How extreme are many of the folks who make up the Tea Party brigades who so joyfully helped elect Ted Cruz to the U.S. Senate? Check out Sen. Cruz’s Facebook page to see what happened when he said something respectful about Nelson Mandela, who died on Thursday. South Africa’s white government imprisoned Mandela for nearly three decades because of his opposition to apartheid, first through peaceful resistance but later through sabotage. He later served as the country’s first black president, creating a Government of National Unity that included representatives of black and white political parties.
Sen. Cruz joined with other political leaders in mourning Mandela’s death, posting on his Facebook page:
“Nelson Mandela will live in history as an inspiration for defenders of liberty around the globe. He stood firm for decades on the principle that until all South Africans enjoyed equal liberties he would not leave prison himself, declaring in his autobiography, ‘Freedom is indivisible; the chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them, the chains on all of my people were the chains on me.’ Because of his epic fight against injustice, an entire nation is now free.
We mourn his loss and offer our condolences to his family and the people of South Africa.”
That didn’t sit well with many of Sen. Cruz’s supporters. We’re not surprised so much by their attacks on Mandela as a socialist, communist, etc. But we’re fascinating that so many critics posting on Cruz’s Facebook page see white South Africans as the real victims in that country’s history. And, of course, some make comparisons with President Obama, this country’s first black president. Naturally.
Here’s a sampling of some of the comments on Sen. Cruz’s page:
“Really Ted? The way I see it, the whites built that country and that terrorist stole it from them.”
“Ted, I supported you vehemently but you have jumped in the bandwagon here. Do you support communist terrorism?”
“Won’t be voting for you now you don’t know history so can’t be in my future Sellout”
“What is the deal here. Is Ted ignorant, complaisant or a fool? I just lost any trust in Ted if he does not know anything about Mandela.”
“I disagree Mr. Senator. Do not fall victim to the media’s lies. The man was a Communist, a terrorist and a racist.”
God help the White South Africans . It is a disgrace that our government refuses to let them come to the US as political refugees even though they are being slaughtered with impunity. Now that Mandela is dead the streets will be filled with their blood and barely a peep will be heard from our media.
“Wasnt he really just a communist that hated white people? Much like Obama.”
“HE advocated the genocide of Whites in South Africa. Check facts. He wasn’t in prison for being a peace loving hippie”
“Well Ted Cruz, you lost my vote. He was a POS communist that hated white people. Why is the truth so BAD.”
“Lost my vote on STUPIDITY. ..READ A BOOK CRUZ!”
“Stop praising Mandela: : he was a committed pro-abort and had strong ties to the communist party.”
“Nelson Mandella was a racist, Anti-White communist/terrorist! Why honor a POS like him? He was no better that Robert Mugabe who committed white genocide in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Anti white racism, attacks, rapes and murders are going on currently in South Africa and American politicians as well as America/NWO media ignores this! Sen. Cruz just lost my respect and support. Shame on you Sen. Cruz!”
“He’s [Mandela] as bad as Che, Castro, Saddam, Bin Laden, and Hitler.”
“He was a murderous communist serving in prison for thousands of white murders. Don’t whitewash the true history of this murdering villain. Instead of buying into the media glorification, read the violent history of South Africa.”
“Give me a break! Mandela was a communist and a terrorist. He stood against apartheid, not because it was wrong, but because he is a racist and cared only for his own color. Since apartheid ended, whites in Africa have been brutally butchered, but you won’t hear a peep about that in the news or Mandela.”
“Sorry Ted, all BS. He was a communists who killed thousands. SA is experiencing white genocide now!”
“Nelson Mandela is no hero to the world. He was in fact a uniquely anti-American Third World soft fascist dictator.”
“This is not truth … we want only truth to prevail … please stop telling us lies.”
So sad. This is the Texas we live in. Chock full of the most odious and ignorant bigots. Nelson Mandela was a hero and inspiration to the world for successfully and tolerantly opposing racism and authoritarianism in his country. He was a beacon for liberty and morality in a hate-filled world.
I agree. It is so sad that there are bigots and foaming at the mouth bigots here, everywhere. Nelson Mandela is one of my hero’s and there is nothing anyone can say to make me feel differently. Sorry Ted, these are your peeps.
Yeesh. These are scary comments. And since I live here in Texas, and presumably most of the commenters do as well, that is even scarier.
This is really hard to believe. How can people be so misinformed. And they think the rest of the world is misinformed.
What hole did these commenter’s crawl out of. It makes me scared to be a Texan. I’m not particularly proud of Ted Cruz but at least he signed off on the statement. The “less than human’s” that criticized him make me want to move anywhere but Texas.
Good Grief! What a bunch…
So much for the Tea Party cry that they are not racists. From looking at those comments, I think they just proved that they are.
Yea, because the US media is going to remain quiet about White people being murdered and raped in Africa. And how amazing is it that being racist towards white people is unacceptable, but white people beingracist ddoesn’t provoke in them the same amount of anger. Hypocrites and bullshitters. But if they are turning on Cruz then that’s good. We don’t need him as President.
Oh. My. God. I cannot believe there are actually people (and LOTS of them!) who think this way! Damn we are more screwed up in this country than I thought.
One question, what specie gave birth to the Tea party members? , so pathetic
It’s disheartening and scary to realize that people write comments like these. Who are they? Where are they? Difficult to believe that one respectful comment from Cruz can turn some of his supporters into this.
He shouldn’t have been surprise at that. Just look at who supports him.
These nuts have taken over the comments section of every online newspaper including the White House F/B page.
Seemed like the perfect way for Cruz to distance himself from the crazier fringe of the teaparty. Gonna take a lot more than that to make a moderate take him seriously.
There is more than one meaning for “TP.”
It was extreme to read the comments… extremely surprising people are that ignorant.
It is so sad to think that so many people carry that much hate inside of themselves. I am not hopeful that Texas will ever come out of the dark ages with people like the bigots on Cruz’s face book page.
Yes Nelson Mandela was all the things that these people say he was, but he overcame his past to become a shining light of forgiveness and mercy. It seems that the Tea Party Republicans cannot forgive nor can they forget the past. They’re so stuck in the past that they’d rather label others for past crimes than look at the good a person does and did.
The sad thing about the people that backed Rafael (Ted) Cruz, their minds have stagnated to the point that they are medieval in their thinking and they won’t give up their privilege and power. Poor sad far right wing nuts, the squirrels that run the treadmills of their minds have given up and those treadmills are now still, causing them to think no more.
It is no wonder that since their 2010 success that the opinion polls of the Tea Party supporters has sunk to low levels. They may comment often and show up in small numbers and talk loudly and angrily at political events, but their influence will wane except for mainstream Republicans having to listen to them and at times vote against what they know is right.
[Rafael-just call me Ted- Cruz] “Lost my vote on STUPIDITY.”
– tea party bigot
Amazing! These guys are admitting that their votes WILL be ‘on stupidity’… apparently it’s now just a matter of who’s stupid enough.
A common thread in the comments on this page is shock, embarrassment, and sadness that such bigotry still resides. But I say have faith- not soon enough, but soon, the demographic wave will role out from under the Cruz and Gohmert fringe, and the tea patch will disintegrate into disparate isolated cranks and curmudgeons.