So which is it Ted?
Ted Cruz took to Twitter to undo some damage from earlier in the day amid the now true rumors that Sarah Palin was headed to Iowa to endorse Donald Trump.
Initially, Cruz’s campaign put out this statement:
“I think it [would] be a blow to Sarah Palin, because Sarah Palin has been a champion for the conservative cause, and if she was going to endorse Donald Trump, sadly, she would be endorsing someone who’s held progressive views all their life on the sanctity of life, on marriage, on partial-birth abortion,” Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said on CNN’s “New Day.”
But when Palin progeny, Bristol, hit the keyboard with disdain for Cruz’s mild attack, the Texas Senator turned presidential contender back peddled within hours.
In a column titled, “Is THIS Why People Don’t like Cruz?” Bristol Palin had this to say:
After hearing what Cruz is now saying about my mom, in a negative knee-jerk reaction, makes me hope my mom does endorse Trump. Cruz’s flip-flop, turning against my mom who’s done nothing but support and help him when others sure didn’t, shows he’s a typical politician. How rude to that he’s setting up a false narrative about her!
By 11 am the same, day, Cruz tweeted:
I love @SarahPalinUSA Without her support, I wouldn’t be in the Senate. Regardless of what she does in 2016, I will always be a big fan.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 19, 2016
The flip-flop likely did more harm than good as with Cruz’s “New York values” comment and his apology/defense/confusion.
The Palin turnabout is the latest in a series of small missteps for Cruz which gives supporters reason to worry about the decision making capabilities of the candidate.
When Cruz faces a little heat for his not-too-well-thought-out words, he’s quick to both defend AND apologize rather than picking one path . . . a common tactic for politicians trying to speak from both sides of their mouth.
Will Cruz be able to take the heat in a general election against Hillary or will he be left scrambling each time he’s criticized?
While Trump is possibly the candidate with the thinnest skin in the history of presidential elections, the man knows his path and when he’s attacked, he goes for the jugular and doesn’t stop until it’s jiggling in his hand . . . Trump probably learned a thing or two from Palin.
That may be a fault of Trump and could doom us to WW III if he was ever elected president . . . but at least we’d win.
As for Palin, she’s probably relaxing in her hotel room at this moment, sighing in relief that Ted’s campaign gave her good reason to move forward with her endorsement.