Ted Cruz already threw one bone to his fundie base this week when he declared his support for bottling up anyone President Obama picks to replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. Well, on Wednesday, he threw another. He announced that if he is elected president, one of his first acts will be to pardon the bottom-feeder responsible for producing a series of hit-piece videos attacking Planned Parenthood.
You may recall that last month, a grand jury in Cruz’ hometown of Houston not only cleared Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing, but indicted David Daleiden, the ringleader of the Center for Medical Progress, on charges of tampering with government records and attempting to buy or sell human organs. Needless to say, those charges caused wingnut heads to explode. Never mind that this was at least the 12th separate investigation to find that Planned Parenthood didn’t break the law. Some of those investigations have taken place in red states like Indiana, South Dakota, and Kansas.
But apparently facts didn’t matter to Cruz on Wednesday night when he appeared on a special edition of Fox News’ “The Kelly File.” Watch here.
Roughly four minutes into the forum, Lauren Day, a self-described “big backer of religious freedom,” asked Cruz if he would pardon Daleiden in the event he faced federal charges. Cruz’ response has to be reproduced in full to be believed.
“Lauren, thank you for asking that question. The answer is yes. And let me flesh it out a little more. Listen, as a Texan, as a Houstonian, I was deeply dismayed and disappointed to see the Harris County district attorney bringing criminal charges against someone who went undercover to expose what appears to be vast criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood. I think he performed an incredible public service and I’ll tell you this. I’ve pledged if I’m elected president, on the very first day in office, I intend to instruct the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into Planned Parenthood and to prosecute any and all criminal conduct by that organization.”
I hope I heard this wrong. I really do. For those who missed it, Daleiden is accused of using a fake California driver’s license to gain access to private areas of Planned Parenthood clinics. Cruz appears to be saying that it’s perfectly fine for someone to use deceptive and fraudulent means to gain access to confidential medical information.
As someone who has done his fair share of muckraking himself, that sends a chill down my spine. I would never even consider invading someone’s privacy in the name of turning the hot lights on them. If there is any difference between this mentality and the same mentality that led Cheryl Sullenger to give information on George Tiller’s court records to a guy off the street, I don’t see it.
And Cruz apparently forgets that the videos produced by Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress were so heavily manipulated that no responsible investigator would use them as evidence. But then again, such little things as facts have never mattered to the religious right. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that Cruz has already found Planned Parenthood guilty as charged, and is determined to waste taxpayer money until an investigation at some level manages to come to that predetermined verdict. He has also effectively said that anyone who endangers privacy in this way deserves a pardon.
