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'Duck Dynasty' patriarch Phil Robertson backs Ted Cruz

"Ted Cruz is my man," Robertson says in a new campaign ad. "He's godly, he loves us, he's the man for the job, and he will go duck hunting."
/ Source: TODAY

In a new campaign ad, "Duck Dynasty'" patriarch Phil Robertson endorses Ted Cruz as they go duck hunting together, and appears to join the Republican presidential candidate in firing rifles into the sky.

"I've looked at the candidates," Robertson says in the video, titled "Cruz Commander" and posted Wednesday on the candidate's YouTube channel. "Ted Cruz is my man. He fits the bill. He's godly, he loves us, he's the man for the job, and he will go duck hunting."

Robertson asserts he'd prefer a leader who'd "kill a duck and put him in a pot and make him a good duck gumbo."

The 1-minute video had about 250,000 YouTube views as of Thursday morning. At no point in the 1-minute video does the viewer hear Cruz speak.

But Robertson comes through loud and clear, telling Cruz — who, like Robertson, is wearing camouflage gear and face paint — that the "reason we're going to vote for you, all of us, is because you're one of us, my man. That's why we're voting for you."

Giving Cruz a thumbs up, Robertson declares, "It's now or never." Duck calls and rifle shots resound as a Cruz campaign logo appears with the slogan, "Join the fight today!"

The new campaign ad emerged at about the same time as The New York Times' Wednesday report that Cruz did not properly disclose a Goldman Sachs loan of $1 million when he campaigned in 2012.

Follow TODAY.com writer Chris Serico on Twitter.