In an interview on
CBS' "This Morning" show, Sen. Ted Cruz discussed how his musical tastes changed as a result of 9/11.
The Texas Republican said he grew up listening to classic rock, but that his preferences changed to country after the terrorist attacks that day.
Without going into specifics, Cruz said he "didn't like how rock music responded." But the way country music reacted, in his view, "resonated with me," and at "a gut level, I had an emotional reaction that says, 'these are my people.' And so ever since 2001, I listen to country music."
The Texas senator's comments drew a plethora of responses from liberal media outlets ranging from snide to angry and bizarre.
"There is something clearly off about this man,"
warned the Daily Kos.
It is true that in general, "rock stars did not reach the jingoist heights of their country brethren,"
New York magazine's Jonathan Chait wrote on Tuesday.
"The rockers were in mourning and celebrating freedom; country stars were demanding blood," Chait wrote. He added that it would be "attractive to imagine Cruz as the mirror-image of Cold War-era Soviet citizens locked furtively in his apartment, listening to taped-over bootleg Beatles cassettes, hoping no loyal party members overhear."
Mother Jones denounced Cruz as "the phoniest dude you'll run into at a country concert."
Salon used Cruz's comments about his change in musical taste to criticize him for "shutting down the government" and "campaigning to strip gay people of their rights" by opposing same-sex marriage.
MSNBC likened the senator's comments to a creepy character in the movie "Footloose" who railed against rock and roll.
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