Mainstream Media Gang Up on Ted Cruz

The latest target of the news and entertainment media’s poison arrows is Sen. Ted Cruz.

 

The mainstream news media have joined forces with entertainment shows in a multi-pronged attack on Cruz that is reminiscent of the treatment meted out to former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

 

The tactics being employed by the mainstream news media in attacking Cruz were exemplified by ABC News as it conducted the first interview with the Texas senator since the partial government shutdown came to an end.

 

Prior to its airing, Jonathan Karl promoted the Cruz interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” as the “Ted Cruz shutdown,” and GMA co-host and Democrat Party operative George Stephanopoulos hyped the segment as a “contentious and defiant interview.”

 

During the actual interview with the senator, which aired on the ABC Sunday show “This Week,” Karl showed his hand with the face-to-face setup of Cruz. Karl unleashed the following fallacy-laden statement: “People hated this shutdown. They hated this impasse. And this was seen as the Ted Cruz shutdown.”

 

The so-called journalist declared to Cruz, “You more than any single individual were seen as the one that triggered this crisis to begin with,” and continued with his loaded questioning by asking, “How much do your colleagues just despise you right now?”

 

On an equally left-tilted mainstream media Sunday show, CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank snidely characterized Cruz as “a complete phony” who is just riding the tea party to get “really famous.”

 

Liberal cable news networks quickly jumped on the Cruz-bashing bandwagon. In a recent interview with Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, CNN's Piers Morgan pointed the finger of blame at Cruz for the nation’s woes and stated, “He thinks that getting the shutdown was good business for Ted Cruz, Incorporated.”

 

Morgan’s offensive remark was followed by the question, “What are you going to do about this young renegade who doesn't really care about being reasonable?”

 

Morgan had more questions that were phrased as if they were meant to plant nefarious seeds and in the process enlist others in the attack on the senator, including “What about unleashing your new attack dog, Cory Booker?” and “What about putting him [Booker] on Cruz point man to point man?”

 

On the entertainment media front, NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” which incidentally out of all the media carried out the most virulent attack on Palin’s reputation both during and after the 2012 election, targeted Cruz over the partial government shutdown.

 

During a SNL Weekend Update segment, Seth Meyers farcically reported that “Ted Cruz promised to fight even harder to keep the government shut down,” which induced Kenan Thompson, who was portraying an SNL version of Chaplain of the U.S. Senate Barry Black, to grab Meyers’ hand to pray with him.

 

“Lord, bless and forgive these braying jackasses,” the chaplain character said, a coarse reference to Cruz and his congressional allies.

 

The chaplain character continued, “. . . lest they do something that makes people want to pin them on the floor, shove a sweaty sock in their mouths, and then whoop 'em up and down with a pillowcase full of Skittles . . . May they find themselves in a restroom stall devoid of toilet paper, with nothing to use but a receipt from CVS in their wallet.”

 

After the overt display of broadcast malpractice, particularly on the part of the mainstream news media, perhaps the professionals involved might consider reporting on some of the factual background of Cruz.

 

Cruz’s resume contains a list of educational achievements and professional accomplishments of which few in our society could ever boast.

 

The senator graduated cum laude from Princeton University and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. As so many of the journalists who have tried to “cross-examine” him have discovered, he possesses superb debating skills and for such he has been widely recognized.

 

While at Princeton, he won the top speaker award at both the 1992 U.S. National Debating Championship and 1992 North American Debating Championship. He was also a semi-finalist at the 1995 World Universities Debating Championship.

 

While at Harvard Law School, Cruz was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, an executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review.

 

In the words of Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, Cruz is simply “off-the-charts brilliant.”

 

Cruz was the first Hispanic ever to clerk for a Chief Justice of the United States. Notably, he argued more cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any other current member of Congress.

 

In the late 1990s, a congressman needed to find a lawyer to represent him in a legal matter, which involved a congressman from an opposing party, Rep. Jim McDermott, and a tape recording of a conversation that was subsequently released.

 

The Ohio representative was none other than John Boehner, who of course ultimately rose up the ranks to become Speaker of the House.

 

Boehner was wise enough at the time to seek out the very best counsel he could ever hope to find. The attorney’s name was Ted Cruz.