Cruz asks spokesman to resign after video showed Rubio mocking Bible

[katzenjammer]

Cruz asks spokesman to resign after video showed Rubio mocking Bible

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/marco-rubio-calls-for-accountability-from-cruz-campaign/

Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday told reporters that he had asked his spokesman Rick Tyler to resign that morning after his campaign pushed a video that made it appear like Sen. Marco Rubio was mocking a Cruz staffer's bible.

Rubio lashed out against the Cruz campaign Monday morning for the video that shows him walking past a Cruz staffer reading the Bible and according to the on-screen text, telling that staffer there are "not many answers" in the Scripture he was reading.

Rubio called the move "incredibly disturbing," and characterized it as part of a "pattern" of "deceptive and untrue" tactics that he believes have come to define the Cruz campaign. Rubio said the words on the screen did not reflect what he said in reality.

"I know exactly what I said to that young man," Rubio told reporters in Las Vegas. "I said the answer to every question you'll ever have is in that book. And then I pointed to the Book of Proverbs which he was reading, and I said particularly that one which is a book of wisdom."

The video was initially posted by student reporters from the University of Pennsylvania's newspaper, the DailyPennsylvanian, who witnessed the conversation in the lobby of the Columbia Hampton Inn Saturday morning, where they were also having breakfast.

Rubio "was presumably not expecting to run into Rafael Cruz, father of presidential candidate Ted Cruz, and Cruz campaign staffer Christian Collins," the paper wrote. "However, once he saw them he decided to have some fun with them."

Late Sunday night and again early Monday morning the Cruz campaign apologized for passing around the video on social media. Tyler said the video "misquoted a remark the Senator [Rubio] made to the staffer." He told Fox News' Martha MacCallum the staffer said Rubio in fact made a "light-hearted remark." In his statement Tyler blamed unclear audio from the video and added that his post had been deleted.

The Daily Pennsylvanian has since removed the text from the video and added an update, which includes this statement: "Though our original transcription reflects what we originally heard, after reviewing the audio, we feel it is too unclear to say for sure."

Daily Pennsylvanian President Colin Henderson told CBS News there would be no comment at this time and referred us to the updated article.

The video's circulation is the latest in a string of tactics Rubio and his campaign have highlighted as examples of a politician who is willing to do or say anything to get elected and is not the strict conservative he claims to be.

For Rubio, accountability from the Cruz campaign would include a pink slip. "Who's going to be fired when Ted Cruz is president," he asked. "Because this campaign now has repeatedly done things that they have to apologize for and no one's ever held accountable."

The Rubio campaign has been insistent in its messaging that Cruz and his campaign have consistently lied.

"[Y]ou're sending the message to the people that work for you, 'Go out and do anything you want, and if you get caught, we'll just apologize but we'll keep doing it.'"

"That seems to be what happened here." Rubio concluded.
© 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[katzenjammer]

Smart move by Sen. Cruz.

[flowers]

Next he needs to rid himself of Beck.

[Wingnut]

Next he needs to rid himself of Beck.

 

[Bigun]

Smart move by Sen. Cruz.

Agreed!

[truth_seeker]

It would have been even better to have set a tone and have standards at the top, which prevented such misadventures.

I do not think Cruz is that type of person however, in spite of such claims of high principle by him and his followers.

[mystery-ak]

Thanks for listening Cruz...now get back on conservative topics and stop attacking the Repub candidates

[NavyCanDo]

Next he needs to rid himself of Beck.

What does Beck have to do with this?   It's people running Cruz's ads that may have cost him second place in SC. That photoshoped photo of Rubio  shaking Obama's hand was a highly deceptive ad, and this latest one is not only deceptive but also a low blow.   I like both Cruz and Rubio, but when it comes to my final decision between the two if they are both running May 24th will be character and honesty.  If Cruz want's my pendulum to swing back his way, he has to clean this crap up.   I would like both of them to stop attacking each other, and focus on Trump.

[musiclady]

Thanks for listening Cruz...now get back on conservative topics and stop attacking the Repub candidates

 

[Bigun]

I would like both of them to stop attacking each other, and focus on Trump.

I will definitely join you in wishing for that!

[flowers]

What does Beck have to do with this?   It's people running Cruz's ads that may have cost him second place in SC. That photoshoped photo of Rubio  shaking Obama's hand was a highly deceptive ad, and this latest one is not only deceptive but also a low blow.   I like both Cruz and Rubio, but when it comes to my final decision between the two if they are both running May 24th will be character and honesty.  If Cruz want's my pendulum to swing back his way, he has to clean this crap up.   I would like both of them to stop attacking each other, and focus on Trump.

Beck is a loon. Fasting for Cruz? Scalia death signal for Cruz or some such comment.

[Longiron]

Smart move by Sen. Cruz.

Agree but Jeff ROE his campaign manager is the real problem and Tyler was the messenger. Just saying JMO.

[katzenjammer]

Agree but Jeff ROE his campaign manager is the real problem and Tyler was the messenger. Just saying JMO.

It wouldn't surprise me if he jettisons Roe next.  (You have got to believe that he is discussing it.)

[Right_in_Virginia]

He must be leaving Evangelical country.   

[aligncare]

At this point it's all window dressing anyway.

In modern times, the GOP candidate that wins New Hampshire and South Carolina goes on to win the nomination.

Of course, it's possible that these two early states are outliers in this election because Trump is such a horrible candidate in the rest of the country.

Except that Trump has a yuuge popularity quotient in the rest of the country as backed up by a sustained 8-month lead in national polls.

Plus, the huge turn out for Trump over Cruz by evangelical, social issues conservatives sorta negates the whole Cruz is more popular than Trump with religious conservatives thingy.

Who woulda thunk it?

[truth_seeker]

Beck is a loon. Fasting for Cruz? Scalia death signal for Cruz or some such comment.

Maybe Ted's father could take Beck's place then. He could explain that Ted has been anointed to be a King.

That would cover the religious aspect of the campaign.

I strongly recommend reading the article at this link.

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/01/17/ted-cruzs-father-my-son-anointed-to-take-control-of-society/

[Bigun]

At this point it's all window dressing anyway.

In modern times, the GOP candidate that wins New Hampshire and South Carolina goes on to win the nomination.

Of course, it's possible that these two early states are outliers in this election because Trump is such a horrible candidate in the rest of the country.

Except that Trump has a yuuge popularity quotient in the rest of the country as backed up by a sustained 8-month lead in national polls.

Plus, the huge turn out for Trump over Cruz by evangelical, social issues conservatives sorta negates the whole Cruz is more popular than Trump with religious conservatives thingy.

Who woulda thunk it?

In a normal election year that may have some small amount of validity but not this time! It's ALL out the window this year!

[NavyCanDo]

Beck is a loon. Fasting for Cruz? Scalia death signal for Cruz or some such comment.

I don't know about the Scalia comment because I hadn't heard it in context, but since when has it been crazy to ask for fast and prayer for an election?   Presidents have called for it, and well as for calls for it from the pulpit. Tweeting: "I would like to ask you to join me and my family Monday in a fast for Ted Cruz, our country and the Nevada caucus", does not exactly qualify one for a straight jacket.  Is the concept of fasting — a historic tenent of Christianity and Judaism so foreign to the American public now, that it has become something to laugh at?

[Right_in_Virginia]

At this point it's all window dressing anyway.

In modern times, the GOP candidate that wins New Hampshire and South Carolina goes on to win the nomination.

Of course, it's possible that these two early states are outliers in this election because Trump is such a horrible candidate in the rest of the country.

Except that Trump has a yuuge popularity quotient in the rest of the country as backed up by a sustained 8-month lead in national polls.

Plus, the huge turn out for Trump over Cruz by evangelical, social issues conservatives sorta negates the whole Cruz is more popular than Trump with religious conservatives thingy.

Who woulda thunk it?   

ME!  I thunked it!   

[libertybele]

I don't know about the Scalia comment because I hadn't heard it in context, but since when has it been crazy to ask for fast and prayer for an election?   Presidents have called for it, and well as for calls for it from the pulpit. Tweeting: "I would like to ask you to join me and my family Monday in a fast for Ted Cruz, our country and the Nevada caucus", does not exactly qualify one for a straight jacket.  Is the concept of fasting — a historic tenent of Christianity and Judaism so foreign to the American public now, that it has become something to laugh at?

Unfortunately I'm afraid so.  I recently encountered someone who viewed Cruz as a religious nut!  Really?  Trump states that he could shoot someone and not loose voters!  Who's the nut??