OPEN THREAD: GOP Top Ten Debate

Watch along with us and weigh in during the main GOP debate at 9PM eastern. The event will be live-streamed on Fox News where you'll need your cable system login to watch.

IOWA: Ted Cruz Hires Anti-Gay Nutters Behind National Billboard Campaign

The Guardian reports:

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has chosen a couple who are aiming to put up 1,000 billboards attacking same-sex marriage to be part of his Iowa leadership team. Betty and Richard Odgaard, who lost a civil case in January after refusing to allow a gay couple to marry at their restaurant, have already erected one anti-gay marriage billboard in Oklahoma. They were added to Cruz’s Iowa team on Tuesday. Announcing their appointment, the Cruz campaign described the Odgaards as “courageous conservatives” who will form part of “a strong leadership team to win the Iowa caucuses”. Rick Tyler, a spokesman for Cruz, said the campaign was aware of the couple’s campaign. “The Odgaards signed on with Ted Cruz and they’re supporters of ours, and when the senator heard their story and visited their property he was moved by it,” Tyler said. “So we’re well aware of their situation and their plight.”

Only one of the promised 1000 billboards has been posted.

Top GOP Million+ Donors So Far

That's just the top four. There are dozens more.

Manly Man Ted Cruz Fires Machine Gun

From the same right-wing publicists that brought you Lindsey Graham destroying a phone and Ben Carson playing Operation.

God Launches Desperate Ad Campaign: Please Help Me Stop Those Terrible Gays

Actually this campaign was launched by the martyrs promoted last week by Ted Cruz. Via Glenn Beck's site:

The Görtz Haus Gallery, a one-stop wedding venue, restaurant and flower shop that Betty and Dick Odgaard have run for the past 13 years in Grimes, Iowa, is slated for official closure on July 31, following intense controversy over the Christian owners’ refusal to host a gay wedding. The decision to close their doors follows a contentious legal battle stemming from the Odgaards’ turning away of Lee Stafford and his fiancé Jared Ellars in 2013 — a decision that resulted in a $5,000 settlement payout to the same-sex couple. The Odgaards have since launched God’s Original Design Ministry, a 501(c)(3) organization that will post billboards across the U.S. in an effort to defend traditional marriage as an institution that is comprised of only one man and one woman.

The first billboard went up this week in Oklahoma. The Odgaards say they are planning 999 more.

Brent Bozell Endorses Ted Cruz

In 2011 Brent Bozell called President Obama "a skinny ghetto crackhead" during an appearance on Fox News but Ted Cruz is delighted to highlight Bozell's endorsement on his YouTube campaign channel.

RELATED: The Family Research Council will honor Bozell with its "Vision & Leadership Award" at Duggar Fest 2015.

Cruz: Captain Kirk Is A Republican

"Let me do a little psychoanalysis. If you look at Star Trek: The Next Generation, it basically split James T. Kirk into two people. Picard was Kirk’s rational side, and William Riker was his passionate side. I prefer a complete captain. To be effective, you need both heart and mind. The original Star Trek was grittier. Kirk is working class; Picard is an aristocrat. Kirk is a passionate fighter for justice; Picard is a cerebral philosopher. The original Star Trek pressed for racial equality, which was one of its best characteristics, but it did so without sermonizing. I think it is quite likely that Kirk is a Republican and Picard is a Democrat." - Ted Cruz, speaking to New York Times Magazine.

Ted Cruz Convenes Senate Hearing On "SCOTUS Activism" - Calls Hate Group Leader John Eastman As Witness

Yesterday Ted Cruz convened a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, which he chairs, in order to call for reining in the "judicial tyranny" of the Supreme Court. One of the three witnesses he called was NOM chairman John Eastman. MSNBC reports:

Eastman agreed with Cruz’s proposals on judicial term limits and retention elections, but added one more “check” to the judicial branch – that states be given the ability to override “egregiously wrong decisions of the Supreme Court.” Cruz seemed interested in the idea, and asked for Eastman to elaborate. “The massive transfer of power from states to the federal government that came in the wake of the Civil War … unmoored the courts,” Eastman said. “A simple majority of the states ought to be able to override those kinds of decisions of the Supreme Court.”

The irony of such prescriptions was undoubtedly not lost on many of those watching Wednesday’s hearing. In order to correct what Cruz views as a series of decisions that have no basis in the U.S. Constitution, as well as what he considers to be an unconstitutional transgression by the justices into the realm of policy making, Cruz entertained several solutions – such as judicial term limits, retention elections, and state or Congressional overrides of “egregiously wrong decisions” – that would serve to dramatically alter the U.S. Constitution, not restore or strengthen it,

Today Cruz posted his opening statement to his presidential campaign channel on YouTube.

Martyr Touring With Ted Cruz

To promote his Iowa "Rally For Religious Liberty" Ted Cruz has interviewed the owners of Gortz Haus Gallery, who in 2013 sued the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, claiming that public accommodation laws violate their right to refuse to host same-sex weddings at their bistro. Their lawsuit came after a gay couple filed a complaint after having been turned away. In December 2014 the owners settled with complaint by paying the gay couple $5000. They then voluntarily decided to stop hosting all weddings rather than comply with Iowa law. Which makes them the perfect martyrs for Ted Cruz.

Cruz: Iran Is Getting Everything It Wants

Will Ted Cruz Be In The First Debate?

Ted Cruz appears to be worried that he won't qualify for the first presidential debate. Per the rules announced by Fox News, only the ten highest-polling candidates will be invited.

In a memo sent to fellow GOP campaigns on Wednesday, Chris Wilson, who serves as director of research and analytics for the Cruz campaign, called Fox News’ standards for deciding which national polls are used in its debate entry process “unclear.” Wilson asks the other campaigns to “consider joining with us” in encouraging the network to impose additional polling standards. As it stands, Fox News is allowing the Top 10 contenders, based on an average of the five most recent national polls, into the Aug. 6 debate. “I’m sure you are aware, the standards set by Fox News for the first GOP Presidential debate are unclear and, it would appear, undefined,” Wilson writes in the memo. Among the Cruz campaign’s suggestions: That polls included in the national average must have at least 1,000 interviews with primary voters and must be done by telephone (not online). However, no telephone poll conducted this year has surveyed that many GOP primary voters.

The vice president of Fox isn't happy with Cruz: "I can’t wait until Senator Cruz is President, so he can tell all the networks how to run their business." Meow.

Ted Cruz Vs New York Times: Part Three

Ted Cruz has the turned his book feud with the New York Times into a campaign clip.

Ted Cruz Vs New York Times: Part Two

Via Politico:

On Thursday, a Times spokesperson said that the book was excluded because the paper had found its sales to be mostly “strategic bulk purchases” — a common practice among political authors, but a claim hotly disputed by Cruz’s campaign. “The Times is presumably embarrassed by having their obvious partisan bias called out. But their response — alleging ‘strategic bulk purchases’ — is a blatant falsehood,” Cruz campaign spokesperson Rick Tyler said in a statement Friday. “The evidence is directly to the contrary. In leveling this false charge, the Times has tried to impugn the integrity of Senator Cruz and of his publisher Harper Collins.” “We call on the Times, release your so-called ‘evidence.’ Demonstrate that your charge isn’t simply a naked fabrication, designed to cover up your own partisan agenda,” Tyler continued. “And, if you cannot do so, then issue a public apology to Senator Cruz and Harper Collins editor Adam Bellow for making false charges against them.”

Last night the Cruz camp happily retweeted the above piece by the Washington Post, which notes that publicity about the controversy will likely result in Cruz legitimately making the Times' bestsellers list.

New York Times: Cruz Is Off Bestsellers List Due To "Strategic Bulk Purchases"

Via Politico:

This week, HarperCollins, the book's publisher, sent a letter to The New York Times inquiring about Cruz's omission from the list, sources with knowledge of the situation said. The Times responded by telling HarperCollins that the book did not meet their criteria for inclusion. "We have uniform standards that we apply to our best seller list, which includes an analysis of book sales that goes beyond simply the number of books sold," Times spokesperson Eileen Murphy explained when asked about the omission. "This book didn't meet that standard this week." Asked to specify those standards, Murphy replied: "Our goal is that the list reflect authentic best sellers, so we look at and analyze not just numbers, but patterns of sales for every book." Both HarperCollins and the Cruz campaign declined to comment on the matter.

In an update to the above-linked the story, the Times spokesman adds: "In the case of this book, the overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases." Such bulk purchases have long been used to buy one's way onto the list.

Sen. Ted Cruz Hopes Obergefell Will Spark "Raging Inferno" Of Anti-Gay Sentiment

It's not raging already?

Democrats Mock "Retrumplican Party"

Ted Cruz: Obama Will Use Gay Marriage To Strip Churches Of Tax Exemptions

Ted Cruz Tops Breitbart "Primary"

Via Breitbart:

In June, 55,000 people voted in the Breitbart Primary, and they preferred Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to win the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination. In June’s inaugural Breitbart Primary poll, Cruz finished first nationally (33%)–and in each of the first three nominating states–with Walker (23%), who has yet to declare his candidacy, right on his heels. Sen. Rand Paul finished in third with 10%, followed by Dr. Ben Carson (7%), former Texas Governor Rick Perry (5%), businessman Donald Trump (4%), former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (4%), and Sen. Marco Rubio (4%).

Breitbart will repeat the poll every month until the GOP convention.

Matt Baume: Worst Marriage Reactions

Ted Cruz Auditions For The Simpsons

Via the AV Club:

The Germans, as they so often do, have a word for a highly specific, immediately recognizable sensation that nevertheless has no English-language equivalent. This particular word is fremdscham, the cringing secondhand embarrassment you feel when someone is obliviously making a fool of himself, and Ted Cruz has revealed himself to be a natural at generating it. The presidential candidate and Tea Party favorite did some of the worst Simpsons impressions you’ve ever heard for BuzzFeed, as part of a mock audition to replace departing cast member Harry Shearer. Nitpickers might point out that Shearer didn’t voice Homer or Lisa Simpson, but that doesn’t stop Cruz. In just over one extremely painful to watch minute, Cruz appears dead set on developing counter-evidence to a separate BuzzFeed piece about his supposed savvy at viral campaign strategy. According to that article, Cruz and his team agreed to do the video on the fly and had just a few minutes to go over the script, which definitely checks out once you’ve seen the impressions. Still, neither his Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Homer, Lisa, nor Kang-as-Bill Clinton manages to be quite as fremdscham-inducing as his rendition of “Amazing Grace,” so there is that.

Kang said it best.