And trust me, this post is coming from a Ted Cruz advocate. A fan. Ted Cruz is “my guy.” That said, I’m starting to seriously question his tactics.
This most recent action leaves me confused and, had I been an Iowa recipient, I would have been, yes, confused, and then red hot.
Look at the photos above and below sent to an Iowan voter. Those other names are neighbors of the person listed at the top.
The mailer said:
RECIPIENT COPY, OFFICIAL PUBLIC RECORD
VOTING VIOLATION
You are receiving this election notice because of low expected voter turnout in your area. Your individual voting history as well as your neighbors’ are public record. Their scores are published below, and many of them will see your score as well. CAUCUS ON MONDAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE and please encourage your neighbors to caucus as well. A follow-up notice may be issued following Monday’s caucuses.
If you look at the photo you can see that those persons listed — real persons whose names were acquired from voter rolls — had their voting habits “graded,” ranging from F to C.
The Cruz campaign has confirmed the existence of these flyers and that they are theirs. Moreover, Ted Cruz says he will apologize to no one for his flyers.
The mailers resemble some kind of official government document and, frankly, they are meant to. Look at the top photo.
It would appear that Iowa’s secretary of state, Paul Pate, is in a tizzy about the mailer, saying that “there is no such thing as an election violation related to frequency of voting.” And correct he is.
I was not a recipient of such a mailer from Ted Cruz. But I can tell you quite honestly what I would have done had I been so. It would be on the order of what I did when the RNC sent me three consecutive envelopes marked on the outside with large red letters indicating FIRST NOTICE, SECOND NOTICE and FINAL NOTICE.
“Notice” for what? Not sending them money, of course. Something I’d done before receiving those rude and disparaging envelopes.
That was the last time I wrote a check to the RNC. With tactics like that they can go to hell.
My first reaction to finding a mailer like that at my house would be roughly the same: blow me. You too can go to hell. No donations, no vote.
You want to insult me — and in my estimation an insult is what you mailed — then you must be sitting in the catbird seat and don’t require my vote. You want to send me a “voting violation“? Eh, not in this life.
You just made it personal. You just named names. Mine. I vote in every election. I do my duty. Though frankly, it’s none of your business how frequently I vote or not.
That’s what I would be thinking had I received such a flyer. And some Iowans do too. We don’t respond very well to threats and embarrassment.
If this is something you, Ted Cruz, think is a spectacular tactic for voter motivation, you apparently don’t know how people function very well.
Let me blunt, because that’s my nature.
Another major cock-up like that, Mr Cruz, and I’ll be saying. . .
. . . to you.
BZ
P.S.
I’d better not be seeing one of those things in my mailbox.
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Cruz #2, Rubio #3.
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Michael Bloomberg, the former three-term mayor of New York City, is considering a run for president as an Independent.