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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, surrounded by family and friends, grins after winning his party's Texas presidential primary March 1, 2016 (Photo, Deborah Cannon, Austin American-Statesman).
Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, of late a presidential hopeful, has been entwined with the PoiltiFact Truth-O-Meter his entire short career of seeking and holding public office.
That is, PolitiFact first checked a claim by the Houston Republican way back when -- um, in late 2011 -- finding MOSTLY TRUE Cruz's claim that an opponent had skipped nine forums after announcing his Senate candidacy. Out of 10 forums, then-Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst hadn't made nine. But it seemed a mite questionable to say Dewhurst outright skipped the events. In most cases, his campaign said beforehand that Dewhurst wasn’t going to appear.
A few weeks later, in early 2012, Cruz landed his first PANTS ON FIRE rating for his incorrect and ridiculous claim that Barack Obama had opened his presidency with a worldwide apology tour. Obama did set a different course on foreign policy than his predecessor and his speeches contained criticisms of past U.S. actions. Yet we didn't spot apologies.
Skipping ahead: Most recently, PoiltiFact in Washington, D.C. gave Cruz a PANTS ON FIRE for his claim that Donald Trump had said in debate that "if you don’t support socialized health care, you’re heartless." Trump did not say those words, or words like them, in any recent debate. Rather, Trump talked up more competition among private insurance companies; he also said government should take care of those who can’t afford insurance.
There was a time in the past when Trump supported a single-payer health plan, but as of late February, there was no substance to Cruz’s claim.
Our Sources
See the PolitiFact report cards for Republican presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, John Kasich and Ben Carson.
See the PolitiFact report cards for Democratic aspirants Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
