HOWELL – Republican

presidential candidate Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz drew laughter from a crowd of

nearly 500 people when he made a joke of Vice President Joe Biden’s name, but

then told reporters he was sympathetic to Biden following the death this week

of the vice president’s oldest son, Beau.

Asked by a

reporter then why he told the joke about Biden, Cruz started to answer then

waved off the reporter with a disgusted look and walked away.

Beau Biden,

the former attorney general of Delaware and an expected candidate for governor

in 2016, died over the weekend after suffering from brain cancer. The younger Biden

was 46.

The vice

president was remembered in the opening invocation to the Livingston County

Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner, where Cruz spoke. While the invocation

warned of enemies within the U.S. and was critical by implication of President

Barack Obama, it also called for prayers for the president and for Biden as his

family struggled with their loss.

As Cruz told

the audience about defending the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms, he

referred to Vice President Joe Biden and said his name was a joke

in itself.

“You

don’t need a punchline,” Cruz said. All one has to do to say Biden’s name

“and they will crack up laughing.”

Several

national reporters, after news of Cruz’s comment spread via social media, where

he was roundly condemned, said that is a line Cruz repeatedly uses, but

apparently opted not to discard in the wake of Beau Biden’s death.

Most of the

crowd laughed at the joke, though it was also clear some people seemed a little

upset by the joke coming at this time.

After Cruz

finished his speech, posed for photos and began to leave, reporters asked him

about Biden’s son.

“It’s

heartbreaking,” Cruz said. “I feel for Joe Biden, for Jill Biden.

It’s a tragedy no one should have to endure.”

Asked then

why he made a joke, Cruz started to speak, then looked up sharply at the

reporter, waved his hand dismissively and turned to walk away (though he was

stopped by one supporter for a photo).

He later

issued a prepared statement apologizing for the remark.

This story

was published by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on www.gongwer.com.