Cruz is off my island, leaving only Trump and Carson.

Over the past few hours, it has become increasingly clear that the Ted Cruz campaign has engaged in, at best, unethical campaign tactics and at worst, outright cheating.

I'm sick to death of parsing words like politicians do when they're caught in a lie (Sen. Rivers' gas tax vote comers to mind, for example) and now this:

EXCLUSIVE–Voicemails: ‘Ben Carson Suspending Campaigning’; Cruz: ‘Accurate Report’

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Chris Carlson / Associated Press

by Alex Swoyer 4 Feb 2016  7,096

New audio obtained exclusively by Breitbart News indicates that as the Iowa caucuses began on Monday night, the Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) campaign called precinct captains informing them that Dr. Ben Carson was suspending campaigning, and instructing them to tell voters they should “not waste a vote on Ben Carson and vote for Ted Cruz.”

The calls were placed after the Carson campaign had already clarified that Carson was not suspending his campaign.

Nancy Bliesman, a precinct captain for Cruz in Crawford County, Iowa, told Breitbart News that she received two voice mails–one at 7:07 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST), and one at 7:29 p.m.–on the night of the Iowa caucuses, which began at 7:00 p.m.

The first call came from a woman with a phone number out of Galveston, Texas at 7:07 p.m. (transcript follows audio):

[inaudible]…from the Ted Cruz campaign, calling to get to a precinct captain, and it has just been announced that Ben Carson is taking a leave of absence from the campaign trail, so it is very important that you tell any Ben Carson voters that for tonight, uh, that they not waste a vote on Ben Carson, and vote for Ted Cruz. He is taking a leave of absence from his campaign. All right? Thank you. Bye.

The second voicemail was left at 7:29 p.m. from an Iowa phone number that Breitbart News traced back to a Cruz campaign volunteer hotline.

Hello, this is the Cruz campaign with breaking news: Dr. Ben Carson will be [garbled] suspending campaigning following tonight’s caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted instead. Thank you. Good night.

“My precinct people voted” without hearing the rumor that Carson would be suspending his campaign, Bliesman told Breitbart News. “Ben Carson did get his votes in our precinct ’cause I didn’t take the calls.”

Bliesman’s husband, who was also with her on Monday night, told Breitbart News that they were at the precinct labeled “DC-A-B,” which stands for the areas of Dow City, Arion and Buck Grove.
According to Mr. Bliesman, the total vote count in the precinct was as follows:

Donald Trump = 33

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) = 15

Ben Carson = 12
Ted Cruz = 12
Carly Fiorina = 3
Jeb Bush = 2
John Kasich = 1
Chris Christie = 1

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) = 0

Ric Santorum = 0
Mike Huckabee = 0

Bliesman said there was a “huge turnout,” adding, “we had probably at least 100 percent increase from four years ago.”

“Everyone knows the mainstream media says things–whether it’s true or not, check it out,” she urged, saying she wishes the Carson campaign had been consulted before the report was spread.

The revelation about Cruz’s campaign calls and voicemails comes after an email surfaced from Cruz’s deputy Iowa campaign director Spence Rogers, sent at 6:56 p.m.–four minutes before caucuses began–suggesting that Carson would be “taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week.” The email told supporters: “Please inform any caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz.”

More:

The problem?

Anyone involved in politics the least little bit knew... or should have known... that such a claim was absolutely false.

How do you know it's false?

Stop and think for a moment:  why on earth would ANY candidate POSSIBLY claim defeat BEFORE THERE WAS EVEN A VOTE?

The Cruz scam was so bogus that his people either obviously knew it to be false and ran out there with it anyway, or SHOULD have known it was false and were too stupid NOT to know.

The only thing that can be agreed on is that it was false.  And now, as Cruz is shucking and jiving over the whole thing instead of telling the truth?

Well, hell: we've already got that in the White House.  Why would we want more of it?

Sorry, Senator.  You had your chance... and you blew it.

I am done with you.