To put a finer point on the issue. CNN reported that Carson was “taking a break.” Had the Cruz camp conveyed this info, it would have been factually accurate.
So why didn’t they?
Because it would have allowed voters to draw the correct conclusion: that Carson was taking a break [which is NOT synonymous with “suspending his campaign”].
Roe doesn’t take chances. To be absolutely certain caucus goers drew the wrong conclusion, he added the wholly fictitious report that Carson would have a “big announcement” the following week. Put those two lies together, and no Iowan could mistake the message.
It was gutter politics at its worst—Roe’s speciality. Why so many Cruz supporters defended it is a mystery. Had Cruz’ supporters risen up against this sleaze, Cruz and/or Roe might have taken notice, and run a cleaner campaign. And who knows, but what that would have made Cruz a more attractive and viable candidate in the long run.
What a shame.
And ‘Oh Mandy’ was right there at CNN helping Cruz out with Carson.
The words "taking a break" were not spoken by either Jake Tapper, or Dana Bash on that broadcast. The chyron at the bottom of the screen said "Carson to take a break after Iowa", but If you were just listening to the broadcast you might not have seen that.
Even if you did, the words spoken by Tapper and Bash provoke a much more serious meaning than a mere hiatus. Who announces they are heading home and skipping campaigns in two primary states on the eve of a primary in which they were doing badly?
Who does that?
So why didn’t they?
Because it would have allowed voters to draw the correct conclusion: that Carson was taking a break [which is NOT synonymous with “suspending his campaign”].
Or possibly because no other interpretation of "taking a break" and skipping campaigning in two primary states, followed by an "announcement" later that night (at 9:15) makes any sense.
You simply do not put those words and circumstances together and expect people to *NOT* draw the conclusion that you are wrapping it up. Again, that is the sentiment that Tapper and Bash both conveyed. That this was a bizarre behavior for someone who wasn't quitting. (They used the word "Unusual")
Roe doesn’t take chances. To be absolutely certain caucus goers drew the wrong conclusion, he added the wholly fictitious report that Carson would have a “big announcement” the following week.
I don't know anything about Roe. I never heard of him until you mentioned him yesterday. I drew the same conclusion when I saw people on Television reporting that Carson was "going home" and skipping campaigning in New Hampshire and South Carolina. It did not seem reasonable to me that anyone would say such a thing unless they were ready to stop.
I did not receive a phone call from the Cruz camp telling me Carson was suspending his campaign. That is what I thought at the time with no assistance from anyone else in understanding what I heard.
Why so many Cruz supporters defended it is a mystery.
I don't think it needs to be defended. I think it is exactly what it appeared to me to be at the very beginning. Carson's staff announcing something weird, News reporters reading into it the same thing that any objective person would read into it, and overzealous Cruz staffers rushing to exploit what they regarded as a Godsend. I see it as incompetence, not deliberate deceit.
But the point remains. This is an extremely flimsy pretext on which to make the argument that Ted Cruz is a liar. From what I can see, the deceitful and underhanded tactic was to keep repeating that this incident establishes him as a liar.
No it didn't. But for those who want to promote that meme, it comes down to people convincing themselves to believe the reality they very badly want to create.