Cruz: No Action Against Staffers Who Spread False Rumor Ben Carson Was Dropping Out

Real Clear Politics ^

[springwater13]

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz said he will not discipline staffers who spread a rumor that Ben Carson was going to drop out of the race in an attempt to get Carson supporters to caucus for Cruz in Iowa. Cruz appeared on the Mike Gallager Show on Wednesday and talked about staffers who pushed a report that Carson wasn't going on to campaign in New Hampshire or South Carolina.

[SoFloFreeper]

Balderdash. Carson is worth tens of millions of dollars. He flies home to Florida to CHANGE CLOTHES? I would’ve taken it as an euphemism for dropping out....Or at least re-thinking everything.

Besides, if this was a CNN report, are we to believe Carson supporters didn’t have access to smart phones and internet? Carson’s organization didn’t have an info distribution center to quell rumours that ALWAYS surface on election nights like this?

I understand the anger and distress, but it sounds like sour grapes to me.

[SoFloFreeper]

+1

[austinaero]

Then the fault is Steve King’s and not Cruz’s.

Steve King is ON the Cruz campaign! Did Cruz do anything about it? No! For a time the campaigned tried to deflect the blame every which way, CNN, Rubio, Trump.

Ultimately, they quit trying that and no one has been fired.

St Cruz still has his halo and his Bible, praying in thanks his BS worked on some. Didn’t work on NH.

[Patriot Babe]

If Cruz doesn’t want to fire him, how in the heck are we expect Ted will remove people who will be working with him in the White House if they do something wrong.

Makes me wonder if Ted is actually part of the establishment or someone like Dan Gabriel infiltrated his team to make him look bad.

[austinaero]

“I would’ve taken it as an euphemism for dropping “

Fair enough,,then why wasn’t it broadcast as such? Why wasn’t it tweeted as such by the Cruz campaign?

Hey guys, heard a rumor Carson may be leaving the campaign,,stand by for confirmation.

But that’s not what happened is it?

[austinaero]

Cruz didn’t tweet Carson was going home to Florida. Show us that tweet. Show one piece of evidence from the Cruz campaign that said Carson was going home to Florida.

[SeekAndFind]

Again, mistakes were made, but the original source of this was still CNN.

Steve King’s mistake was to take the CNN story and take it as an indication that Carson was quitting.

Unless there is evidence to show intentional malice on Cruz’s part, I give him the benefit of the doubt. You are entitled of course not to.

[dragnet2]

If he throws them under the bus, they’ll do the same to him.

You got to love it.

[GeaugaRepublican]

That’s leadership.

[RitaOK]

TRUMP can make life pretty miserable for the corrupt.

TRUMP is getting plenty of back up, from Carson, Rand Paul, Santorum, Huckabee, and the word is so out on Cruz in New Hampshire that the streets are scorched.

Cruz now has no room to jack people around.

[gg188]

Maybe Cruz SHOULD run as VP on Trump’s ticket. Cruz would be like having Nixon and Agnew all rolled into one.

[erlayman]

I agree. Carson could have been going home for any number of personal reasons that is no ones freaking business but his. Even rethinking is not the same as not dropping out and actively encouraging voters to change their mind without confirmation only adds to his reputation as a political opportunist.

[austinaero]

“Unless there is evidence to show intentional malice on Cruz’s part, I give him the benefit of the doubt. You are entitled of course not to.”

Wow, after all the attempts to blame everyone but themselves, you let the Cruz campaign off the hook.

Unbelievable.

The evidence part may have it’s day at some point...

[GeaugaRepublican]

Did anyone mention that Jeff Roe and his relationship to the suicide of Tom Schweich?
Days after the spot aired, Schweich took his own life.

Some of Schweich’s friends quickly concluded the ad played a role in the suicide and accused Roe of bullying the candidate. Former U.S. Sen. Jack Danforth urged Republicans to walk away from Roe, a request he repeated last week.

“We should disassociate ourselves from anyone who conducts this sort of campaign,” he said in an email.

But nothing suggests candidates are taking Danforth’s advice, or that Schweich’s death dented Roe’s multimillion-dollar Kansas City-based political enterprise in any significant way.

“Jeff is a tough, take-no-prisoners campaign consultant,” he said in an email. “He wins time and again, and candidates want a consultant who will win for them, period.”

http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article16663127.html

Yes, politics is tough, but a heads up to all; this is what you are dealing with ....

The reason people hate politicians and their “consultants”....

[Mase]

Is the MSM asking Rubio's team if any of theirs will be resigning? No, of course not, he's the new darling of the establishment so it's hands off until the general election.

This is the biggest nothingburger ever.

[GeaugaRepublican]

CNN says:

Baldwin added, “I’m going to call out BS when I hear BS. And that was BS.”

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/02/03/cnns-baldwin-cruz-is-throwing-my-network-under-the-bus-that-was-bs/

[austinaero]

HLLARIOUS!!

RCP has Kasich at 10.7% and Rubio tied at 10.7% for NH GOP Primary.

A mere one percentage point ahead is St. Cruz at 11.7%

I said Cruz will be lucky to be in Kasich territory after all his sleaze in Iowa. He’s definitely already in the neighborhood.

He better thump his Bible a little harder, cheat a little more, threaten the voters with more exposure and shout the name of Jesus a little louder in front of the cameras.

St. Cruz, patron saint of liars.

[VRWCmember]

Cruz didn't tweet Carson was going home to Florida. Show us that tweet.

True, Cruz (or his campaign worker) did not tweet that Carson was going home to Florida. (which happens to NOT be what I said)

The Cruz campaign person tweeted about CNN Tweets/Reports, stating that CNN was "reporting that Carson will stop campaigning after Iowa." Of the four CNN tweets about Carson, all four stated he would not be campaigning in NH or SC, and one stated he plans to take a break from campaigning. Was the statement that Carson will "stop campaigning" inaccurate? Yes, the CNN report only said "take a break from campaigning" rather than "stop campaigning". However, the statement is no more inaccurate than the phrase "staffers who spread false rumor" in the headline of this thread.

As for your request to "show us that tweet", see below:

[little jeremiah]

Cruz’ PR person Dan Gabriel said in a tweet which he later deleted that the Cruz people confirmed with the Carson people that Carson was dropping out. Cruz and his peeps are implicated.

[austinaero]

Slimey,,Cruz knew Carson was taking a break, not stopping his Campaign.

And the letter from the Cruz campaign telling staffers to pass the info that Carson was out was not the info being passed. The true info CNN was passing was that Carson was taking a break. Cruz camp added to share the fact Carson was gone to his caucus voters and try to persuade them to vote for Cruz.

We’ve all been here before

Bill Clinton and Obama playing with words and phrases. Playing “catch me” or “prove it.” Many Freepers condemn that,,it’s sleazy. Now that Cruz is doing it, it’s ok.

And he’s trying to avoid the blame just like Obama does.

Doesn’t wash and you know it.