It’s another important victory for Ted Cruz in his ongoing effort to gain support from the Religious Right.
On Thursday, he was officially endorsed by Bob Vander Plaats, who leads the Iowa-based conservative group, The Family Leader.
Plaats is a two-time gubernatorial candidate who has previously backed the likes of Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.
He wields such influence, Donald Trump reportedly joked that he’d turn around his plane to join The Family Leader’s presidential forum if Plaats would assure him his support.
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Plaats is only the latest right-wing figure to side with Cruz, who’s already garnered support from staunch ulta-conservatives like Troy Newman, who wants the government to execute abortionists; Ron Baity, who once compared gay rights to Ebola; Flip Benham, who was once convinced for harassing an abortion doctor and regularly protests gay weddings; Sandy Rios, a floridly antigay radio show host; Dick Black, a convicted abortion doctor stalker who holds protests at gay couples’ weddings; Sandy Rios, a virulently anti-LGBT radio host and hate group official; and Cynthia Dunbar, who once compared gay rights to “pre-Holocaust Germany.”
Plaats says Cruz is “the most consistent and principled conservative who has the ability to not only win Iowa but I believe to win the nomination.”
According to Right Wing Watch:
Plaats has done whatever it takes to scare voters about the dire consequences of gay rights. He warned that the legalization of same-sex marriage would lead to “tyranny” and sanction “a parent marrying their child.”
He defended his group’s comparison of homosexuality to second-hand smoke by explaining that both represent “a public health risk,” adding: “If we’re teaching the kids, ‘don’t smoke, because that’s a risky health style,’ the same can be true of the homosexual lifestyle.”
Vander Plaats also took the time to criticize an Iowa anti-bullying conference that focused on the targeting of LGBT youth, saying that the state should instead be promoting abstinence-only summits.
h/t: Right Wing Watch
