You are doing an injustice, however, in saying that Cruz lied about Dr. Carson dropping out in Iowa. A lie requires two things: 1) that the substance of a statement be false, and 2) that the speaker KNOWS it to be false. Also, to be accused of a lie, one must be the actual speaker.
The claim that Cruz lied fails on two of the three counts.
First, Dr. Carson certainly did not drop out after the Iowa Caucus (or before it). So from where did such a claim that Dr. Carson had or was about to drop out arise? CNN reported on Iowa Caucus day that Dr. Carson was dropping out.
The basis of the report was that CNN had learned that, instead of going to New Hampshire after the Iowa Caucus, Dr. Carson's campaign had confirmed that he was heading to his home in Florida.
CNN jumped the gun presuming upon that fact to infer that Dr. Carson was ending his campaign when he was not.
Senator Cruz did not (to the best of my knowledge) claim that Dr. Carson was dropping out. Some of his campaign workers DID make that claim to Iowa Caucus goers, telling Carson supporters, in effect, since your guy is dropping out, why not support Senator Cruz? Assuming that CNN had itstory straight has proven imprudent but that does not make that assumption a lie which requires moral turpitude. Rather it exhibits the incompetence of some campaign staffers.
Senator Cruz did not blame the staffers (his subordinates) but took responsibility for their mistakes on his behalf and apologized promptly to Dr. Carson. That should have been the end of the tempest in a teapot.
Second, while the innocent exuberance and opportunism of the Cruz staffers at some Iowa caucuses was based on a CNN report which was, itself, a failure of competence in trusting CNN not to be incompetence, it was not a lie for the staffers unless they KNEW that Dr. Carson was staying in the race despite CNN's report. There is no credible evidence of the staffers lying as opposed to simply being wrong.
Third, Senator Cruz never claimed personally that Dr. Carson had dropped out or was about to drop out. Informed that his campaign staffers had conveyed that mistaken laim, he promptly took responsibility for what had happened but neither he nor the staffers have ever conceded that the statements were intentionally false.
Therefore, no one, not CNN, not the staffers nor Senator Cruz lied. Dr. Carson is right to be upset but his anger should be directed at the source of this fiasco: CNN and its reporters who failed to adequately source their story and made assumptions very damaging to Dr. Carson's campaign.
Biggirl, I know you are better than this but accuracy is often a casualty (intentionally or not) in this awful campaign.
Finally, Senator Cruz did not, therefore, shoot his own two feet. I suspect but do not know that the staffers were no longer staffers in short order. Senator Cruz did not say blame the staffers, not me. He essentially said blame me but for not competently choosing and controlling staff. That was as it should be.
God bless you and yours!
I thought that Cruz believes it all starts at the top. Isn't that what he said about Trump and Chicago?