Ted Cruz Proudly (And Cluelessly) Says Dems Are Lisa Simpson, GOP Is Homer

The Simpsons may have accidentally predicted the rise of Donald Trump, but they never saw Ted Cruz coming. The senator from Texas and unofficial King of Self-Owns, underscored a point that the universally beloved animated show has been making for years–and misconstrued it as a compliment.

“The Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson,” Cruz said today at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “And Republicans are happily the party of Homer, Bart, Maggie and Marge.”

Cruz made the laughable statement while speaking with The Federalist‘s Ben Domenech, who compared the gun control debate to a Simpsons episode. (You probably can guess which one. If not, it’s the one where Homer becomes a gun-idiot and Lisa Simpson trashes the Second Amendment.)

Keen observers of The Simpsons, however, may have noticed that Homer Simpson is an ambulatory example of everything a person ought not do and Lisa Simpson is the perennial voice of reason. Through the years, The Simpsons has taken a both-sides approach in espousing its politics, but one could make a case that Homer represents Republicans, while Lisa represents Democrats. You just would never expect that a Republican would be the one to make this comparison–or that he would think that counts as a sick burn.

Twitterers were quick to seize on Cruz’s quote and point out a number of things wrong with it.

They pointed out the heroism of Lisa Simpson, Cruz’s ideological foe.

So proud to be associated with longtime hero Lisa Simpson. pic.twitter.com/2eeQIPCeNW

— Jennifer Wright (@JenAshleyWright) February 22, 2018

They pointed out that everyone on the show Cruz compares with the Republican party has a specious history with guns.

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/966774427756171264

And they pointed out that most of the only actual Republicans represented on The Simpsons are glimpsed in an episode that reveals Mr. Burns is the head of a shady consortium, featuring a Texas businessman, a doctor, a Rush Limbaugh figure, an Arnold Schwarzenegger figure, a lawyer, and of course Count Chocula.

https://twitter.com/MilesKlee/status/966776024972210176

Unfortunately, however, perhaps the most accurate assessment of Democrats’ relation to The Simpsons is captured in this tweet.

https://twitter.com/TheRachelFisher/status/966767822473912320

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