Ted Cruz is a U.S. Senator for Texas. Republicans may think he has gone over to the dark side, now that he is looking towards Hollywood.
The movie capital is also the liberal capital of America, and Senator Cruz announced plans Wednesday to meet with “Friends of Abe.” They are the now-infamous conservative organization that was targeted by the IRS, a networking group for politically conservative members of the Hollywood elite, started by actor Gary Sinise.
The “Friends of Abe” organization covers 200 right-leaning Hollywood celebrities, including Pat Boone, Kelsey Grammer and Jon Voight.
Senator Cruz will talk about “McCarthy,” referring to the ‘Hollywood Ten’ blacklist of the 1950’s, as well as the pressure that right-leaning tax-free charities now face in America.
Cruz said, “The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled that Americans have freedom of association, and that groups should not be forced to reveal the names of members because that information could be abused for political gain,” he told The Reporter.
Cruz and others claim that “Friends of Abe” and other right-leaning nonprofits were purposely targeted as part of a government effort to intimidate those critical of President Barack Obama. While covering this subject, he spoke about the arrest of Dinesh D’Souza, who made the documentary “2016: Obama’s America.” D’Souza was charged with violating campaign finance laws.
Cruz and three other senators, Charles Grassley, Jeff Sessions, and Mike Lee quote Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, “I can’t help but think that [D’Souza’s] politics have something to do with it. … It smacks of selective prosecution.” [Reported by politico]
Cruz also cited Nakoula Nakoula, whose terribly produced video, “Innocence of Muslims” was initially blamed by Secretary of State Hillary, President Obama and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice as the primary cause for the Benghazi attack that left Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead.
“Authorities have been remarkably selective in prosecuting D’Souza; the IRS’s treatment of FOA is consistent with what this administration has done to Tea Party and conservative groups. And with Benghazi, which we now know was a terrorist attack, the administration’s first instinct was to blame a filmmaker. This administration locked him up. That should be very troubling to the filmmaking community,” Cruz told The Reporter.
A New York Times article said the IRS has been probing “Friends of Abe,” for two years.
hope to gain approval from the IRS for a status allowing members to claim a tax deduction as long as they do not take part in any partisan political activity.
The “Friends of Abe” organization holds lecture events by guest speakers, that have included House Speaker John Boehner, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Karl Rove, Frank Luntz and conservative commentators Ann Coulter and Mark Levin.
It will be interesting to see if Cruz and this conservative group can stop the politically-motivated government overreach we have been reading about.
