Might as well put this conclusion on repeat. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke and PolitiFact found him “Mostly False”.
After President Obama announced that we negotiated for America’s “only prisoner of war”, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, to be safely returned to us, Republicans freaked out like they do every time Obama is successful at something. Don’t remind them that he got Osama, that sends them into severe shriek mode.
So Republicans accused Obama of negotiating with terrorists. National security adviser Susan Rice explained on This Week that the US was at war with those who held Bergdahl. Republicans apparently hate it when Susan Rice is allowed to speak on TV, so this really got under their skin.
Ted Cruz was so bothered that he puffed, “Ambassador Rice basically said to you, ‘Yes, U.S. policy has changed. Now we make deals with terrorists.'” The Republican Senator later clarified, “The reason why the U.S. has had the policy for decades of not negotiating with terrorists is because once you start doing it, every other terrorist has an incentive to capture more soldiers.”
PolitiFact pointed out that many previous Presidents have negotiated with terrorists under Cruz’ definition, and furthermore, former President Bush negotiated with his self-dubbed “Axis of Evil” Iran and North Korea:
Here’s a few, according to Reiss’ book:
After the North Koreans captured the U.S.S. Pueblo in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson apologized for spying as part of negotiations to secure the release of 83 American prisoners.
In 1970, President Richard Nixon pressured Israel, Switzerland, West Germany and Britain to release Palestinian prisoners after two airlines were hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
During the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 to 1981, President Jimmy Carter agreed to unfreeze $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets after more than a year of negotiations with the Iranian revolutionaries.
In perhaps the most famous swap, after seven Americans were captured in Beirut, Lebanon, President Ronald Reagan agreed to send missiles to Iran in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal.
President Bill Clinton’s administration sat down with Hamas in attempts to negotiate peace with Israel. His administration also worked directly with the Taliban nearly two decades ago on several occasions to see if the group would hand over Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders.
Reiss also noted that President George W. Bush engaged in negotiations with Iran and North Korea even after decreeing them part of the “Axis of Evil.”
There are those in the know who contend that the Taliban are not conventional terrorists like al-Quaida. But that’s really not the point. The point is that Ted Cruz doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but he’s still talking with all of the unearned hubris and “wacko-birdness” he inflicts upon the Senate.
It was Bush who started the “War on Terror”, so that terrorism became the new enemy. It was Republicans who changed the definition of war under Bush, thus giving a President the kind of constitutional power to do what Obama just did.
Thus just like we negotiated for our troops return from previous enemies, so too we negotiate on this new frontier for our troops return. This is not the same thing as negotiating with terrorists, like say, those who would shut down the entire United States government in order to override the Constitution and democracy, so they could pretend that they won an election they lost. No, the person who did that is Ted Cruz.
Cruz earned a Mostly False because, “Cruz said Obama changed “decades” of policy of not negotiating with terrorists when he brokered the deal that brought Bergdahl home. Even though presidents and officials often say “we do not negotiate with terrorists,” it has not proven to be a hard-and-fast rule. Obama’s actions so far do not signal a change in policy, but rather the latest in a long line of exceptions presidents have made throughout recent history.”
A long line of exceptions, but the screeching only started when this president did it. Yes, there is a difference in that Obama “traded” Gitmo detainees for a prisoner of war, but weren’t missiles that armed many worse than Gitmo detainees, if it’s national security that’s the issue? See Reagan, but first stop by the empty “logic” square where hyperventilating Republicans are busy Romneying their previous positions on Sgt. Bowe Bergdah, just so they can criticize Obama.
Republicans are so worried that President Obama might get credit for doing something good that they are willing to troll the troops.
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Ted Cruz is an idiot.
Might as well put this conclusion on repeat. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke and PolitiFact found him “Mostly False”.
After reading the above statement, can you imagine how it feels for a Texan like myself to be surrounded by so many who idolize this man?
We know Ted Cruz is a idiot all I wish is he get him a goddamn tailor.
This is too rich. I know we will see it on MSNBC
Don’t forget that Reagan also traded arms for hostages in Iran too.
Ted Cruz IS a terrorist. He’s part of the tealiban and I consider them terrorists. He held the government hostage during the shutdown. The GOP deals with him and his cohorts, so I’d say they deal with terrorists for sure.
I wish he would wash that greasy hair and back off the make-up. Everytime I see him I think wwe are going to see him as the villian in the next Batman movie.
Senator Cruz has replaced the Texas state bird, bluejay, with a bird of his own image making it a loony bird.
Great Piece, Sarah Jones!
For an interesting read:
“In June 2012, fearless Rolling Stone contributing editor Michael Hastings wrote the definitive first account of Bowe Bergdahl — the young American soldier who was captured by the Taliban and became the last American prisoner of war. Hastings, the journalist who brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal in these pages, died in a car accident one year later. Bergdahl was freed this weekend. Hastings’ incredible story is available in full here:
“America’s Last Prisoner of War”
Three years ago, a 23-year-old soldier walked off his base in Afghanistan and into the hands of the Taliban. Now he’s a crucial pawn in negotiations to end the war. Will the Pentagon leave a man behind?
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-2012
Cruz isn’t just an idiot. He’s ‘ The Texasshole’.
What else is new?
On the bright side, I voted a straight DEMOCRATIC TICKET in LIBERAL BLUE CALIFORNIA and it will stay that way…(I feel sorry for u Texans – I did contribute to Wendys’ campaign and have lib family in Dallas)
a MUZZLE
HAHAHAHA…I’m stealing that
@Michael Stewart, I feel for ya man. I have a REAL teabagger sister in Texas. As you can imagine we don’t speak.
Someone took that rolling stones page down
Most people that go into war are scared of the unknown, but they know what has to be done, Bowe walked away from his post and became a prisoner of war and will have to answer for his actions, Ted Cruz is a chicken hawk with a big mouth who knows absolutely nothing about war or this country for that matter. No one is left behind.
Here’s a scenario of what’s going on behind the scenes. Ted Cruz gets up makes a speech, get’s the crowd excited, and walks off stage. His cronies warns him about what he just said, that most of it wasn’t true. And Ted, runs his hand through his greasy hair and says,” I know but they don’t, besides they love me.”
My main point is nobody can continually go around lying and not really cares as long as they can fool the people. Teddy boy is up to something, so we have to watch this “Interior Terrorist” carefully.
The wayback machine doesn’t have it, either.
Darn! I’d like to read it.
Try this link….
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/americas-last-prisoner-of-war-20120607
My question is, if all these idiots in congress and Fox news keeps saying Bergdahl should have died there and saying his Dad is a Muslim, will the Bergdahl family continue to vote Conservative?
They were soldiers of the deposed government in Afghanistan, and therefore they were POWs. But Bush refused to call them POWs so he could ignore the Geneva Convention. Republicans refused to let them be tried in civilian courts, so they were never convicted of terrorism. And no one died capturing them – they either turned themselves in, were tricked into surrendering, or were simply arrested. Nothing the Republicans are saying to demonize Obama is true. Nothing new in that, though.
Thanks for the link! It works. Guess the first one just wasn’t complete.
Sort of like being here in rural UT….I feel your pain!
You know Cruz just doesn’tknow when to shut that dam mouth of his. He lies one after another and thinks he wont get caught. Well he did again. And what’s up with his NOT Denouncing his canadian citizenship???? he said he would do it and was waiting for the papers and yet NOTHING. I don’t trust this bastard and he is up to something. him and his dam father with that phony church of his The Dominion taking the people’s money. No wonder the mother up and left. No he is up to no good and I bet anything something is going to come out about this lying cheating SOB.
Right now, most people in uniform are wondering “what if it was me? Would they leave me behind?”
This is actually normal, if anything in war can be called that. People have to be insane to survive. It erupts in different ways. R. Kipling wrote about it in “Soldiers Three.”
This may in fact be the real issue. Ray-guns enriched some defense contractors by giving away missiles, but who gets rich when PBO trades five costly-to-maintain prisoners?
And you can just imagine how intense that competition was! My money was on Gohmert…
As much as I despise him, Ted Cruz knows what he is doing. He is not out there to present facts, he is out there to influence voters. He is relying on his audience to listen sheepishly and so they do. He relies on his audience who will not question what he says, much like the religious are taught not to question. Perhaps that is why the right favors the religious.
For the country to move forward and expose these charlatans the word must reach the right wing audience in the medium by which they are most influenced. Unfortunately it not this website or anything similar, or factcheck.org. Better yet, they must be called to account for every falsehood they speak, when they speak it.
Michael I whole heartedly agree with you. Very hard to be a Texan with a brain these days. Republicans truly scare me. Ted Cruz is a slimeball with his own agenda. I just laugh when he opens his mouth because he almost always is proven wrong.
Hmmm….I clearly recall Bush 43 appeasing Bin Laden who threatened more attacks on American soil if we didn’t remove our military presence from Saudi Arabia. Bush quietly removed all military presence, but that was okay. I don’t give a phuck if Bergdahl deserted or not. One American soldier is worth 5 terrorists in my book.
How about we stop meddling in foreign affairs with bombs and bullets then we won’t have to worry about our soldiers being taken hostage. Oh wait…we are America. We must have perpetual war because it makes us feel all macho and brings great profits to the defense industry.
I had forgot all about that. Thank you
Your bet’s still strong… as long as we allow for Cruz being the the wackjob for Senate and Gohmert being for the House…
Of course, I think the competition was fierce between Gohmert and Stockman for the latter.
The only thing I can think about doing to help little teddy cruz, is wrestling that worthless twit down and using a Brillo Pad, to clean that perpetual smirk off’ve his face. But…what I’d like to do and can do in reality….well it just won’t happen, because it is illegal.
Sure, Cruz lied here and he’s lied many times. Unfortunately, this is how he mobilizes his base support of whackjobs. If he told his supporters that the moon is purple and it’s God’s punishment for Obama supporting gays and being a Muslim, they’d be screaming about “them lib’ral commie scientists” proving the moon has not turned purple.
dear mr huckleberry, i laughed and laughed, i could just see ted cruz as count badcruz, the new villian on batman. you hit it right on.
teddy and the other gop muckrakers will earn the right to complain about Obama’s actions here when oliver north goes to prison for treason. until then, shut the hell up…….
Ted Cruz. What can I say about that a##hole? Well, for starters, he is an a##hole of all a##holes.
He opens his mouth and sh*t comes out. The man is a pathological liar as is his father.
He misuses his office to make speaking dates for his FAR-FAR right wingnut of a father. Both he and his father are under the misconception that the United States is a Christian nation despite the fact that the Constitution says that it is secular, that it is a non-religious country.
I seriously doubt that he has ever read the Constitution, nor does he realize or care that the bulk of the founders were DEISTS, not Christians. Jefferson, among others, did not believe in the deity of Jesus, but that doesn’t bother him or his idiot old man.
As a Texan, I apologize for his being in Congress but I did not vote for him nor would I. Texans are bound and determined to go down as the racists bastards they are. They were Democrats before the Civil Rights Laws.
Ted Cruz doesn’t care what he says–as long as what he says makes his base happy. That’s ALL he cares about–because if they are mad enough, they go vote in November.
Ted Cruz is an agitator, a provocateur. Every point or non-point he makes is intended to inflame, not inform. His rhetoric sweet to the ears of the willing bottom feeders who cheer and stomp their feet are just as disgusting as him. Seriously.