When asked yesterday about reports that the shooter who killed three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs said “no more baby parts” to law enforcement officers, Ted Cruz said that he read reports that the shooter was actually “a transgendered leftist activist,” while graciously adding that he wouldn’t blame the “rhetoric of the left” for the attack.
Unsurprisingly, according to a campaign spokesman, Cruz found his information about the shooter’s political and gender identity on a right-wing blog.
Far-right outlets such as The Gateway Pundit, Young Conservatives and WorldNetDaily have been implying that what appears to be a typo on the attacker’s voter registration form may mean that he in fact identified as a woman. Cruz’s campaign spokesman cited a blog post on The Right Scoop by a blogger named “soopermexican,” titled “WAS THE COLORADO SHOOTER A TRANSGENDER PERSON?!?!”
American Family Radio host Bryan Fischer also suggested that a webpage typo was proof that “low info media narrative collapses”:
Low info media narrative collapses. CO shooter not a Republican, registered to vote as a female. https://t.co/58Lw5QWzZv
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanJFischer) November 28, 2015
None of these posts, however, suggested that the shooter was a “leftist,” which seems to be a unique Cruz creation. Family members and friends described the shooter as a conservative who abhorred President Obama.
Cruz seems to be doing whatever it takes to make sure people don’t see an attack on Planned Parenthood, one of several attacks that occurred this year, as an attack on Planned Parenthood.
