Here’s the time line of the NEW YORK VALUES attack...
- Ted’s poll numbers rise in Iowa.
- Trump starts needling Ted with ‘Not many evangelicals from Cuba” Ted fires back with “I don’t have a plane with my name on it.”
- December debate happens - Trump and Ted make nice.
- Late December: Trump is destroying Hillary in the media. Seems like Ted is no longer on the radar.
- Early January: Trump is asked about Ted’s Canadian birth - Trump turns that into the BIRTHER moment by concern trolling that it COULD BE a problem.
- Ted laughs it off at first, tweets JUMP THE SHARK.
- Trump keeps concern trolling about Ted’s Canadian birth.
- Levin offers his first of many warnings to Trump.
- Breitbart picks up the Birther story and runs with it, as do other media outlets.
- The birther attack is picking up steam, the media start reporting it more and more.
- Levin offers another warning to Trump.
- Polls come out - Cruz is losing steam in Iowa. Most new polls show Trump ahead.
- Cruz superpac puts out push polls in Iowa to find out which attacks could work against Trump.
- Cruz camp OPPO discovers the Russert interview. It’s an old piece of OPPO found most likely by the Walker camp as both Walker and Jeb have used attacks from it in the past.
- Cruz camp isolates “NEW YORK VALUES” a line Trump utters from the 1999 Russert interview.
- Cruz starts field testing the line, and delivers it in response to Trump’s concern trolling.
- Trump delivers a beautiful response to Cruz’s New York Values dig on Bloomberg TV.
- Morning Joe plays Trump’s response and much of the media is turned against Cruz.
- Night of the debate Cruz ‘wins’ the birther argument, but is then ‘stumped’ by the New York values portion of the debate.
- Cruz campaign is already locked into the NEW YORK VALUES meme and moves forward regardless - Their hope is to power through it and paint Trump as a liberal.
- Trump fires back with GoldMan Sachs/Hypocrite attacks.
- Levin warns Trump again.
- Cruz stays steady with the NEW YORK VALUES and low poll numbers digs.
And here we are... putting it out there objectively it’s a great piece of political theatre. Well played to both campaigns.
Cruz camp OPPO discovers the Russert interview. It’s an old piece of OPPO found most likely by the Walker camp as both Walker and Jeb have used attacks from it in the past.
Retread oppo. LOL!
Gee, and the media pushing the Trump false narrative doesn’t speak volumes to “conservatives”? Lol
Cruz didn’t win the birther argument.
He lost.