To End The FReepathon
Posted on 12/05/2015 7:20:58 AM PST by conservativejoy
Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign is ratcheting up its criticism of Sen. Marco Rubio, issuing on Friday the latest salvo in the Republican presidential candidates' battle over the National Security Agency.
In a statement set to go out widely later Friday, the Cruz campaign accuses Rubio of desperation and demands that he "formally correct" recent comments he made about the USA Freedom Act, a measure supported by Cruz but opposed by Rubio that puts restrictions on how the NSA collects data.
At issue is how Rubio described the USA Freedom Act. Earlier Friday, Rubio said on CBS "This Morning" that the act, which passed earlier this year with bipartisan support, "took away the right to collect metadata, which means that we can now not access the phone records of individuals that we either suspect of being involved in terrorism or who carry out an attack to see who they were coordinating or talking to."
Chad Sweet, Cruz's campaign chairman and a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, fired back in a statement. "This particular assertion , that America couldn't target those who have carried out attacks , is beyond the pale and Rubio should correct the record immediately, instead of attempting to instill a false fear among Americans," he said.
"Our campaign is calling on him to formally correct these inaccurate statements and to start telling the truth about America's intelligence capabilities," Sweet continued.
A Rubio spokesman noted that Cruz has recently lauded the fact that telephone metadata more broadly is no longer collected in bulk.
"The truth is that because of Senator Cruz's legislation, the Federal government can only access terrorists' metadata by jumping through hoops that are extensive [and] not conducive to fast-moving investigations," argued Rubio communications director Alex Conant in a follow-up email.
Rubio and Cruz have been heatedly sparring over national security and foreign policy, with the Florida senator suggesting Cruz's NSA vote indicates he's insufficiently tough on terrorism and the Texas senator accusing Rubio of being misguided on foreign policy. The debate has intensified this week, as polls show both senators rising. Cruz accused Rubio’s hawkish approach of smacking of "military adventurism," while a Wall Street Journal editorial took Cruz to task, saying his NSA position "looks dangerous as policy and politics after the terror attacks in Paris."
"The USA Freedom Act was supported by Senator Mike Lee, the NRA, scores of House conservatives, and millions of Americans who believe the federal government can achieve its chief responsibility of keeping Americans safe while also protecting their liberty," the Cruz campaign's statement asserts.
"The falsehood told by Senator Rubio is perhaps the result of a lack of success in attacking Ted Cruz. Rubio and his Super PAC allies have spent tens of thousands of dollars attempting to distort Ted Cruz's strong record on national security and yet have only seen Cruz's support catapult while the Rubio campaign is essentially treading water."
A $200,000 ad buy from a supporter of Rubio's targeting Cruz's backing of the act recently went up in Iowa through a non-profit group.
Let us remember the WSJ is in McConnell’s corner and wrote hit pieces on Cruz when he confronted the Chinless Wonder in the Senate.
So the WSJ siding with Rubio on this should be no surprise. Rubio walked the fence between his loyalty to his Tea Party supporters and sidling up to the good old boys. It’s paying off in the short term as indicated by the WSJ quote.
Rubio belongs in the trash heap. He belongs to the Establishment and they are backing him now that Bush is toast. We don’t need “more of the same” in this country.
Rubio walked the fence between his loyalty to his Tea Party supporters and sidling up to the good old boys.
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His “Tea Party supporters” have abandoned him in droves. All he has left are the Miami Hispanics. Look at his standing in Florida! We can’t wait to see him gone from the Senate and surely won’t support him for Prez.
Rubio purchased 17 airline tickets for a lobbyist named Amber Stoner using his GOP credit card. They stayed at the same resorts. Even if there was no affair, why was Rubio buying a lobbyist airline tickets? There are more records that have not been made public.
Rubio has to know he is lying about this issue. Mike Lee has said that there is technology in place that allows the NSA to gather the information they need in real time and that their ability to investigate has not been hampered in any way by the USA Freedom Act.
It surely would be nice to get the word out on the rest of the records. Anything to get rid of “pretty boy.”
The WSJ is a mouthpiece of The Cheap Labor Express.
They will always back cheap labor importers like Rubio.
If Rubio was doing Amber Stoner, he’s got worse taste in women than Bill Clinton.
As I understand it, the metadata is held by ATT, Verizon, Sprint and the like and can be obtained by the government via a court order.
This keeps the government from tracking Freepers and such but allows access to the phone records of the bad guys. That makes sense to me.
This is an important point. Correct me if I’m wrong.
One cannot be serious about national security if one is opposed to enforcement of immigration laws.
Rubio has shown he is not serious.
{”The WSJ is a mouthpiece of The Cheap Labor Express.”}
That too!
The WSJ used to be credible back in the day. Shows you how old I am.
Supposedly more is supposed to come out next week. We’ll see.
That is correct. And, according to Sen. Mike Lee, NSA’s ability to access is not hampered by the process, due to new technology that has been implemented.
“Amber Stoner?”
The jokes write themselves.
Yep. She’s homely as a mud fence. He supposedly helped her buy a house in Tallahassee, also. Go figure.
The difficulty here is that it is not prudent to explain the details of WHY the USA Freedom Act is actually workable.
Explaining the detailed differences between the prior procedures and new procedures only aids the enemy.
Cruz voted for the USA Freedom Act.
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