Ted Cruz defends Simpsons comments, calls GOP the party of hard-working Homer

D’oh!

The Democrats have turned their backs on Homer Simpson and, according to Sen. Ted Cruz, that may be why they “lost working men and women across the country.”

The Texas Republican made the comment while doubling down on his theory that all the members of The Simpsons, with the exception of Lisa, are Republicans during an interview with TMZ on Monday.

Cruz, a professed Simpsons fan, made waves at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week when he called Democrats “the party of Lisa Simpson” and said “Republicans are happily the party of Homer, Bart, Maggie and Marge.”

More: ‘Democrats are the party of Lisa Simpson,’ Ted Cruz says

“The reaction of an awful lot of Democrats and a lot of media folks to that has been more than a little amusing,” Cruz said.

It’s important that Republicans “have a sense of humor,” Cruz said. “And nothing has illustrated my point more than a bunch of humorless shills on the left screaming and hollering that they would never want to be the party of Homer Simpson. Maybe that’s why the Democrats lost working men and women across the country.”

Here are the reasons Cruz said he believes each member of the Simpsons family, except Lisa, would vote GOP:

Homer

“I think Homer Simpson is an everyman,” Cruz said. “He works hard. He provides for his family. Is he flawed? Is he imperfect? Of course.”

Regular viewers of The Simpsons might point out that “flawed” is putting it mildly when it comes to Homer, who has brought the town of Springfield to ruin on more than one occasion.

While Homer does provide for his family, he frequently puts his own interests, particularly his alcoholism and gluttony, ahead of their well-being.

And Homer is one of the least hard-working characters in the history of fiction. When Homer — an exceedingly negligent safety inspector at a nuclear power plant — does exert effort, it is usually in the name of avoiding work. For example, he once intentionally ate himself into morbid obesity in order to collect disability.

Bart

“You saw a lot of people on the left blasting Bart,” Cruz said. “All right, fine, so he’s a teenage delinquent. He loves to be free. He doesn’t want a whole bunch of sanctimonious Seymour Skinners running his life. I think that’s a Libertarian sentiment that I’m proud is reflected in the Republican Party.”

Marge

“You look at Marge, she’s a homemaker, she holds the family together,” Cruz said. “She loves Homer despite his many flaws. She loves her kids. She reins in sometimes Lisa’s overenthusiasm and she provides the steady strength in the family. There are also an awful lot of folks on the far left that look down on the Marge Simpsons of the world.”

Maggie

“Maggie is awesome in many, many ways not least of which is when she leads an escape, like The Great Escape, from the Ayn Rand School for Tots.”

It is interesting that Cruz would pick Maggie’s flight from a daycare meant to instill Rand’s objectivist philosophy as an example of her conservative bona fides. Cruz has called Rand “one of my all time heroes.”