Ted Cruz loves ‘The Simpsons,’ but he botched his favorite quote

Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a town hall event at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, Wednesday, April 1. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Ted Cruz is a big "Simpsons" fan.

In an interview with The Federalist Radio Hour on Thursday, he was asked what his favorite episodes were. "You know, that's a tough call," he said. He mentioned two he loves: "Round Springfield" -- in which one of Lisa Simpson's favorite musicians, Bleeding Gums Murphy, dies and appears in a cloud with Mufasa from "The Lion King," Darth Vader, and James Earl Jones -- and "Treehouse of Horror VII" -- in which the notorious line about moving forward not backward and always twirling towards freedom comes from.

Cruz recited the line, but messed it up. Instead of saying "twirling towards freedom," he said "twirling into the future" (you can watch the clip for yourself here).

It could be a forgivable error. Who among us hasn't been a few words off when reciting our favorite movie lines (even this above gif isn't verbatim, using "spinning" instead of "twirling")? But Cruz, a staunch conservative who wants to reignite the promise of America, botched the most important part: the part about freedom.

Simpsons' showrunner Al Jean didn't return the love. "To paraphrase Kang, 'Ted Cruz?' Go ahead, throw away your vote," Jean told the Daily Beast.

Cruz also said he unwinds on the campaign trail by playing games on his iPhone (Plants vs. Zombies 2, Alien Creeps and Candy Crush), and he watches "House of Cards" ("wonderfully fun" and "mind candy") and "Game of Thrones."

Anyways, here's what Cruz might look like if he was on "The Simpsons," via "The Simpsonmaker":