Cruz Campaign Press Release - Gov. Rick Perry: Marco Rubio Employing Deceptive, Negative Tactics to Distract from His Record Supporting Liberal Issues

GREENVILLE, South Carolina – The Cruz for President campaign today released the following statement from former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has endorsed Cruz and is campaigning on his behalf in South Carolina:

"I've been traveling the beautiful state of South Carolina, campaigning for Ted Cruz to be our next president. He is a conservative of conviction, committed to his principles with a proven record of keeping his promises and leading fights on all of the issues important to conservatives across this country.

"While here I've also seen firsthand the deceptive, negative tactics being employed by the Rubio campaign and their allies to mislead voters on where Ted Cruz stands and to distract from Rubio's own problematic record of supporting liberal issues.

"The Rubio campaign has hypocritically and falsely accused the Cruz campaign of negative push polling, while at the same time hitting South Carolinians across the state with their own negative and inaccurate push polls against Cruz.

"The Rubio campaign has feigned outrage at a fake Facebook post that has no evidence of being connected to the Cruz campaign.

"The Rubio campaign is papering Cruz events with negative, misleading literature — even at rallies to honor our veterans, including my good friend Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer. It is insulting to those veterans who have bravely served our nation in combat.

"They are doing this because Sen. Rubio doesn't have anything positive to say about his own record. When the going gets tough in Washington, instead of fighting for conservatives, Marco turns tail and sides with the Democrats.

"Look at how he supported Hillary Clinton's policy to overthrow Gaddafi in Libya, which bred the instability that led to the Benghazi attack and subsequent takeover of Libya by radical Islamic terrorists.

"Look at how he supported the nomination of John Kerry as Secretary of State – who thanked Iran, the leading state sponsor of radical Islamic terror, when they captured and humiliated our Sailors.

"Look at how Rubio repeatedly attacked Cruz for not supporting the NDAA, yet was nowhere to be found when the bill was being debated in the Senate. Rubio skipped 18 NDAA votes so he could campaign for president.

"How can Americans trust that Marco Rubio will stand firm in his principles? They can't because he's never proven he will do so.

"Ted Cruz will care for our veterans, strengthen our military, keep our homeland safe, and restore America's strength on the international stage."