Will Jesse Helms Sink Ted Cruz’s Presidential Campaign?
“I want to say this about my state: 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 all these years, either.”
Those were the words of then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott in 2002. The remarks, made at Thurmond’s 100th birthday party, unleashed an avalanche of criticism. Lott quickly apologized for appearing to praise a noted segregationist, but it wasn’t enough. Pointed criticism by Colin Powell, Jeb Bush and other Republicans forced Lott to step down from his leadership position.
Senator Ted Cruz, who will declare his candidacy for president Monday, recently embraced another vocal civil rights opponent but received far less scrutiny.
Speaking at the Heritage Foundation in September 2013, he lavishly praised former Senator Jesse Helms. “The willingness to say all those crazy things is a rare, rare characteristic in this town, and you know what? It’s every bit as true now as it was then. We need a hundred more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate,” Cruz said.
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http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/03/23/3637387/ted-cruzs-jesse-helms-problem/
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