Carson calls for Cruz camp dismissals after cheating allegations

Politico ^ | 02/02/2016 | Nolan McCaskill

[GIdget2004]

Ben Carson is calling on Ted Cruz to fire anybody on his campaign allegedly involved in spreading the misinformation that the retired neurosurgeon had suspended his campaign before the Iowa caucuses.

"If Ted Cruz doesn't know about this, then he clearly needs to very quickly get rid of some people in his organization," Carson told "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday. "And if he does know about it, isn't this the exact kind of thing that the American people are tired of? Why would we want to continue that kind of, you know, shenanigans?"

[Freedom56v2]

With this and mailgate Cruz proves he can’t be trustTED.

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Talking heads kept saying Ted was running a traditional campaign, and I guess they were right—traditional with dirty tricks and all :(

OK, just disturbing coming from a man with such great faith...

[pgkdan]

This is surprising. I think that Carson is right, Cruz ought to fire whoever was behind this. This is not Cruz’s style and I’m sure he had nothing to do with this.

[Pravious]

“All it proves is how shallow Trump is...insinuate Carson has the pathology of a child molester.”

You really can’t follow this, can you?

You said he said that Carson was a child molester. Then, clearly, Trump’s own quote (which you dug up!) proves that he didn’t.

Now you’re claiming that he “insinuated” it.

No. He didn’t do that, either. Go back and read the quote and try to understand it this time.

[BlackFemaleArmyColonel]

Amen, jpsb. I have a new second candidate if Trump doesn’t get the nomination.

[Nervous Tick]

>> Carson dropping out is probably now off the table.

For Ben’s sake I hope he changes his mind.

But if Sleepy Ben chooses to run himself into the ground over a manufactured outrage that he triggered himself, who can stop him?

[Freedom56v2]

Sadly, it is status quo for POLITICIANS—Carson and trump are not politicians—they are outsiders running for President because the politicians have screwed stuff up so badly!

[Pravious]

“This is not Cruz’s style and I’m sure he had nothing to do with this.”

This is the guy who wouldn’t even apologize for the “scare” mailing. I’d say it’s EXACTLY his style.

Just another POS politician who will say or do anything to win.

[dynoman]

Ted's team made an assumption that turned out to be wrong. Not only did they make an assumption that was wrong, they told Carson supporters on caucus night to not waste their vote on Carson. That kind of behavior is status quo politics. It is exactly what the American public is fed up with. I seriously thought Ted was above that, very sad to see he isn't.

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"Cruz Iowa staffer Spence Rogers sent precinct captains an email during the caucus hinting that Carson planned to leave the race, despite the fact that Carson's campaign said he would continue.

"Breaking News. The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week," the email, acquired by CNN, read. "Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz."

Meanwhile, Cruz surrogate Iowa Rep. Steve King told followers on Twitter that "Carson looks like he is out."

Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote. Most will go to Cruz, I hope. https://t.co/lW5Js50EMA— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) February 2, 2016

Carson told Fox News his wife, Candy, had to correct the misinformation at one event.

"She spoke at one of the caucus sites and before she got there one of the Cruz people had again disseminated that information to the crowd," he said. "And one of the organizers told her 'I'm so glad you're here, so you could set the record straight.' And she did and we actually won in that precinct."

Carson's campaign was furious when they first learned of the tactic, and Carson decried it as a "dirty trick" during remarks Monday night at a party with supporters in West Des Moines.

"This is really a dirty trick," Carson said. "This makes me more determined than ever to keep going."

Cruz's campaign defended the Rogers message to the precinct captains.

"Carson said he was taking time off to go home. We simply repeated what he said," Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said Monday. "Our email simply stated the facts."

When asked what the "big announcement" mentioned in the email referred to, Frazier did not respond."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/politics/ben-carson-home-florida-iowa-caucuses/index.html

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[TontoKowalski]

Preach. I’ll vote for Rubio first.

On my pecking order Cruz is lower part of the middle.

And people need to get off Carson’s back. He provides an option for evangelicals who don’t like sleezy politics.

[dynoman]

Cruz et al tried to get votes based on a wrong assumption they made. That is status quo politics. Ted is supposed to be above that.

[GrouchoTex]

I don’t see it as a problem if he did it, anyway.
Someone is just forwarding what is on a news network, CNN, forwarding what they are reporting.
How can people claim it is “dirty tricks” when it is out there for the whole world (at least, the CNN world) to see?
It he didn’t do it, fine, if he did do it, fine.

[pgkdan]

Just another POS politician who will say or do anything to win.

Come on. Ted Cruz is an honorable guy and a great conservative. I'm not supporting his run because I don't think he has a broad enough appeal to win the general, not because he's a bad guy, because he's not.

[dangus]

Yes. But it’s also quite reasonable to tell people, “Look, your guy is NOT in it for the long run, why waste your vote?”

If anyone in the Cruz camp (not a mere precinct captain, those are untrained volunteers) actually stated, “Carson has quit the race,” that’d be a problematic untruth. But when Carson says he’s leaving the campaign trail in the middle of the caucuses and right before New Hampshire, and Cruz’ people say he’s leaving the campaign trail without including the full context (if they even KNEW the full context)... well... that’s not Cruz’ fault.

[DrewsMum]

Then why did carson blame the media first, then claimed that Cruz made it up

[pgkdan]

If he’s the nominee, I’ll stay home. As you said - let the country go to hell under Hillary. I’d like to say that history will blame the Democrats - but that isn’t true, since the Democrats control that, too. I guess it’ll all be Bush’s fault... or something.

I know that you can't mean that. Electing Hillary would be an unmitigated disaster. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to not let that happen.

[cuban leaf]

Opinions vary.

On a side note, who actually thought Carson was still in?

[RasterMaster]

What I "can't follow" are Trump's groupies who are mastering the mental gymnastics necessary to outdo the king of word parsing.

[DrewsMum]

And carson knowingly falsely accusing cruz of making this up..... that’s Christian?

[dynoman]

Where did Carson say Cruz made it up? Post a link.

[jpsb]

I may vote Sanders in the Rat primary here in Texas. I've never voted in a Rat primary but that just might be my best option for keeping hillary out of the white house.

Immigration is my biggest issue and I do not believe Rubio when he says he is not for amnesty and I do not trust Cruz either. So if Trump is out I've got no one to vote for. Might just pull and operation chaos in the primary and go third party in the general.