Recent comments from Beck and Cruz

As if showy campaign displays of Ted Cruz's Christian faith hadn't generated enough talk of dominion theology and other controversies, it's reported that Glenn Beck now preaches Cruz as a fulfillment of Mormon prophecy.

Beck's assertion was reported in the Salt Lake Tribune, and from there picked up by Breitbart.

But there's something even more odd Cruz himself said that's quoted in the Tribune, a comment in reference to his political ally Sen. Mike Lee:

The first time Cruz and Lee met, they walked and talked about the Constitution for hours. Cruz asked the crowd if they remembered Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings," and added, "For Mike , the Constitution is 'my precious.'"

Cruz is the first "constitutional scholar" I've ever heard of who claims devotion to the Constitution brings on supernatural powers... and madness.

I'll take a shortcut here, and use Wikipedia to set the framework:

The Ring, which Gollum referred to as "my precious" or "precious", extended his life far beyond natural limits. Centuries of the Ring's influence twisted Gollum's body and mind, and by the timeline of the novels had "come to love and hate the Ring, just as he loved and hated himself." Throughout the story, Gollum was torn between his lust for the Ring and his desire to be free of it. Bilbo Baggins found the Ring and took it for his own, and Gollum afterwards pursued it for the rest of his life.

You'd think a Harvard trained lawyer touted as a constitutional scholar, said to be one of the best debaters in politics, would be able to steer clear of strangeness like this.

Is this weird, or what?