The most interesting thing to me today is to see the number of posts from people defending the latest dirty trick from the Cruz team. Cruz has hired a pack of deception experts to lead his campaign. He has taken sleazy politics a step beyond what we have come to expect from the Clintons and Obama. He is posing as a non-tithing devout Christian and the purest conservative in the race. Yet we have a bunch of people claiming to be pure conservatives here who condone his actions and are blaming the victims even calling them stupid. What gives?
There is nothing “dirty” about what Rubio, Cruz, and Trump — and yes all three campaigns transacted this information during the evening— did communicating this “breaking news” from CNN.
Carson wanted to communicate that he was not going immediately to New Hampshire or South Carolina. That is significant and CNN alleged that it suggested a lack of seriousness going forward by Carson. That is an important and timely piece of information that Caucus goers should have. The campaigns DID NOT say Carson was quitting. That implication was there but to pretend it was stated is deliberate deception and I have seen a lot of that here at FR.
The communication relayed by various campaigns— including Cruz— simply offered that FACT— as a basis for preferring one of the other three top candidates.
That is absolutely fair.
There are several unfair things about this present discussion:
1. Carson lies— yes that is now what it is— about how this is like Obama and other direct deceptions of the Executive branch.
2. Carson refuses to take responsibility for his reckless statements about not going to the primary states and refusing to actively rebut CNN’s report but rather passively assigning it to other rival campaigns so he can play the victim card.
3. Trump now says he needs a re-do because it was all so unethical. Trump character assassinated Carson and Carson did and continues to ignore the flagrant ad hominem attacks that took Carson out of the lead.
4. Here at FR we are asked to join in a circular firing squad against the Cruz campaign— probably because people think they can bring Trump back to the forefront. It is flatly deceitful at this point to continue to suggest that what the Cruz campaign did was unethical or dirty. It is at best foolish and at worst a bad mistake to say he is not going to NH and SC. It is wrong to leave the Iowa caucus early. The implication was clear in a high stakes event. He refuses to own his attitudes and arguments. Kasich blew off Iowa. He is not saying he was cheated. He decided it didn’t matter to him. Carson can own up to his poor tactics and he could also muster the courage to confront the ethical ad hominem train wreck that is the Trump campaign.
After what I’ve read and heard on the radio today, nothing about the typical cruz-ite surprises me. This article explains them to a T.