Rubio campaign cries foul over last-minute Cruz mailer

(www.therealrubiorecord.com/)

In the run-up to Saturday’s heated South Carolina primary battle, the campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz sent out controversial mailers attacking rival Sen. Marco Rubio by showing the Florida senator’s face morphing into that of President Obama.

The mailers rip Rubio over his record on trade and immigration, suggesting it is indistinguishable from that of Obama’s. “The Rubio-Obama Trade Pact,” is the headline on the mailer.

But the provocative half Rubio-half Obama photo image drew a strong reaction on Twitter Saturday with some suggesting it was racially tinged. “Okay, is it just me or did they darken the ‘Rubio’ side, a la Time and O.J. Simpson?” wrote one poster, in a reference to a famous 1994 Time magazine cover in which a mug shot of O.J. Simpson was darkened.

Others noted that the morphed image is reproduced on the same Cruz campaign website — www.therealrubiorecord.com — that also contained a Photoshopped image of a smiling Rubio shaking hands with Obama. (The image has since been removed.)


Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said any suggestion that the mailer had a racial tinge was “baloney” and said such photos morphing two faces together were commonplace in political campaigns.

“The image makes the point that if you like Barack Obama’s trade policy, you’ll like Marco Rubio’s because they are same,” said Tyler. “That is all the image is meant to convey.”

The mailer asserts that Rubio “rallied for Obama’s executive authority” for the TPP trade deal and cast a deciding vote “fast-tracking three highly secretive trade deals negotiated by Obama and encouraging corrupt, backroom deals.”

The Rubio campaign, sticking to the substance of the mailer, cried foul, noting that Cruz in the past has supported free trade.

“Proving that he will say or do anything to win an election, Senator Cruz is actually attacking someone for holding the same position he held and making the exact same vote he did,” said Rubio campaign spokesman Joe Pounder.

“Senator Cruz is the only candidate in the race who authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal with Paul Ryan supporting Trade Promotion Authority. Senator Cruz can’t lie enough to cover up this record.”