Posted on 02/06/2016 9:42:23 AM PST by conservativejoy
Ever since Iowa, Donald Trump has spent all of his time fighting the good fight on behalf of wronged victim Ben Carson. Trump says that he was robbed, too, of course, but his heart truly goes out to Carson. Why? Well, Carson's team told CNN on Iowa caucus day that Carson was leaving the campaign trail to go to Florida, and that Carson would be skipping New Hampshire and South Carolina altogether. CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash had the following conversation:
Tapper: "It's very unusual, to announce that you're going home to rest for a few days, not going on to the next site."
Bash: "Very unusual...Look, if you want to be president of the United States, you don't go home to Florida. That's just bottom line, that's the end of the story. If you want to signal to your supporters that you're hungry, that you want them to get out and campaign, you have to get out there too, it's very unusual."
Tapper: "Very unusual."
Wolf Blitzer: "Very significant news indeed."
CNN tweeted the news: "After the #IACaucus, @RealBenCarson plans to take a break from campaigning."
The Cruz campaign seized on this news and began telling precinct captains to tell potential Carson voters that Carson was taking a break from campaigning, and so they might consider moving their votes over to Cruz. Cruz later apologized to Carson, but that wasn't enough - Carson held an oddly-organized press conference in which he suggested that Cruz's tactics weren’t Christian, and that Cruz ought to fire his campaign workers for their error. Trump, meanwhile, continued to claim that he had in fact won Iowa, but that Cruz cheated.
Well, now it turns out that both CNN and Cruz had it right.
Today, Carson announced that he wouldn't be heading to New Hampshire until Saturday night, for the Republican debate. The Washington Post also announced that his campaign had chopped 50 staff positions as "part of an overhaul and downsizing of his entire campaign." The Post continued:
Salaries are being significantly reduced. Carson's traveling entourage will shrink to only a handful of advisers. And instead of flying on private jets, Carson may soon return to flying on commercial flights. The employees being released - about half of Carson's campaign - mostly work in field operations and at his headquarters in Northern Virginia. Campaign officials, who confirmed the moves after The Washington Post obtained an internal memo about the layoffs, stressed that key aides in upcoming GOP primary contests will remain in place and that Carson is determined to stay in the 2016 race. But they acknowledged that Carson's funds have diminished as he has fallen from the top tier, forcing him to make sweeping changes to a campaign that swelled into a bustling operation of about 125 people.
All of that followed on Carson's campaign manager quitting at the beginning of January along with 20 other staffers.
This campaign is done, in other words.
And Carson kept all of this cutting secret, knowing he'd have to do it after Iowa. So who was the real fibber here? The Cruz campaign, which correctly forecast Carson's drop out, or Carson's campaign, which insisted that he wasn't going anywhere, then proceeded to slash half its workforce and remove its candidate from the campaign trail?
Not this sh!t again.
“Cruz campaign knowingly falsified info to voters for personal gain. Not disputed anywhere, especially with the recordings.”
Please post his ‘falsified info’ and back up your claim. Thank you.
He hasn’t attended a single event in New Hampshire or South Carolina. Other than whining to the press he has been MIA with 2 elections within a month.
There is also a scandal about pay amounts connected to his "charity".
I hope both of them try. It will open them up for a sharp attack from Cruz on their hypocrisy.
Note that Carson’s “continuation” of his “campaign” means he’s happy to take money from his donors while flying on chartered jets, selling books while NOT campaigning and while paying for empty buses to tool around to make it look like he has a presence.... yeah, real honest of him.
Untrue for the gazillionth time. They embellished to mislead and confuse.
Example: I go on vacation
You tell my clients I'm out and you don't know if I'm coming back.
Your helpful "passing it on" leads to you pocketing my commissions.
Fraud? Maybe.
Dirty pool? Probably
Christian like behavior? You decide.
Hopefully any serious candidate has staff monitoring Tweater to counter-act those kind of attacks.
BS.
You keep repeating that lie. And it is a lie; it’s not “not disputed” at all.
By the way, Carson received the same percentage of votes in the actual Iowa caucus as the polls indicated he would. Therefore, Cruz “stole” no votes — Ben received 100% of the votes he was expected to receive.
Clintonesque don’t you think?
Like everyone else, I respect Dr. Carson. One thing he did not do was surround himself with competent counsel and campaign staff. He made some unwise choices. Does anyone have a fork we can use to see if his campaign is done?
Cruz is on top in New Hampshire if you eliminate the liberal establishment candidates.
He’s a fraud. I think the refrain about Carson being a good man needs to end.
Shapiro is stating what everyone already knows, even if they pretend otherwise.
Every commentator that heard the CNN report thought Carson was leaving the campaign trail. So far, he has.
Your example is apples to oranges.
Carson said he was taking a break from campaigning (not that he was “taking a vacation” from running for president). CNN reported that fact. The other campaigns passed that info along to their people.
Ben received the same number of votes as the polling indicated he would. No votes lost = no votes stolen = you are wrong.
How did it work? Is there evidence one voter switched votes because of it? No committed voter would switched based on the word of another campaign. On the other hand, in a caucus situation, supporters of candidates with low totals often migrate to top tier candidates. Like what happened with O’Malley voters.
Cruz is a cheat and he will be called on it. Despite his debating abilities which would put Joan of Arc to shame, he’ll do nothing more than blame subordinates as he always does. He’s already apologized for his cheating but has none absolutely nothing about it.
You’re right. Ben’s lost my respect.
Ouch.
I'm bookmarking that pithy rhetorical question. Might come in handy here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.