Ted Cruz boasts about endorsement from anti-gay pastor and convicted stalker

GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz considers it a boasting point that a convicted stalker religious fanatic has endorsed him, according to Right Wing Watch.

Cruz published a list of Christian leaders who endorse his bid for the White House, and among them is Philip "Flip" Benham, a man who likens Muslims, LGBT people and Unitarians to the devil. Benham was also convicted of stalking an abortion provider, handing out hundreds of "wanted" posters bearing the physician's name and photograph.

“I am excited to be surrounded by so many people of faith,” Cruz said in a statement on his website. “Believers are alarmed that their values are not being represented, nor their liberties respected, in Washington. This list reflects a wide range of denominations, ministries, geography, and church size."

Benham heads Operation Save America, a radical anti-abortion group that "unashamedly takes up the cause of preborn children in the name of Jesus Christ. We employ only biblical principles. The Bible is our foundation; the Cross of Christ is our strategy; the repentance of the Church of Jesus Christ is our ultimate goal."

According to RWW, Benham organized a campaign to harass the federal judge overseeing the case of anti-gay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. Benham also blamed the theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado on Democrats and the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting on the separation between church and state.

Putting himself in the company of religious radicals and bigots is nothing new for Cruz, who earlier this month spoke at a religious conference organized by Kevin Swanson, a pastor who believes LGBT people should be executed.