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Ted Cruz Outraises David Dewhurst. Dewhurst Reponds By Accusing Cruz of Supporting Pedophiles.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  July 17th, 2012 at 04:46 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

“It’s akin to saying David Dewhurst is a kid toucher because kissed a baby on the campaign trail.
”

I have always had a lot of respect for the guys who are running David Dewhurst’s campaign, but I’m starting to see now why Rick Perry had no chance of getting elected President. The same team running Dewhurst’s campaign ran Perry’s Presidential campaign and has stooped to what I thought would be an impossible low.

Contra the headline at CNN.com, David Dewhurst actually raised less money than Ted Cruz. Dewhurst had to pump over $4 million into his campaign to save face and win the media spin that he outpaced Cruz. In fact, Cruz has raised $1.7 million and Dewhurst raised $1.5 million.

So now Dewhurst’s campaign team is accusing Ted Cruz of supporting pedophiles, going so far as to try to tie him to Jerry Sandusky.

Not. Kidding.The scurrilous charge stems from Ted Cruz’s law firm taking on the appeal of a developer in Pennsylvania who had a dispute with an insurance company and had lost in district court. Ted Cruz got the case.

The company was in Pennsylvania and the client was involved in litigation related to a scandal that involved bribing judges to steer juvenile delinquents to the private jail facility his company built. He had previously pleaded guilty to failing to report a felony to the authorities. Cruz had nothing to do with the criminal case or the related civil litigation at all.

Moreso, Cruz’s client seemingly had nothing to do with the scandal involving the kids either. His crime was about not telling the IRS the judges involved had mischaracterized their income. In other words, as Ted Cruz said, his client’s actual victim in the case was the IRS, not kids.

That hasn’t stopped David Dewhurst. David Dewhurst is out with an ad highlighting Ted Cruz + Pennsylvania + kids involved and strongly implying that Ted Cruz supported a pedophile.

He’s using Cruz’s remarks about the criminal case being a tax case and not a case about kids against Cruz to imply Cruz is ignoring victimized children.

It’s ludicrous and it is false. But that’s not stopping David Dewhurst from running with it.

In a campaign email sent late yesterday by Megan Hanson, the Dewhurst campaign wrote,

Ted Cruz was fined the maximum penalty by the U.S. Senate Ethics Commission for breaking the law and failing to submit his Personal Financial Disclosure. Now, Texans are learning what Cruz was hiding. Ted Cruz is representing Robert Mericle, a child-exploiting, judge-bribing felon of the infamous “Kids for Cash” scandal.

The fine was for failing to timely file his disclosures. He missed a deadline. That’s all.

The rest? It’s akin to saying David Dewhurst is a kid toucher because he kissed a baby on the campaign trail. In other words, it is desperate nonsense.

It also is a strong indicator, coupled with Cruz outpacing Dewhurst in fundraising, that Dewhurst really does believe he is losing the race.

Good.

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COMMENTS

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  • michaelbowler

    What we have seen throughout this campaign is a man whose ethics are non-existent. Dewhurst has proven that no lie nor any half truth is out of bounds, he will say and do anything to get into the senate club…I’m not sure there are ANY limits to what lengths this man will stoop in order to obtain the prize.

    What is clear, Dewhurst MUST be denied this election. I want Ted Cruz to win because he is the better man and far more likely to represent my views, but let’s be clear…More important than having Cruz win, Dewhurst must be denied. It would be a travesty to wind up with a crooked dirty trickster like this in the senate to represent our state. Like a throwback to to the worst in our history of establishment, self dealing politicians willing to sell off his constituents for any prize.

    Clearly, with the dirty political campaign he has run, we need to ensure he doesn’t manage to serve as Lt gov any longer either. Dewhurst and Strauss have made a complete conservative majority in the Texas legislature as ineffectual as can be.

  • trutexan

    Keep up the good fight Mr. Cruz. We are here and we believe in you! I’m putting a link to this story on my FB page and ask others to share.

    Texans, early voting begins next week.

  • edintexas

    I mailed my absentee ballot with my vote for Ted. I’ve contributed several times. Now I can only hope that Ted wins.

  • privatouring

    Barbara Bush’s notion that Sarah Palin should “….go back to Alaska and stay there”, and the Bush familiy’s slobbering love affair with a real sex maniac mysogenist (William Jefferson Blythe), is exactly what we mean by “compromising, “reasonable”, Republicans In Name Only.
    Dewhurst is one of them. I am not. We voted. Cruz.
    David Christian Newton, McAllen, Texas

  • acat

    Sure seems willing to dig deeper and deeper into the mud….

    Despicable.

    Mew

  • APA Guy

    …didn’t work out so well for him. I have a feeling a similar outcome will ensue today, albeit to a lesser extent with regards to margin of victory.

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Jacobson get2djnow

    Mine dovetails with that: every person reading about this or seeing these disgusting attacks on Mr. Cruze should react by calling people who have endorsed Dewhurst and asking them to repudiate this. I’m personally not swayed by an endorsement, but putting your support behind someone means that you believe that their qualifications and vision is right for the job. It also means that you aren’t opposed to their stratagies and tactics to get the job. It’s not good enough to just throw your weight behind someone and walk away from that.

    ANYONE who has endorsed Dewhurst should be dirtied with Dewhurst’s mudslinging!

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    I didn’t think elections not involving Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, David Duke or that Barron character would sink any lower than Stephanie Guttertrash calling Romney a felon without you know any hint of illegal activity but Dewhurst and his advisors have managed to sink lower than Obama and Guttertrash (not that they wouldn’t call Romney a pedophile if they thought they could sell it). Like I said I didn’t think it possible.

  • eldstenorge

    And why are we surprised? Have conservatives not yet learned that what the establishment in the GOP wants is our votes, not our voices? When are we going to learn that maybe we should not continue to just “go along,” but again stand up for what is right and quit voting for these bozos. Someone like Dewhurst in office would be worse than a Democrat because they use their positions to work against what we really believe. They are like unto Judas, and Dewhurst fits that bill.

  • runner12

    I hope Cruz wins by a landslide.

  • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

    it will be a major blow to the credibility of the Republican party because that guy has shown himself to be a slimy slimy liar.

    How can you work with a guy like that? How can his colleagues (and they are a pretty rotten bunch) be able to trust him or have any respect?

  • harlan

    Texas is rapidly changing under the weight of the liberal exodus from California and other blue states.

    And because Austin holds the state house, libs and RINOs are controlling the narrative, no matter how disingenuous.

    And so, every dewhurst ad that I’ve heard or read is pure slime.

  • justperhaps45

    VOTES NOT VOICES. We must continue to disappoint the RINO herd.

  • justperhaps45

    VOTES NOT VOICES. We must continue to disappoint the RINO herd.

  • texasref

    if he beats Cruz.

    Ugh.

    Cruz, you have my vote.

  • txgrunner

    …and donated two times, once before the primary, once after.

  • justperhaps45

    Become more skilled as a communicator. Changing someone’s dirrection with a head-on impact of ideas seldom works. But with a few glancing blows they can be brought around.

  • msctex

    It’s pure LBJ. It is also absolutely pathetic, and no doubt a direct reflection of DD’s internal polls.

  • barbelou

    Something similar is happening in Missori’s 8th district. At a recent forum, Bob Parker [challebging Jo Ann Emerson in the primary] was asked about legalizing marijuana. He doesn’t think it should be legalized but believes it should be up to the states. Team Emerson now claims he is for legalizing drugs & has been endorsed by NORML, which is not true. She’s been calling his ideas of smaller government & reduced spending “dangerous rhetoric”. Undoubtedly she believes she is “entitled” to represent us!

    We have a lot of house cleaning to do all across this great nation!

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    If he wins the primary in two years was bad; man I feel for you. I can only recommend a fifth of Johnnie Walker Blue – it’s expensive I know – but you are going to need a lot of liquid courage and you might as well go with the good stuff.

  • http://wingright.org bnuckols

    but your distortion is prurient and solely the fruit of your imagination.

    The ad shows news footage of others calling the “Kids4Cash” scandal by that name. It uses a recording of Cruz explaining that the IRS is the only victim. (In spite of the fact that the whole case was about an attempt to force Travelers to pay the settlement to the juvenile victims.)

    Can’t say it better than the Federal judges who ruled against Cruz in the appeal: Insurance is for unexpected damages, not for paying for felonies.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    And your continued smears of Cruz and now Erick is not accomplishing anything here except getting Cruz some more money.

    Cruz2012Donations

  • Joshua Persons

    So there’s at least three different cases going on here, right?

    Case 1 would be the criminal bribery case against Powell.

    Case 2 would be the criminal tax case against Mericle.

    Case 3 would be the civil insurance case against Mericle.

    So when Cruz says that the only victim of Case 2 was the IRS, that’s true, isn’t it? Seems like your whole argument is based on conflating all the cases.

    Also, it’s pretty low to claim that the judges ruled against Cruz. Cruz was legal representation for a party to the suit, not a party himself.

  • citizenkh

    in Texas.

    However, here in Louisiana, Breitbart, Freedom Works and Redstate seem to be supporting the anti-TP guy in district 3 for congress. They obviously have done their homework somewhere OUTSIDE of Louisiana.

  • http://wingright.org bnuckols

    Listen to the ad.

  • remalimo

    that Ted could get a pretty good rise out of DD by exposing some of his activities with the CIA.

  • gekster

    nt

  • http://wingright.org bnuckols

    If it were a settlement on the tax case, Cruz and Erick might have a point. But Mericle was suing Traveler’s to get them to pay the settlement to the kids.

  • http://wingright.org bnuckols

    Brought by the kids and their families. Mericle had lost, sued Traveler’s to get them to pay the settlement to the kids, Case 4, and hired Cruz for Case 5, the appeal.

  • gekster

    He got hired and defended a client.
    I thought that’s what lawyers did, defend the people who hired them.

    What was wrong in that.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    Good luck selling that along with the rest of the baloney you’re posting.

    I notice you ignored the comments posted yesterday with regard to Lynn Woolley’s endorsement of Cruz and further info on the scrubbing of Dewhurst’s speech here. And how about the fact that Dewhurst was late in filing the same disclosure form his campaign uses against Cruz?

    As for the kids, context is important, and honest folks prefer to read or listen to statements in their entirety rather than how they’re used by a dishonest campaign. I would recommend interested parties read the NR article rather than listen to Dewcrist’s distorted, dishonest ad.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    have to do with this diary or the comments regarding Cruz? Trying to direct traffic to your anti-Landry diary?

  • gekster

    that the add trys to say that Cruz represented Mericle in the criminal case, which is on it’s face a lie.
    Cruz represented Mericle in the payment case as to who should pay.
    The question was not ‘if’ the kids should get payed, but as to ‘who’ should pay.

    Total sign of desperation on Dewhurst’s part, but that’s what the lefties do.

    And I would also point out that it was Mericle who hired Cruz, not that Cruz sought out Miricle.

  • citizenkh

    a lot of folks are getting bad info from DC sources.

  • Joshua Persons

    And what did I say to contradict that?

  • Joshua Persons

    It’s certainly not the ad, and it’s certainly not justia.

    Bottom line, as far as I can tell, is that (1) Dewhurst took Cruz’s statement wildly out of context, and (2) Dewhurst believes lawyers should be held responsible for their client’s crimes. It is an unfair smear.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    You know, the ones on the ground. And again, this diary is about Cruz and Texas, not Landry and Louisiana.

  • APA Guy

    Just thought you’d like to know…and thanks for continuing to expose this person.

  • avagreen

    More to come next week.

  • rickperryreport

    Beverly, I appreciate your tenacity in reporting the facts. I haven’t seen anyone refute these facts.

    All I read are ugly remarks adding little to the discussion of the facts by a bunch of Cruz supporters. Not the kind of crowd I’d hang out with, nor are they good company, as we both found out.

  • gekster

    The posters posted the facts to her slanders.
    But you wouldn’t see that from under your rock.
    Check out the top diary on the mebers list.
    It seams that liberals support Dewhurst, not conservatives.
    Now be a good little boy and go back under your rock.

  • Bill S

    A little collusion going on here? My troll meter doesn’t show you as sock-puppeting, but it seems perhaps y’all are tag-team trolling.

    Oh, and if you dont like the company, door’s over there, to the left. Like Dewcrist.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    You mean like “screw the tea party?” Your words.

    Truth hurts, doesn’t it?

    Proud Cruz Supporter!

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    You never answered my question here.

    Was your use of the words exotic or Cainesque code words for a slur against Cruz?

  • acat

    I hope they had the sense to get paid by the word.

    Mew

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    I guess the next step was pedophile…since I guess we can say pervert has left the train station…is there a pool started for when Dewhurst and his candibots violate Godwin’s Law? That seems to always be the progression, right?

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    and can’t be violated; only followed.

  • texasref

    place your bets!

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    than crawl…

  • GreyCloak

    We got a runoff. Early voting is all next week (Mon-Fri, July 23-27). Wife and I are planning on it. We generally do our early votes at the local community center. The “last day” vote is Tues, July 31. THAT may require you to go to your local Precinct site.

    I don’t think David Dewhurst is a bad person, but I am seriously dubious of a politician that can loan his own campaign $4.7 million for a job that pays less than $200,000 a year.

    VOTE!!! No matter how many times it takes.

  • http://wingright.org bnuckols

    Not a “shill,” I’ve just done my homework.

  • APA Guy

    Learn the difference…and while you’re at it, try answering the questions of the members of this forum before you whine about someone calling you names.

  • http://wingright.org bnuckols

    Texas Tribune
    http://www.texastribune.org/texas-politics/2012-elections/new-cruz-legal-client-campaign-crosshairs/

  • acat

    I would love to take them seriously, but .. three problems.

    1) They’re journalists, and likely J-school grads.
    2) They’re not-for-profit .. which is a nice way to hide who’s paying.
    3) They’re in Austin.

    Mew

  • gekster

    And I will tell you again, Cruz did not represent Mericle in the criminal case, as you would like us to believe with your smear attempt.
    It was not a case of ‘if’ the kids get paid, but a case of ‘who’ would pay the kids.
    And I will point out again that it was Mericle who sought out Cruz, not the other way around.

    And another point I posted to you yeasterday, if a lawyer is hired by a client, isn’t it his job to represent that client.
    Isn’t that what lawyers do.
    You are so desperate, arn’t you.
    One would think you would be one of the smart rats that realise that it is time to jump the sinking Dewhurst ship.

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    God save us from people whose only experience is working at a non-profit. (Though clearly that ain’t Dewhurst). Clearly, Dewhurst isn’t a socialist just a lyin’ sack of crap. I feel for gekster, texasref, avagreen, and Ace; if Dewhurst wins the primary they have to go in the general and hold their nose and vote for the sack of crap. Heck, I thought having to vote for Bob Corker was a profile in courage. I do know one thing; if Dewhurst wins I am upping my positions in Diageo and Proctor and Gamble because the sale of whiskey is going to skyrocket in Texas on November 4th followed by the sale of Pepto-Bismol on November 5th.

  • APA Guy

    Good God almighty…spare us from such

    Photobucket

  • texashistorian

    The Texas Tribune, while it can, and sometimes does do, decent reporting, is essentially a leftist propaganda rag. The founder is/was a big time donor to lib candidates, the editor is a big lib former writer/editor for Texas Monthly magazine (Evan Smith), and some of the Trib’s funding has apparently come from Soros.

  • http://wingright.org bnuckols

    Came from. TT was the source of some, so I posted the link to that article.
    What was inaccurate in the reporting?

  • michaelbowler

    Nor should they be.

    Dewhurst has PLENTY of lies and hypocrisy to answer for from his days in Tx government. It is enough to torpedo his senate bid in an informed public.

    Thanks to several sources, not least of which is some talkers like Michael Berry on 740 KTRH, we know who these two are…and Dewhurst ain’t lookin’ good.