Cruz Blasts Challenger Over ‘Taking the Knee’ In New Ad

Beto O’Rourke is challenging Ted Cruz for his Texas Senate seat and has received nothing but praise from an overwhelmingly liberal media.

There isn’t much Beto can do that doesn’t attract praise, whether it be skateboarding at a Whataburger (that actually got glowing media coverage), the fact that he was once in a punk rock band, or the fact that he has hair on his head (seriously). The media was at least wise enough not to usher praise upon Beto for his prior DUI and dropped burglary charges.

Among the *literally everything* he does that’s garnered him praise from the media includes his defense of NFL athletes taking a knee during the National Anthem, which he thinks is the “most patriotic thing” one can do, apparently. I guess that means everyone standing with their hand on their chest less of a patriot by his logic?

While all Beto did was repeat the same exact talking points we’ve already heard a thousand times over the past two years, he was praised as if he said something brilliant and original.

For all the praise he’s receiving from the media for those comments (among all others that have exited his mouth), you have to realize that the ideological composition of the media, and of the average Texan, couldn’t be further apart. Because of that, Cruz is capitalizing on Beto’s comments, which are bound to poll poorly with your average Texan.

“When Beto O’Rourke says he can’t think of anything more American [than players taking a knee], well I got to tell you, I can,” Cruz said in a campaign ad. Indeed, off the top of your head, you can probably think of no fewer than a dozen things more patriotic than taking a knee. Cruz used Beto’s own rhetoric against him in a powerful ad that featured Tim Lee, a Vietnam veteran who lost both legs serving his country.

“Why do I stand?” Cruz captioned the ad, which he posted to Twitter. “I stand for the veterans like Tim Lee who lost both his legs fighting in South Vietnam.”

Watch below:

While Cruz and Beto are polling within the margin of error, those polls are oversampling Democrats.

Historically speaking, betting odds on elections have had greater success in predicting the outcome of elections than polls for a number of reasons; such as bettors taking into account variables that polls cannot. While the polls give the appearance that the race is a coin flip, the current odds only put Beto’s chances of victory at 1 in 20, or a whopping five percent.

It doesn’t appear that Cruz has much to worry about.