Cruz's Lie

[maxparrish]

I don't want to minimize the examples you provide, but I don't think one should minimize the example you provided about the "overly zealous" Cruz staffer...especially when that sort of thing happened twice.

I am re-sizing the mountain back into the molehill it is. When this first broke I shook my head in disbelief, wondering if there are any sober adults left in politics. I spent the first decade of my adulthood in party politics and campaigns, as well as attending two Presidential conventions, and it is ubiquitous that well-meaning folks get things wrong. Rumors fly about pending announcements, hints of delegates reversing votes, and many assurances of some kind of 'October' surprise. It is also inevitable that the majority of the rumors and reports are misconstrued, warped by being passed along a chain of communication or a fiction - they are figments of overly wrought partisan imaginations and wiseful thinking.

And this particular incident was so indirect and inconsequential, I am bemused that anti-Cruz partisans are obsessed with it. Here is why:

First, CNN created the problem by using a very unprofessional method of news reporting "tweeting". Because tweets are very cryptic, the original tweet had to have more than one followup tweet to correct possible misimpressions. You can't convey a "story" in tweets - not without risking miscommunication.

Second, this misimpression was not some nefarious scheme to makeup a fabricated tweet. Even the Washington Post admits that this story caused more than a few raised eyebrows...quote:

To be fair, it was perfectly reasonable to think that Carson's confounding decision not to go straight to the next primary state (New Hampshire) might signal the end of his sagging campaign. It certainly crossed my mind when I heard that he needed to pick up "fresh clothes" at home.

How unbelievable was Carson's actions? Enough for the Washington Post to headline Carson's bizarre actions as:

"Ben Carson’s amazing excuse for taking a break from the campaign trail: He needs ‘fresh clothes’" And then reports:

...journalists covering the proceedings in Iowa surely anticipated something they've never seen before. But surely not this.

Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who briefly led the GOP field just a few months ago, announced that after voting concludes in the Hawkeye State, he will not hurry off to campaign in New Hampshire, site of the nation's first primary next Tuesday, like everyone else. Nor will he head to South Carolina, whose primary follows 11 days later.

Instead, he will go home to Florida to rest and — this is the best part — "get some fresh clothes."

Political reporters and strategists have no idea what to make of Carson's decision. The most obvious theory is that he is preparing to drop out, ...Thus, we're all left baffled....

"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/01/ben-carsons-amazing-excuse-for-taking-a-break-from-the-campaign-trail-he-needs-fresh-clothes/

Third feeding the breathless and baffled speculation was CNN itself. Minutes after the Chris Moody tweets began...Tapper reported that

"CNN has learned some news about the man who, at least according to polls, is in fourth place here in Iowa. ...So almost every single candidate is going to be going directly from here to New Hampshire to campaign — except for the man in fourth place ...

Bash: "...our Chris Moody is breaking this news, that Ben Carson is going to go back to Florida to his home, regardless of how he does tonight here in Iowa. He’s going to go there for several days. And then afterwards, he’s not going to go to South Carolina. He’s not going to go to New Hampshire. He’s going to come to Washington, D.C., and he’s going to do that because the National Prayer Breakfast is on Thursday. ...

Tapper: "But it’s very unusual..."

Bash: "Very unusual."

Tapper: "...to be announcing that you’re going to go home to rest for a few days, not going on to the next site. Plus, he’s already announced that he’s going to be coming out and speaking at 9:15 local and 10:15 Eastern, no matter whether or not we know the results, because he wants to get home and get ahead of the storm."

Bash: "Look, if you want to be president of the United States, you don’t go home to Florida. I mean, that’s bottom line. That’s the end of the story. If you want to signal to your supporters that you want it, that you’re hungry for it, that you want them to get out and and campaign, you’ve got to be out there doing it too. And he’s not doing it. It’s very unusual."

Tapper: "Very unusual news that CNN has just learned. CNN’s Chris Moody breaking the story. Wolf, back to you in Washington."

Blitzer: "Very significant news indeed, guys, thanks very much."

Cont...

 

[maxparrish]

Cont...

Four: This is not a case (as in Harry Reid) where the politician knew of or directed anyone to pass along a misconstrued CNN story. It's a case wherein a staffer(s) took the core of the story of a campaign break and, being cognitively motivated, assumed that it signaled a campaign suspension. They passed that to their workers so they would have a talking point for supporting Cruz.

So they took a core of bizarre information about Carson's odd behavior, made assumptions about his motives they should not have, and provided a misleading impression to their own workers. And it didn't change a thing.

Yawn... wake me up when the Cruz bashers have something of import other than some sloppy handling of a news story...like illegals voting, or conspiracies to run homeless people as candidates.

 

[FieldTheorist]

This comes as no surprise, Cruz is the *ss hole we all suspected.

Ted Cruz falsely says campaign simply 'forwarded' CNN's report on Ben Carson | PolitiFact

I'm sorry, Ted Cruz's one lie?

 

[Mycroft]

I am re-sizing the mountain back into the molehill it is.

shrug...

I'm sure Carson didn't think it was a molehill...despite your desire to characterize it as such. I'm also sure Rubio didn't think it was a molehill when the same thing happened in Hawaii.

The best thing one can say about the whole mess is that Cruz doesn't have a good handle on what his own staff is doing around the country. Personally, I think that doesn't bode well for someone who might be responsible for what our enormous executive branch does.

 

[maxparrish]

shrug...

I'm sure Carson didn't think it was a molehill...despite your desire to characterize it as such. I'm also sure Rubio didn't think it was a molehill when the same thing happened in Hawaii.

I'm sure they thought it was a mountain. As I said earlier, the psychology of partisanship is to manufacturer and exaggerate slights, to rationalize one's own failures as the other guys fault, and when there is a wounded competitor, to pile on when it is safe. Only rarely is a person in the process able to assess such slights objectively (and Carson is not one of them).

The first incident, objectively, was a molehill - there was no "mean" Cruz out to fabricate CNN stories about Carson (although Carson likely convinced himself otherwise). The second incident was more serious, in that it was willful recklessness by communications manager, the kind of stupidity one finds in student body elections and stunts. The guy got a second chance and he blew it by carelessly posting a video slur for public consumption without vetting it; he was rightly fired.

The best thing one can say about the whole mess is that Cruz doesn't have a good handle on what his own staff is doing around the country. Personally, I think that doesn't bode well for someone who might be responsible for what our enormous executive branch does.

It isn't the first time an executive has had to fire a loyal but negligent employee, and it won't be the last. Some Presidents ask for resignations routinely, and the ones who can't do it (e.g. Bush Jr.) are the ones you usually need to be concerned about.