Duck Dynasty star and family patriarch, Phil Robertson, endorsed Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz in January. Since then, the reality-TV personality has hit the talking head circuit to tout the junior senator from Texas. Following an incident in Iowa on Sunday, however, whether Robertson is allowed to handle a microphone on Cruz’s behalf (or at the request of one of the Super PACs supporting Cruz) remains to be seen. Then again, considering how his brief “firing” by A&E turned out in 2013, it probably won’t matter.
According to WMUR, Robertson told the crowds at a Cruz rally in Iowa City that the candidate would, among other things, restore a strong sense of Christian-based morality to the country. How? By campaigning against the “evil” and “wicked” ways of gay marriage, for starters.
“When a fellow like me looks at the landscape and sees the depravity, the perversion — redefining marriage and telling us that marriage is not between a man and a woman? Come on Iowa!” Robertson said.
“It is nonsense. It is evil. It’s wicked. It’s sinful,” he said to applause.
The crowd’s applause aside, Robertson didn’t stop there. The entertainer added more fuel to the fire in the hopes of riling up his audience and gaining more support for his anti-New York Values candidate by suggesting that the American people must remove everyone in office who supported same-sex marriage legislation rather forcibly.
“They want us to swallow it, you say. We have to run this bunch out of Washington, D.C. We have to rid the earth of them. Get them out of there.”
Robertson’s position on same-sex marriage and the LGBT community isn’t a secret. The Duck Dynasty star has publicized his views in public and private circles for years. However, coming right out and condemning a large, diverse group with words like “nonsense,” “evil,” “wicked” and “sinful” makes a rather strong statement — both for Robertson and for his endorsee, Cruz.
Hence why, when Cruz finally took the stage after Robertson’s opening remarks, the Republican senator didn’t address the celebrity’s remarks about gay marriage and the politicians who supported it. He simply thanked Robertson for being there and proceeded immediately to his planned remarks.
(Via WMUR)