WASHINGTON – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, came out swinging against President Obama in remarks made Wednesday at the Defeat Jihad Summit presented by the Center for Security Policy.
Cruz compared the president's timidity in the face of terrorism and his refusal to condemn murderous Muslim extremists with the "courageous" bravery of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in risking his own life to call out "the radical Islamic terrorists that are perverting his faith."
The senator accused Obama of making a "pernicious" statement that implied Islamic terrorists who murder journalists "had a legitimate grievance."
Cruz also said few people seemed to have noticed a "stunning" assault on free speech by Obama that "got very little press attention."
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The Texan began that portion of his remarks by noting something Obama said at last Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast that was "every bit as troubling as analogizing to the Crusades" and invoking the moral relativism of comparing Christianity's ancient misdeeds with modern radical Islamic atrocities.
Cruz noted how the president said, "[W]hen someone exercises their free speech to criticize the faith of another, we should all condemn it."
"Now, I found that a rather stunning assault on free speech from the president. It got very little press attention. Because, lest it be lost on anybody, what the president was saying is that Charlie (Hebdo) was wrong to put a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad on their magazine.
"And, implicitly, what that's saying is the terrorists who murdered those journalists had a legitimate grievance. That is wrong. That is pernicious."
The senator asked people to imagine how different it would have been if the president had instead focused on a very different speech at the prayer breakfast.
[Watch the video of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi call on fellow Muslims to condemn jihadists:]
"It was a brave, courageous speech for President al-Sisi where he stood up as a Muslim and called out the radical Islamic terrorists that are perverting his faith. And he called on other Muslims to speak out against the jihadists."
Cruz added, "In doing so, he knew well that he was risking his life to say that. That these religious zealots and lunatics would only redouble their efforts to come after him."
"Imagine what a different prayer breakfast it would have been if the president had stood up and commended President al-Sisi for having the courage to speak the truth. Rather than justifying violence through the moral relativism of 'everybody does it,' rather than suggesting that we should muzzle free speech because of radical Islamists who take to violence, imagine if the president had been willing to name and understand the enemy."
Below is a video of Cruz's entire remarks.
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