Posted on 02/05/2016 9:38:41 PM PST by Red Steel
INDEPENDENCE - This was something new for Naomi Probert: Stand in front of a crowd of 500 people and tell them why she feels someone should be elected president of the United States.
The married mother of adopted Haitian children ages 5 and 6 found one candidate spoke to her heart: Dr. Ben Carson.
She and her family met Carson, personally, a day earlier in Manchester. The experience only reinforced her support for him.
So much so, she was willing to speak on his behalf at her Republican precinct caucus Monday night at Independence High School. In fact, her kids helped hand out literature for him. Supporting Carson was, for the Proberts, a family affair.
"I'd never done anything like this before," she said. "I felt really passionate about Dr. Carson. We were inspired by Dr. Carson's story. I volunteered to talk for him. And you get all revved up to speak to 500 people."
Then, the unthinkable happened.
A lady who had just checked her smart phone said the campaign of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz "just informed us that there's a CNN story that he (Carson) is out of the race and he's endorsed (Sen. Ted) Cruz," Probert related. She had already risen to speak.
"There was a gasp in the audience," Probert related. "I was just devastated. I got emotional. I said, 'My husband and I live here in Independence with our two Haitian children. We were inspired by Dr. Carson's story...'"
That was as far as she got. Overcome by emotion, she sat down.
She and her husband, Stephen, got on their smartphones to find the story in question. They didn't. "We said, 'This isn't true. We were duped.’" The report said Carson was going home “for a fresh suit of clothes" the day after the caucuses instead of heading straight to New Hampshire - not that he was dropping out of the race. But it triggered speculation.
"It was a complete fabrication. He didn't endorse anyone," Probert said. She and her husband knew if Carson was withdrawing, he would say so directly to his supporters. She asked to finish her remarks.
"They allowed me to do that," Probert said. "I don't know if the damage had been done," - if the initial, incorrect announcement had swayed anyone.
"My speculation was that it was a media-driven thing, but I wasn't sure," Probert said.
Cruz, a day after the caucuses, apologized for what ultimately was attributed to a misinterpretation of Carson's statements to CNN about taking a break after Iowa. A subsequent CNN report and local Republican officials noted U.S. Rep. Steve King, a Cruz state campaign chair, had retweeted the incorrect information.
"I would say, being he (Carson) isn't a career politician, he probably doesn't calculate all of his statements" and how they might be used against him, Probert said.
"Dr. Carson accepted the apology" by Cruz. "In that sense, it's kind of been taken care of," Probert said. But Carson also called for accountability in several interviews. A Carson campaign email Thursday bearing a subject line "Dirty tricks?" said that, while some CNN commentators shared blame for "openly speculating" Carson was calling it quits, "it is unacceptable that Cruz's campaign would dishonestly twist and distort the CNN report to manipulate Carson supporters into switching their caucus vote at the last minute."
Donald Trump's continued criticism of Cruz over the matter "can only hurt Carson and Cruz," Probert suggested. "Trump's trying to take advantage of this and it's going to hurt them both. That's not good.
"I don't hold anything against anyone local," Probert said. "I really do feel like it's beyond a local thing. I think a lot of people in America are just really tired of politics as usual. That’s why Dr. Carson, being an outsider, that he's been so successful."
Probert is still committed to Carson as long as he's a candidate. She is a 1995 graduate of Cedar Falls High School.
The entrance polls had him winning which he did.
Gosh, all they did was ask you for proof.
And you go off on a rant 12 paragraphs long and still provided no proof.
Calm down. No one is after you.
Someone in the carson camp DID tell them.
Carson has not disputed that.
Ok look at the complaint. Did she say the cruz staff told her that? Did she vote thinking carson had dropped out? Did she ultimately change her vote? NO NO NO.
we were asking for people who were forced by staff and changed their vote. This is not it.
Please don’t let intellectual discussion get in your way.
We were laughing that there was no what?
Lol, thanks for the much needed laugh.
Reading FR is quite depressing these days.
If so called conservatives can be so easily fooled by Trump, the country is lost.
Would a condensed version been more appropriate for your sound bite mentality? I am sick and tired of the sound bite generated arguments. Just background of my view of this cycle was the rest as IMHO. If all you were interested in was the non-existent hard evidenced “proof”, it would have been very evident what I had was in the first paragraph. Was it so tough to figure out that everything after that was just my overall opinion? Was somebody making you to read the rest?
“For a Cruz supporter, that is.
Wrong again Buckaroo! But I guess you’re always up to insult a fellow Freeper! Sounds reasonable for a over the top ___________ supporter that is.”
Awfully hypocritical of you to accuse me of “insult[ing] a fellow Freeper,” while hurling insults in my general direction.
But I guess that’s what happens when one dares criticize the Canadian lawyer.
Definition of buckaroo
plural -aroos also buck·eroos
1: cowboy
2: broncobuster
“First of all I didn’t insult you, if you don’t know where the term Buckaroo came from, or what it means it’s your issue.”
I know what the term means. In the context of this post, it’s a demeaning term implying that my post is childish. Don’t try to pretend you really meant to call me a “cowboy.”
End of discussion.
Childish? NO! Shoot from the hip yes. Now it’s the end of discussion, have a really, really nice weekend!
Compare and contrast a Caucus with a Primary Election.
Bookmark: those links are lethal.
Voting, Cpt Clay, should be provable. To the greatest possible extent, it should be made fraud proof.
I believe (despite caucusing) that a vote should be from a picture ID, a registration roll, a signature, a thumbprint, a marked paper ballot, an accurate count, an accurate report, and NO precincts reported until ALL precincts are reported and ALL reported at one time.
Didn’t Rubio start the false rumor?
All action...not just talk.
http://www.educationviews.org/ted-cruz-horrendous-murders/
Where was Trump? Pandering to DREAMers.
Andrew Jackson used “We Was Robbed” in 1824. He rebounded to unseat JQA in 1828.
I’m not really grasping this caucus thing— in a regular voting place any kind of electioneering is illegal. Does that mean in caucusing places it’s actually encouraged? Is there a difference between electioneering and caucusing? Just wondering.
Caucus voting is a private and political party process that do not fall under electioneering laws like general elections.
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