October 01, 2013 11:36 AM UTC

News To Us: Rafael Cruz's Speech Crazy Even For Cruz

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• by: Colorado Pols

Politico's James Hohmann follows up our report yesterday on a speech given to Adams County Republicans last Friday evening by Rafael Cruz, father of U.S. Senate freshman and "Tea Party" darling Ted Cruz:

ColoradoPols.com, a liberal blog, posted a two-minute audio clip forwarded by a source in the room and then agreed to share a longer excerpt with POLITICO Monday night.

Cruz received loud cheers as he talked about his son’s 21-hour speech…

Sent the quotes, a Cruz spokeswoman stressed that this was “Mr. Cruz’s speech” and that “Senator Cruz has been in D.C. fully focused on the effort to defund Obamacare.”

The elder Cruz, 74, has stepped up his profile in recent months as his son’s star has risen and 2016 chatter increased. He and the freshman both spoke in Iowa this August at a Family Leader event. He accompanied the Heritage Foundation’s Jim DeMint for part of a nine-city summer tour focused on defunding the Affordable Health Care Act. He’s won praise from tea party groups and talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh.

He leans heavily on his Cuban heritage, even comparing Obama to Fidel Castro.

“I believe the most ominous words I’ve ever heard from Barack Hussein Obama was two years in a row at the State of the Union address when he said, ‘If Congress does not act, I will act unilaterally,’” said Cruz. “[It’s] no different than that bearded friend, or dictator, that I left back in Cuba.” [Pols emphasis]

Tom Kludt at Talking Points Memo recaps from our original audio:

A Cuban immigrant and a pastor, Cruz claimed that Obama has pledged to "side with the Muslims" if "the winds shift," prompting a reaction from an audience member.

"He is Muslim," shouted a woman.

"[Sen. John] McCain couldn't say that because it wasn't politically correct," Cruz responed. "It is time we stop being politically correct!"

He also said that the Affordable Care Act denies and rations coverage for elderly patients while claiming that the law includes "suicide counseling."

We don't mind saying we were at first a little surprised at the national attention that Rafael Cruz's speech in Adams County is now getting. Apparently these remarks are a bit more crazy strident than generally attributed to a man we've read might run for high office himself in some kind of father/son Paul family type of arrangement. It's possible, in fact likely, that he didn't know he was being recorded. But to be honest, as shocking as these remarks may be on a national stage, Obama a Muslim, Obama like Casto, Obamacare mandating "suicide counseling"–this really is par for the course rhetoric-wise at the county level of the Republican Party in Colorado.

This is when it occurred to us that our local crazies have maybe inured us, by which we mean all of us, to the kind of raging lunacy displayed by Rafael Cruz last Friday in Thornton. And folks, what if that is the real problem?