filmed Sarah Palin in front of the man slaughtering turkeys, Sarah was standing there.. If Rafael doesn't like the final results he then needs to look around his environment before speaking.
Daammnnn! That is one UGHLEEY mothafuc_ka! Makes Nixon look like a GQ model! I think that is a face even his own mother would not love! I pity his wife. I guess if we want to solve the obesity problem in our country, we could elect him. I know I lose my appetite every time I see that...
ReplyDeleteMy sentiments exactly, he is repulsive.
DeleteSomehow I would expect photos of an event to contain photos of what is in the room.I also assume that photographers were told where to stand.I'm betting that Cruz knew the posters would show up and he thought it would give him right wing cred. Of course his tone-deaf strangeness meant he was wrong again. So now we get this spin .
ReplyDeleteDr.lager, if you are reading, are you ginger?
ReplyDeleteThat man is repulsive. Can't stand to even look at his picture. Ick!
ReplyDeleteHe looks downright slimy.....and he is!
DeleteTwitter:
ReplyDeleteBristol Palin @BristolsBlog
Abortions Are Down 12% Since 2010. Is Social Media Helping? https://shar.es/1qa2iI
Bristol can Sarah say that her daughter's promiscuous behavior is down or has it picked up since she needs to find another fiance?
Epic Fail Mrs. French. Abortions are down NOT because of Social media and pictures of babies. Abortions are down because of many reasons, a thing called "Sex Education" and "proper use of Birth Control methods"
DeleteSmoking Cigarettes is down as well, it that because of Social Media and photos of diseased lungs? Corpses of people who died of Cancer? Sorry, no correlation. .
But please, by all means, proceed....... or, as teenagers across the country would put it "You go girl!!! That's LITERALLY totally AWESOME!!!!!!:
He is seriously ugly. Ew.
ReplyDeleteUglier on the inside, which is quite a feat.
DeleteAnd yet people on the right have the gall to pick on Hillary's looks. I've always thought she was a good-looking woman. Not gorgeous, but she certainly isn't the Morlock people make her out to be. Just about anyone on the right is far less attractive than she is, especially the men. Yuck.
DeleteIn that bottom photo of Cruz, he looks like a goofus! He is so unattractive and dirty looking! (He and Palin match perfectly!) He'll never be elected POTUS! He can wish all he wants - it ain't gonna happen!
ReplyDeleteCruz could have chosen to speak in a different place or to ask that the poster be removed while he was speaking and being photographed. He wanted it to be seen. He's as dumb as the Florida man featured in a post here over the weekend who fired his gun at his head to see if it was loaded.
ReplyDeleteAnd Ted, it's a good thing that people are raising the gun availability issue right now. it's not politics; it's public safety and public health. Even Republicans should care that too many people have too many guns and too little common sense.
Beaglemom
Has Ted shown his birth certificate to the Donald? Why is that not an issue in this election? Yea, yea, I know the answer but I think that it's funny to bring it up and throw it up to the Republicans to get them going. I agree with 12:49 and the goofus comment. Along with dirty he's nasty in that snobbish, I'm-better-than-everybody-else sort of way. Go back to Canada you ole dirt bag, Cruz, and take your Cuban daddy with you!
ReplyDeleteHe Is REALLY ugly!
ReplyDeleteI am sure if the photo was of President Obama, the republicans wouldn't have a problem. Double standard. They dish it out, but can't take it themselves and get all righteous.
ReplyDeleteAs for Ted Cruz, I think he is one dangerous guy. Look at the mess he caused as only a junior senator-shutting down the government as a temper tantrum that cost millions of dollars.
He thinks we all forgot about that. He's such a dick!
DeleteUgh, I feel like I need a shower after looking at him. Looks like someone greased up mr Potato head and nuked him in the microwave. The man isn't presidential material in any way, shape or form.
ReplyDeleteThis was his handler's way of getting publicity and stirring the Republic party into a frenzy. We're not stupid, Cruz. We get it, you love guns and everything they stand for, why wait for the tragedy before giving the money back? He has no clue who's greasing his palms?
OT, on MSNBC, they showed a clip of Fox News, Apparently one of the male idiots on fox five tossed an arrow at a target, missed, and hit a marine drum major. Chris Hayes said he's done and seen a lot of things, but never threw an axe at a marine.Still unclear on the "why" . The marine got hit with the blunt end, got a few cuts on his wrist and other injuries, but WTH????
Cruz is slimey and creepy.
ReplyDeleteDylan Storm Roof "hit what he aimed at"...
ReplyDeleteAdam Lanza "hit what he aimed at"...
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold "hit what they aimed at"...
many, many others - too numerous to list here, all "hit what they aimed at".
Only a sick mind would consider saying "gun control means hitting what you aim at" cute or clever.
Especially right now.