Ted Cruz had to appear on CNN this week to try to clear up the mess caused by one of his staffers liking a porn tweet on Cruz’s Twitter account. But during the interview, Cruz claimed that it was the Left and the media that were obsessed with sex – interesting coming from a man who has continuously tried to legislate what people do in their bedrooms. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Transcript:

Republican senator Ted Cruz is still dealing with the fallout over the fact that his Twitter account liked a tweet from a porn company that was a porn clip. Now, on Wednesday, he went on CNN and had to address the big elephant in the room, which is the fact that not only did his account like this pornographic tweet, but also as Solicitor General of Texas, he defended a ban on sex toys in the state. Here is what Ted Cruz had to say during that interview.

Dana Bash: Let’s talk about the tweet. @tedcruz, your Twitter handle, liked a post that was clearly porn. What happened?

Ted Cruz: Look. We had a staffer who accidentally hit the wrong button. It was a screwup. It was not me, and it’s not going to happen again. This was a screwup.

Dana Bash: Do you appreciate the irony that you once defended a Texas law banning sales of sex toys?

Ted Cruz: No, actually. Actually, that’s a good example, Dana, of where the media runs with things that are just totally false.

Dana Bash: What’s false about that?

Ted Cruz: What is false about that? I’ve read online, “Cruz Supports Banning Sex Toys,” but that’s complete nonsense.

Dana Bash: No, no, no. The sales. I reread the brief this morning. The sale of it.

Ted Cruz: All right. I spent five and half years as the Solicitor General of Texas. I worked for the Attorney General. The Attorney General’s job is to defend the laws passed by the Texas legislature.

Dana Bash: I got it. Yep.

Ted Cruz: One of those laws was a law restricting the sale of sex toys. It was a stupid law. Listen, I am one of the most libertarian members of the Senate. I think it’s idiotic, but it’s an opportunity for knuckleheads in the media to claim, “Oh, isn’t this ironic that Cruz wants to ban these things?” No I don’t.

Dana Bash: I can’t believe I’m going to say-

Ted Cruz: People ought to be able to do what they want in their own bedrooms.

Dana Bash: Okay. I can’t believe I’m going to ask you this, but so you’re officially saying, “Ted Cruz is okay with people buying sex toys”?

Ted Cruz: I am saying that consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want in their bedrooms. The media and the Left seem obsessed with sex. Let people do what they want.

That’s right, folks. Ted Cruz thinks you should be able to do whatever you want to in the bedroom, as long as you’re not using a sex toy, as long as it’s a man and a woman, as long as you’re not trying to do anything too freaky or kinky, as long as there’s no transgendered people, as long as there’s no gay people, as long as there’s probably no black people or Asians or Hispanics or immigrants or whatever. Other than that, though, Cruz is totally cool with you guys doing whatever you want to do, presumably, I imagine, in Cruz’s opinion, as long as you’re also married as well, or at least engaged probably.

Here’s the thing that Cruz doesn’t quite understand about all of the irony of this, and it’s a thing that really contradicts all of the points he tries to make in this video. He says that the Left and the media are obsessed with sex. Well, when you think about it, when you look back at the history, when you look at legislation that’s been proposed by Republicans for decades now, it’s actually the Republicans who are obsessed with sex. They want to be able to tell women what they can do with their bodies. They want to be able to tell citizens, as we saw from the clip, what kind of toys they can use in the bedroom. They want to legislate people’s genitals by telling us which restrooms we can and cannot go into. No, Cruz. It’s not the media. It’s not the Left. It’s you and your party that is trying to regulate and dictate people’s sex lives, and their personal lives, all based on what they’re packing in their pants. That’s your party.

Democrats, to their credit, one of the things they’re still good on is that they don’t care. Do whatever. If you want to get married to somebody of the same sex, hey, that’s fine. You should have a right to do that. Republicans think differently. Republicans don’t want you to have a choice, and Ted Cruz is Exhibit A.

Furthermore, why was your staffer skulking around porn tweets to begin with? Oh, he accidentally liked it. Okay, fine. That’s believable. As I’ve said before, I’ve accidentally liked people’s tweets while scrolling through my feed, but why was that porn clip even in your news feed? You’re just opening up a whole new can of worms at this point, buddy. When you’re in the hole, Cruz, stop digging because it’s not going to make it any better, but more importantly, you and your party need to get the hell out of everybody’s sex lives. Nobody wants you there. Nobody wants to be thinking about Ted Cruz legislation about what I can or cannot use in the bedroom, so why don’t you just back off, go watch your porn videos or whatever it is you personally choose to do. We’re not here to judge you on that, but stop trying to regulate, direct, and dictate the sex lives of everybody else in this country.

Farron Cousins is the executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine and a contributing writer at DeSmogBlog.com. He is the co-host / guest host for Ring of Fire Radio. His writings have appeared on Alternet, Truthout, and The Huffington Post. Farron received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida in 2005 and became a member of American MENSA in 2009. Follow him on Twitter @farronbalanced