In the video, Tea Party potentate Ted Cruz is blessed by pastors who claim the Constitution is based on the Old Testament, appear to endorse biblical slavery, depict gay marriage as a socialist plot against the traditional family, and call for a Christian war on secular society.
Over the last few years the religious right, rumored to be in decline, has receded from American secular consciousness. But amidst the current government shutdown, some of the more astute political analysts on the left, such BillMoyers.com producer Joshua Holland and the The Nation's Lee Fang are beginning to point out that, respectively, 1) today's Republican Party has, by objective measures, become truly radicalized and, 2) the main force behind the current government shutdown is the religious (and largely Christian) right.
Conforming to that pattern, over the weekend two of the leading Senate Republican Tea Party leaders behind the shutdown, Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, are attending the Family Research Council's annual "Voter Values Summit", at which, according to CNN, FRC head Tony Perkins - whose organization has been identified as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of the FRC's promotion of anti-LGBTI propaganda - dubbed Cruz the "de-facto" leader of the GOP.
During the FRC event, reports the New York Times, both Senators, who are each considering a 2016 bid for the presidency, will meet with evangelical and right-wing power brokers such as Perkins and direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie.
The two senators could also be found last summer, along with RNC Chair Reince Priebus, by some accounts, being publicly blessed and anointed, with the laying-on of hands, by dominionist pastors, at the July 19th-20th 2013 Iowa Renewal Project pastors' gathering held at the Des Moines Marriott Hotel. Following the event, video from the event, the public blessing of Rand Paul, gained minor notice from the secular press. But video showing the blessing of Senator Ted Cruz is far more notable.
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