Timeline - Cruz & CNN vs. Carson in Iowa, 2/1/2016
6:41-43pm CST - CNN's Chris Moody tweeted:
Ben Carson will likely speak at his victory party in Iowa before caucus results are in so he can catch a flight.
https://twitter.com/moody/status/694319707415969792
6:41 PM - 1 Feb 2016 ← I'm in the Eastern time zone, so I converted these times from EST to CST
Chris Moody @moody
Carson won't go to NH/SC, but instead will head home to Florida for some R&R. He'll be in DC Thursday for the National Prayer Breakfast.
https://twitter.com/moody/status/694320317091569667
6:43 PM - 1 Feb 2016
Chris Moody @moody
Ben Carson's campaign tells me he plans to stay in the race beyond Iowa no matter what the results are tonight.
https://twitter.com/moody/status/694320317091569667
6:43 PM - 1 Feb 2016
6:44pm CST - CNN's Jake Tapper & Dana Bash (video):
https://www.facebook.com/tiffany.house.96/videos/vb.100000305365400/1085531334800368/
http://mooregop.org/12682256_984232858338251_1728695445_n.mp4
Here's a transcript:
http://archive.is/m5p3i#selection-893.0-951.57
6:46pm CST - CNN's Jake Tapper tweets:
@RealBenCarson heading home to Florida after Iowa to rest & be with family, not going directly to NH or SC, @moody reports
https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/694320969674928128
6:46 PM - 1 Feb 2016
6:46pm CST - CNN's MJ Lee tweets (and CNN's Dana Bash retweets):
How @DanaBashCNN just reacted to news that Ben Carson will head home after oiowa: "If you want to be POTUS, you dont go home to Florida."
https://twitter.com/mj_lee/status/694320863634522112
6:46 PM - 1 Feb 2016
6:48 CST -- CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson tweets:
Dr. Ben Carson will NOT be going directly to NH or SC, but instead will head home in Florida to rest, see family regardless of Iowa outcome.
6:48 PM - 1 Feb 2016
https://twitter.com/niaCNN/status/694321422332739585
6:50pm CST -- CNN's "The Lead CNN" Twitter account tweets (and Jake Tapper retweets) that Carson "will not go to either NH or SC":
BREAKING: @moody has learned @realbencarson will return to FL following #IAcaucus, will not go to either NH or SC
https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/694321966677938177
6:50 PM - 1 Feb 2016
6:52pm CST -- CNN's "CNN Politics" Twitter account tweets that Carson "plans to take a break from campaigning":
After the #IAcaucus, @realbencarson plans to take a break from campaigning cnn.it/Iowa cnn.it/1WYvJ0J https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/??????????????????
6:52 PM - 1 Feb 2016
I couldn't find a working twitter link, but here's a screenshot (from someone in the Mountain timezone, which why the time shows as 5:52):
http://www.mooregop.org/CNNPolitics_tweet_652pm_1Feb2016.png
6:53pm CST - Carson spokesman Jason Osborne Tweets:
@RealBenCarson will be going to Florida to get fresh clothes b4 heading back out on the campaign trail. Not standing down.
https://twitter.com/Jmrhosborne/status/694322715252150273
6:53 PM - 1 Feb 2016
6:56pm CST - Cruz campaign emails their precinct captains:
Dear ,
Breaking News. The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement.
Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Cruz.
For Liberty,
Spence Rogers
Screenshot: http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/crop_15_102_760_375scalefit_630_noupscale/56b215141f00000d012173c3.png
6:59pm CST - Cruz campaign uses their messaging app to tell precinct captains that Carson "will stop campaigning after Iowa."
7:00pm CST - The caucuses began.
7:05pm CST - Carson spokesman Jason Osborne Tweets:
@RealBenCarson leaving Des Moines later tonight to avoid storm. Not suspending -- getting fresh clothes then back out Wednesday
https://twitter.com/Jmrhosborne/status/694325698778009600
7:05 PM - 1 Feb 2016
7:07pm CST - Cruz campaign was telephoning their precinct captains, claiming that Carson was
“taking a leave of absence from the campaign trail.” (It's not clear to me whether these
are robo-calls or live callers.) Here's a recording of one of them, which went to voicemail:
Here's a transcript:
http://archive.is/1THhY#selection-809.0-809.403
7:07 pm CST - A Cruz supporter named Dan Gabriel, who has 98,600 twitter followers, tweets that a source inside Ben Carson's campaign confirmed that Ben Carson is out:
Source inside Ben #Carson's NH campaign just CONFIRMED to me: @RealBenCarson is OUT >>> #ChooseCruz
7:07 PM - 1 Feb 2016
He subsequently deleted that tweet, but here's a screenshot:
http://mooregop.org/danpgabriel_iowa_tweet.png
(Note: You couldn't tell from the screenshot, but I have verified that it was 7:07 Central Time.)
7:08pm CST - CNN tweeted a link to the Jake Tapper / Dana Bash video clip, with this message:
After the #IAcaucus, @RealBenCarson plans to take a break from campaigning http://cnn.it/Iowa
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/694326400006762496
7:08 PM - 1 Feb 2016
CNN Politics @CNNPolitics
7:19pm CST - Rep. Steve King (Cruz campaign National Co-Chair) retweeted Moody, and added a claim that Carson was suspending his campaign:
#iacaucus Skipping NH & SC is the equivalent of suspending. Too bad this information won't get to all caucus goers.
https://twitter.com/moody/status/694320149432651776
7:19 PM - 1 Feb 2016
https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA/status/694329188862431233
Steve King @SteveKingIA Carson looks like he is out. Iowans need to know before they vote. Most will go to Cruz, I hope.
https://twitter.com/SteveKingIA/status/694329606174683136
7:20 PM - 1 Feb 2016
7:25pm CST - Carson spokesman Jason Osborne Tweets:
https://twitter.com/Jmrhosborne/status/694330825215774720
7:25 PM - 1 Feb 2016
7:29pm CST - Cruz campaign was still telephoning their precinct captains, this time claiming that Carson was “suspending campaigning.” Here's a recording:
Here's a transcript:
http://archive.is/1THhY#selection-1001.0-1001.252
7:30pm CST - CNN's Chris Moody tweeted, way too late:
Folks, Ben Carson is just making a brief stop at home in FL tonight and campaign says he'll be back on the campaign trail by Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/moody/status/694332007048953856
7:30 PM - 1 Feb 2016
Cruz spin:
- Subsequently, Ted Cruz claimed, repeatedly, that all his campaign had done was forward out what CNN had reported. That is a lie. They did much worse than that, and Cruz knows it.
- Even if it had been true, it still would have been underhanded, because Cruz and everyone on his campaign knows that CNN can't be trusted, and because the claim that Carson was quitting before he found out the Iowa outcome was extremely implausible. The ethical thing to do would have been to contact the Carson campaign for verification, obviously.
- Subsequently, the Cruz camp (though apparently not Cruz, himself) has also been sending out the lie that Rubio did the same thing Cruz's campaign did in Iowa. It's not true. It's a complete fabrication.
CNN spin - February 6 (five days after the Iowa caucuses):
- Foreman quoted only the Moody tweets.
- He did not quote or even mention the 6:46 Tapper tweet, the 6:46 MJ Lee tweet & Bash retweet, the 6:50 @TheLeadCNN tweet, the 6:52pm @CNNPolitics tweet, or the 7:08 @CNN tweet.
- He mentioned dismissively the 6:44 Jake Tapper & Dana Bash broadcast to which most of those tweets linked, but he described it deceptively, and didn't quote anything from it.
- He deceptively claimed the Tapper & Bash report had discussed the @moody tweets, which he read & displayed. That obviously implied that it had discussed all three of them, which was untrue. They actually only mentioned the first two, and ignored the third.
- The third @moody tweet was the one that said, "Ben Carson's campaign tells me he plans to stay in the race beyond Iowa no matter what." Instead of reporting that fact, Dana Bash substituted her editorial comment that, "If you want to be President, you don't go home to Florida." That should have gotten her disciplined, if not fired, by CNN, but Foreman did not even mention it.
Trump spin - Trump thinks everything is about him.
Carson got wronged, but it was Trump who blew a gasket, because he thought (or pretended to think) it might have hurt him.
But maybe Trump was just in a bad mood because he knew the bankrupcy court was
about to sell
his† insolvent Trump Taj Mahal casino and Scores strip club to Carl Icahn:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/694963798273323008/photo/1
My interpretation:
- Trump's complaint was his tacit acknowledgement that Carson's conservative supporters would not support him (Trump).
- Trump is a raging narcissist.
†Although Trump's name was and is on the Trump Taj Mahal property, I've recently learned that Trump has actually been only a minority stakeholder in the Trump Taj Mahal & associated properties, for years. So it is not clear whether he was involved in the decision to open a Scores strip club in the Trump Taj Mahal.
My verdict:
Both CNN and the Cruz campaign displayed a shocking lack of integrity.
Other information:
Breitbart's timeline (Breitbart supports Cruz, but this article seems evenhanded):
(saved here)
TalkingPointsMemo's timeline:
Politifact (which leans Left) says Cruz lied about this in the 2/6/16 debate:
(saved here)
Bill O'Reilly says CNN and Cruz campaign are both at fault:
He's right.
Mediaite (which leans Left) gives CNN a pass, and blames Cruz:
National Review Online's Jim Geraghty says, “The Cruz campaign's move was morally wrong, but so far we haven't seen evidence it was consequential [to the outcome]."
http://archive.is/ArEUD#selection-689.543-689.644
He's right.
Greta Van Susteren thinks Carson was right to be outraged by what the Cruz campaign did:
HuffingtonPost has the email which the Cruz campaign sent, and some additional information:
The Washington Post blames Cruz more than CNN:
RedState.com's foul-mouthed moderator "streiff" banned me for criticizing Cruz's dirty trick:
Here are some screenshots:
http://mooregop.org/RedState_bans_ncdave_for_criticizing_Cruz2.png (snippet 1)
http://mooregop.org/RedState_bans_ncdave_for_criticizing_Cruz2.png (snippet 2)
http://mooregop.org/RedState_bans_ncdave_for_criticizing_Cruz.png (whole page)
Perhaps strangest of all, Politistick (which I think supports Cruz) tried to
blame Rubio, who had nothing to do with any of this:
Dave Burton 2/7/2016 (and revised & extended several times since)
