WASHINGTON, April 29 (UPI) — A day after former House Speaker John Boehner interjected himself into the Republican presidential primary by calling Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh” and “a miserable son of a bitch,” the Cruz camp hit back and party leaders issued another plea to keep things civil.
Carly Fiorina, who this week accepted Cruz’s invitation to be his running mate should he win the nomination, took on the role of attack dog against Boehner for his remarks, saying he was a failure as speaker.
“John Boehner lost his speakership because he accomplished nothing with a Republican-led majority in the House,” Fiorina said.
She also criticized front-runner Donald Trump for diminishing the campaign discourse with personal attacks, linking Boehner’s comments to past Trump insults.
“Those comments were completely inappropriate,” she said of Boehner. “I think Donald Trump has reduced the tone of this campaign for too many people.”
“When I say that Donald Trump is the system — [and] he will not challenge the system — all you need to know is that Donald Trump is ‘golfing’ and ‘texting buddies’ with John Boehner. I rest my case.”
The latest dust-up on the Republican side prompted Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus to call on all candidates to halt the personal attacks.
“Look, I happen to believe that God gave us a voice to honor ourselves and honor God, so I’ve been saying for months that people ought to remember that before they start making comments that are out of line and just watch what you say and remember that we are here to honor each other and ourselves,” he said.
“This is about our country. It’s about the place that we love. It’s not about the individual or the party; it’s about our future.”
