Princess Bride Actor To Cruz: Stop "Spreading Hate, Open Your Heart" To Refugees
Republican presidential candidate and firebrand religious extremist Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has made no small secret of his love for the Princess Bride, the classic 1987 romantic comedy that details a farmhand’s struggle to rescue his true love from the clutches of an evil prince. He even acted out his favorite portion of the film in an interview with a New Hampshire radio station, in an attempt to make him seem relatable or at least slightly less loathsome to non-evangelical voters. His fans have even been photoshopping Cruz’s offensively smug visage onto pictures of the film.
The portion of the film that Cruz claims to love so dearly is a scene where Inigo Montoya (played by Mandy Patinkin) brings the mostly-dead body of protagonist Westley (Cary Elwes) to a local herbalist to heal him from the punishing torture he endured at the hands of the antagonist and romantic rival Prince Humperdink (Chris Sarandon). Montoya implores the healer to work for free in the name of true love.
Mandy Patinkin, now famous for his role on Homeland, had a few choice words to say about the Senator’s hypocritical endorsement of the values of that film in contrast with the hateful and divisive politics that Cruz employs to gain political points. Cruz has vaulted himself into the public eye for his anti-gay bigotry and more recently for his virulent refusal to allow Syrian refugees fleeing horrific violence to resettle in the United States.
“I would like to be with Senator Cruz for a moment and I would like to respectfully ask him, since he quotes all the lines from ‘The Princess Bride’ and certainly all of my character, Inigo Montoya’s, lines, I would like to know why he doesn’t quote my favorite line?”
Patinkin told the New York Times that his favorite line is one of his character’s last: “I have been in the revenge business so long, now that it’s over, I don’t know what to do with the rest of my life.” He accused Ted Cruz of being “in the revenge business” in regards to his monstrous bravados about “bombing the Middle East until we find out if sand can glow,” and schooled him for not only missing the entire point of the movie but also for perpetuating terrible lies about Muslim refugees and urging the nation to turn our backs against those that need us the most:
“This man is not putting forth ideas that are at the heart of what that movie is all about. I would love for Senator Cruz, and everyone creating fearmongering and hatred, to consider creating hope, optimism and love. Open your arms to these people, these refugees trying to get into our country, and open your hearts.”
Unfortunately, it appears that Sen. Ted Cruz’s sociopathic opportunism means that he is willing to say or do anything he needs to if it will give him a boost in the polls. As we have noted time and time again, Ted Cruz is a disgusting hypocrite who is universally despised by comrades and enemies alike. His love for the Princess Bride is the closest thing to sincerity we have seen from this person throughout his entire campaign; perhaps a rebuke from the actor involved might provoke a little recognition and remorse from the so-called Christian.
As Montoya might have said; “Love. You keep using this word, but I don’t think you know what it means.”
