Yesterday, a young heckler in La Porte, Indiana, told Cruz, “You suck!” Cruz responded, “Thank you, son. Children should actually speak with respect.” He added, “In my household, when a child behaves that way, they get a spanking.”
First of all, how old was this kid who disrupted Cruz’s rally? Six? Second of all, Cruz loves talking about spanking his kids. In January, he said this of Hillary Clinton’s alleged lies about Benghazi: “You know I’ll tell you, in my house, if my daughter Catherine, the five-year-old, says something she knows to be false, she gets a spanking.”
His views on parenting are the latest example of the GOP’s “steak or fish” dilemma, which President Obama elucidated on Saturday night. The party of family values has two choices this election season: a self-admitted deadbeat dad and a cheerleader for corporeal punishment. You may not like steak or fish. But that’s your choice.