Ted Cruz Describes Alleged Planned Parenthood Shooter As ‘Transgendered Leftist Activist’

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Source: Think Progress



Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is the latest presidential candidate trying to downplay the role anti-abortion rhetoric may have played in motivating the Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado Springs Friday afternoon. When a reporter asked him at an Iowa campaign stop Sunday evening about suspect Robert Lewis Dear saying he was motivated by “no more baby parts,” Cruz countered that he’s also been reported to be a “transgendered [sic] leftist activist.”

Cruz explained, “We know that he was a man registered to vote as a woman.” This discrepancy on Dear’s voter registration was first reported by The Gateway Pundit, a self-described “right-of-center news website,” under the claim that he “identifies as [a] woman.” Conservatives have since run with the claim that Dear is transgender.

There is actually no evidence to suggest that he is transgender, nor a “leftist,” nor any kind of activist. In fact, all of the available information suggests he was none of those things.

As the New York Times explained, Dear was very much a recluse, the type “that preferred to be left alone,” living in various single-wide trailers and cabins since his divorce in 2000. Neighbors did not know him well, and if they did, it’s because he would lash out at them when they tried to interfere with his business, like reporting him for mistreating his dogs.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/11/29/3726311/ted-cruz-planned-parenthood-shooting-transgendered/

---

Seeing Trump thrive with the tinfoil hat GOP base with his "thousands and thousands" of celebrating NJ muslims claim, Canuck Cruz decides to get in on some of that making-up-your-own-facts and repeating-nonsense-from-rightwing-blogs action

What we up to now this cycle? Example #45,876 of things that would disqualify anyone in a sane party as a candidate?

[uppityperson]

1. I really wish he says more shit like that, show how loony he is

[virtualobserver]

6. unfortunately he is running for the loony nomination

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Showing he's a loony doesn't matter to the Repub base any more; I fear about Americans in general

as well - that there are too many general election voters for whom an idiotic bit of trolling like that from Cruz is just "one way of looking at it" - that it's fine to take a tragedy, and twist it into a lie for party political reasons.

If it were only the Republican base, I think mass media would by now be pointing and laughing at Cruz, Carson and Trump, and saying they're no more 'presidential' than Vermin Supreme. But I think they feel there are a sizeable number of Americans who think this is suitable behaviour for a president.

[IronLionZion]

29. There are millions of loony voters supporting these nutjobs nt

[MosheFeingold]

33. I think the headline is misleading (unfortuntely)

When I read the actual quote in the article, Cruz's point was there was a lot of conflicting information out there, not that the shooter actually was transgender.

Not as good a talking point as I hoped.

[66 dmhlt]

53. Then read Cruz' quote again - I'll help:

TED CRUZ:

When a reporter reminded Cruz it has been reported Dear made a comment about "baby parts" while being apprehended, Cruz retorted, "It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/11/29/cruz-the-colorado-shooter-may-have-been-a-transgendered-leftist-activist/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/30/ted-cruz-cites-reports-that-planned-parenthood-shooter-could-be-transgendered-leftist-activist-what/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/30/politics/ted-cruz-planned-parenthood-transgendered-leftist-activist/

[MosheFeingold]

55. Again, listen carefully

Cruz is very, very clever. Read EXACTLY what he said (below). What he said is technically true, but leaves a false impression (which is what you are hearing):

"The media promptly wants to blame him on the pro-life movement when, at this point, there’s very little evidence to indicate that,” Cruz said Sunday at a campaign stop in Newton, Iowa. He added that “it’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and a transgendered leftist activist. If that’s what he is, I don’t think it’s fair to blame … the rhetoric on the left. This is a murderer.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/30/ted-cruz-cites-reports-that-planned-parenthood-shooter-could-be-transgendered-leftist-activist-what/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_fix-cruz-shooting-135pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

If you follow the exact wording, what he is saying is "there are a lot of inconsistent reports about the killer. It doesn't matter. He's a murderer."

In a vacuum, that's a reasonable sentiment. But of course, his intent is to leave the impression that he was a transgender -- but giving himself ample room to distance himself from that position.

He did the same thing with the "most convicted felons are Democrats" line yesterday -- again, a technically true statement, but calculated to mislead with the idea that "Democrats are mainly felons."

Cruz was a very, very successful lawyer and uses words like a scalpel. He is playing the media very well.

[66 dmhlt]

58. Breitbart & Daily Caller are this way --> --> --> -->

[MosheFeingold]

61. Stop being silly

I have been involved in campaigns (overwhelmingly for Democrats)for over 50 years.

Ascertaining the strengths of your opponent is an essential aspect of an effective campaign.

Putting your fingers in your ears and going "nah nah nah" when your opponent speaks teaches nothing about how he operates and is something my 6 years old great-great granddaughter would do.

[Kingofalldems]

59. Technically true my ass.

What report ever claimed he was a left wing activist?

[MosheFeingold]

60. Some asshat right wing site

Note the use of passive voice by Cruz "a report says. . . "

Now, the report could be (and was) nonsense, but Cruz is very careful to not endorse the report.

He delivers his lie without being called on it.

[roguevalley]

48. he looks like his face is melting along with his brain

what a sorry assed imbecile

[houston16revival]

2. The sense of entitlement and lies is alarming

It's like they're testing the credibility bridge to see what they can get away with

We all know where lies lead

[Chakab]

13. They know that they can get away with just about anything because the media is easily bullied and

won't call them on their shit.

[geomon666]

3. Clearly looks like a transgendered female.

And only a leftist would shoot up a clinic. Is it too late for Canada to take this fucking monster back?

[darkangel218]

4. I don't think they want him back.

Canada is probably counting its blessings that the nut left.

[ProfessorGAC]

38. Isn't The Beard A Showstopper?

You said what i was thinking. A transgendered guy who identifies as a woman can't even bother to shave the beard? I'm not an expert on TG folks, knowing only a couple in my whole life, but they didn't have beards. They were very careful about their appearance.

[City Lights]

5. No Teddy. He's all yours.

Own him.

[lastlib]

39. And CARLY!!!

This killer is as much her spawn as his. THEY, and those who do not disavow them, own the fucker lock, stock, and barrel!

[City Lights]

45. Well said!

[SoapBox]

7. WTF?

And will ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NPR, PBS cover this...and call it out for the nutso speech it is?

Of course not.

So lame MSM, you ALSO own him.

[Alison Hartson]

9. Wow, you're right

No sighting of this on major outlets. Maybe they're trying to decide how to spin the story or if they can in fact bury it with the rest. Gross.

[Thinkingabout]

8. Now that settled it for me, if Cruz said it was a left wing activist the it really

Means he is a right wing terrorist. I just don't know why RW TP can't say Right Wing Terrorists.

[Roy Rolling]

10. New definitions

Leftist: someone who wants to be left alone

[valerief]

35. Leftist activist: someone who wants to be left alone so much he actively shoots and kills

anyone who doesn't pray to baby parts.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. Good grief

Questions for Senator Cruz:

• If Planned Parenthood promotes abortion, and abortion is a left wing thing, then why would a "leftist" want to shoot up a PP clinic?
• It seems that the bad publicity that PP is getting nowadays is basically a campaign of lies from right wing sources, so wouldn't it stand to reason that an armed and unbalanced individual creating mayhem with a firearm in a women's health clinic is under the influence that campaign?
• THere is no evidence that Mr. Dear is transgender, but even if that were true, what does it have to do with his shooting up a PP clinic?


I'm afraid that Senator Cruz would have some answers, but I'm also afraid that they are as bizarre as everything else he's said on the subject this weekend.

[MillennialDem]

19. One typo on his voter registration = he's transgender. Good lord. I'm trans and

I can't tell you how often that happened to me before I transitioned and no intent to change (though my birth name was very androgynous was part of it).

[Grassy Knoll]

12. Budump Chaaaa.......

Don't Forget To Try The Veal, It's The Best In The City!!!!

[Feeling the Bern]

14. This is a fucking joke right?

[progree]

15. He does look like a transgender who tries to cover that up and overcompensate by growing a beard

or something like that, I'd guess, once you think about it some ... think outside the box, youknow ... and get into his mind and all that or somesuch

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. Why not? After all, this is America...

[Oldtimeralso]

17. K & R n/t

[gembaby1]

57. Reinvent himself?

Considering where he grew up, an immigrant-hating southern white supremacist is exactly what he is. Sorry he wasn't here long enough to be a true Canadian.

[DhhD]

18. Teddy is well known for his lying, pants on fire. He has laid off lately but is at it again to

hide the facts. I am just waiting to see family members of the victims call out the RW Fundies on their hate speech and lying videos. Carly Fiorina should close her campaign, take her lying video message, and go home.

Keep in mind that Teddy tried to shut down the government several weeks ago over the lying videos about PP, by Senior Senators would not allow Cruz to cause that much trouble.

In my opinion, Texas R-Cruz is a sorry excuse for a Senator.

[rusty quoin]

20. I love that picture of Cruz, because it is how I imagine what Nero looked liked..his expression.

[moondust]

21. That's it?

Two days to fabricate a remotely believable scapegoat and that's the best he can do?

[BlueStater]

22. Look out, Donald.

You've got some competition for the disgusting bigot vote.

[phleshdef]

23. When I got my first drivers permit, I got home, looked at it... and it had F under Gender.

I'm a dude. Mistakes like that are made.

[Zorra]

40. His online voter information at the Colorado SOS website does not list gender:

Registered Voter Information
Voter Name: ROBERT LEWIS DEAR JR
Residential Address: (Redacted by Poster), HARTSEL, CO, 80449 Change my address
Address: (Redacted by Poster), HARTSEL, CO, 80449, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Birth Year: 1958

Registration Information
Voter Id: 601010372
Registration Status: Active
Date of Registration: 10/17/2014
Party Affiliation: Unaffiliated Change party affiliation
Date of Affiliation: 10/17/2014

https://www.sos.state.co.us/voter-classic/pages/pub/olvr/findVoterReg.xhtml

It appears that in Colorado, since 2012, reporting gender on Voter Registration Forms is optional.

(pdf)1-2-204. Questions answered by elector - rules.

(2) In addition,
each eligible elector shall be asked, and the elector shall correctly answer,
the following:
(d) The elector's gender, IF THE ELECTOR WISHES TO STATE IT;

http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2012a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/70A30B8A18CAA52E87257981007F557C?open&file=1292_enr.pdf

[Matariki]

24. Lying is the way they operate

Their crazy ass base just repeats the lies they're told and then ruins holiday meals for the saner members of their families.

[Warpy]

26. That dumb bastard is stringing nonsense words together like Palin

Obviously, he's hoping his dimwit supporters only hear a string of bad words they can attribute to non Cruz supporters.

Sadly, he's probably right about that. You have to be a rare kind of stupid to support Ted Cruz for anything.

[mwb970]

27. Canadian Jesus Cruz has very little room to critique "trans" people.

He looks even more like a woman in the picture accompanying this post than he usually does. He also often reminds me of an evil marionette in a Stephen King novel.

[gembaby1]

56. Bigotry towards non-Americans

Exactly what does being born in Canada have anything to do with Ted Cruz's insane rants? Oh yeah, absolutely nothing since he was here all of 3 years and spent the rest of his life in The United States of America. Your country raised him to be what he is but because of that Canadian birth this makes you feel better about yourselves as if that were really the problem.

Idk, what makes it ok to dump on people because of their birth identity. You certainly would not be doing this if he were black, a Jew, etc.

[mwb970]

65. Jeez, you're as touchy as any right-winger.

I was speaking tongue-in-cheek to emphasize his otherness and to mock people who are "birthering" him. This seems to have gone over your head. Did you not detect the ironic nature of my entire comment?

I get a bellyful of people taking ironic or satirical comments at face value and becoming outraged when I spar with right-wingers in the comment sections on news sites. Never expected it on DU. Maybe times have changed.

[gembaby1]

66. Your talking to a left-wing Canadian

That man is as far away from even a right-wing Canuck. I thought because this thread was a discussion on Ted Cruz's crazy rant that, you know, you should be talking about Ted Cruz's crazy rant.

Bringing up that he's Canadian is kind of irrelevant.

I really don't care about your birther "joke" as I find the very idea of disqualifying someone for being president because of being born some place else is ludicrous. I will never understand that one piece of xenophobia you guys have enshrined in law. My country doesn't do that. You can be prime minister whether you were born here or elsewhere as long as you have Canadian citizenship.

[mwb970]

68. Good God, man, lighten UP.

It was a JOKE. Calm down. Move on.

[Vinca]

28. I guess that means we also have another Hispanic candidate on the GOP side since

JEB! checked that box on a form he filled out. It's much more likely terrorist Dear is an ignorant numbnuts who put an "X" in the wrong box. As for being leftist, that's a real stretch. I haven't run into any lefties trying to close Planned Parenthood.

[marble falls]

30. Cruz has a point: don't most men self identifying as women wear full beards? Cruz is just one of....

many reasons I'm leaving Texas. Cruz self identifies as human, but not very well.

[Javaman]

31. he had to make sure he hit all the hot points in his right wing rhetoric.

moron.

[sinkingfeeling]

32. I'm starting a new story: Ted Cruz was born a girl and it's on his Canadian birth certificate. Prove

me wrong, Ted!

[Vogon_Glory]

34. The People Who Put Ted Cruz In The US Senate Showed A Serious Lapse Of Judgement

The people who went to the polls and voted for Ted Cruz showed a serious lapse of judgment. It was clear from the time of the 2012 Texas Republican primaries that Ted Cruz was way out there, and there was no reason to believe otherwise when the time came to vote in the fall of 2012.

The voters of Texas replaced Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican who would vote at least once in a while for the interests of the people of Texas, despite her being a right-wing Republican, with an ideologue whose rhetoric and actions appear increasingly detached from the real world.

I voted for Democrat Paul Sadler in 2012, and despite the fact he probably wouldn't have passed the ideological purity tests of DU's more leftish members, Mr. Sadler would have been a far better representative of the people of Texas and a far better guardian of the interests of the people of Texas than the grandstanding ideologue that ideologues and lazy-minded Texas voters elected in 2012.

[LynneSin]

43. They didn't show a lapse in judgment....

I had a lapse in judgement buying jeans online remembering that times have changed over the decade and skinny jeans are all the rage now. At least I can return them.

The people who voted for Cruz knew what they were getting! They were so afraid of losing their guns and their very warped version of God that they were willing to vote against their best interest in things like good-paying jobs and affordable healthcare.

[tclambert]

36. Ted Cruz said it, so the news media will report he said it, and his followers will believe it.

Who will call him on his bull shit? Only liberal fact-checkers. You know how you can tell they're liberal? Because they're fact-checkers. Only liberals bother to check facts.

By the way, why does Robert Lewis Dear look so surprised in his mug shot?

[George II]

41. Holy crap, is Cruz for real???

[LynneSin]

42. If that person is trying to be a transgender female then that's an epic fail....

The beard should be a dead giveaway that Ted Cruz is full of shit.

[Angry Dragon]

44. he is a white christian republican terrorist brought to you by the republican party

[niyad]

46. but the pukes are not sane

[niyad]

47. dear goddess, PLEASE tell me that this is really from the Onion

[Steviehh]

49. ‘Transgendered Leftist Activist'

And a Democrat. LOL LOL LOL.

[GOLGO 13]

50. So they don't want to claim their Christian, Far-Right Avenging Rapist?

Not proud of their Christian Death Cult Super-hero are they?

[Blue Owl]

51. Ted. Fucking. Cruz.

[kiva]

52. I wonder if this started with the erroneous geneology info?

A day or so after the shootings someone posted here that there was what looked like official state records that listed Dear as female on the birth certificate. It only took a few minutes for another DUer to note that the website wasn't a state site but instead a genealogy website where someone had apparently made a typo while entering information...of course DUers are much smarter that Cruz, but wouldn't you think he'd have figured it out by now?

[MosheFeingold]

62. Apparently the issue was

At the state DMV and voter registration, both of which listed this guy as a woman, for reasons unknown, presumably a typo.

[kiva]

63. That's just weird.

Thanks for the info

[Zorra]

64. Yes. "Although Dear clearly identified himself as a man, the information was incorrectly

logged into a computer, Parsell added."

Records show Dear traveled 65 miles to a Colorado Springs clerk and recorder's office to obtain his driver's license and his voter's registration card, Parsell said.

Although Dear clearly identified himself as a man, the information was incorrectly logged into a computer, Parsell added.

"Our employee inadvertently clicked on 'female' and gave the confirmation to Mr. Dear to review," he said. "He missed it and signed it."

Thirteen days later, Dear received the erroneous driver's license in the mail. Records show he traveled to a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Salida to report the error and request a corrected license, which he received, Parsell said.

http://gazette.com/clerical-glitch-causes-speculation-about-colorado-springs-shooting-suspects-gender-identity/article/1564656

[tabasco]

67. Cruz will call the SB shooter(s)

"Obama loving liberal homosexual atheist hippies!"