Sen. Ted Cruz Apologizes for Joe Biden Joke on Eve of Son’s Funeral
WASHINGTON, June 4 (UPI) — Republican Sen. Ted Cruz may have pushed his rhetoric against the Democrats too far Wednesday night, when he made a wisecrack about Vice President Joe Biden — on the eve of his family’s funeral for his son, Beau — in front of GOP supporters in Michigan.
Cruz was making a speech at a banquet in Howell, Mich., in front of about 650 supporters when he turned his talk toward the vice president — the Senate’s executive leader.
“Vice President Joe Biden. You know the nice thing? You don’t need a punch line,” he quipped. “The next party you’re at, just walk up to someone and say, ‘Vice President Joe Biden,’ and just close your mouth. They will crack up laughing.
“I promise you it works.”
The audience responded with laughter and applause.
Biden is preparing to bury his son, who died of brain cancer on Saturday. Beau Biden, 46 — the former Delaware attorney general and Iraq War veteran — had been battling the cancer for two years.
“He battled brain cancer with the same integrity, courage and strength he demonstrated every day of his life,” Biden said Saturday, on behalf of his family. “The entire Biden family is saddened beyond words. We know that Beau’s spirit will live on in all of us.”
The Biden family will hold a private mass Thursday and a public mass Saturday.
It didn’t take long for Cruz, a conservative Republican who has never been shy about criticizing the Democratic Party, to apparently realize the ill timing of his remarks. About an hour later, he issued an apology on his Facebook page.
“It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize,” Cruz wrote. “The loss of his son is heartbreaking and tragic, and our prayers are very much with the vice president and his family.”
“Sadly, your character has shined through and there is no taking that back,” one person posted.
“Too little – too late. The ability to think ahead is what is needed in a leader,” posted another.
“The number 1 thing we need is a president that has good judgement, you’ve lost my support,” submitted another.
Some critics didn’t indict Cruz for his joke as much as they did the crowd for laughing.
“Politicians make dumb mistakes, I get that. But GOP [supporters] laughing uproariously at Biden joke is awful,” author and media expert Eric Boehlert tweeted.
The joke Cruz used Wednesday was hardly new material. He has been using it at speeches for the last two years. However, some commentators were baffled by his decision to use it on this occasion — just a few days after he himself expressed his “sadness” and “sympathies” to the Biden family.
“As the parents of two precious little girls, Heidi and I can only imagine the grief of losing a child — something no parent should have to do,” Cruz said in a statement on his website Saturday.
Cruz is running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016.
