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The mainstream media has a serious Ted Cruz problem
Hot Air ^ | April 3, 2015 | Jazz Shaw

Posted on 04/03/2015 12:22:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Following a recent round of PPP polling which showed Texas Senator Ted Cruz firmly in the top tier of GOP presidential candidates, Allahpundit provided a lengthy and well thought out analysis of how real and durable these numbers might be. (Short version: don’t expect him to fall out of the upper ranks just because more people officially get into the race.) It’s true that Cruz saw a bump from his official announcement, but the renewed and increased media attention he’s been receiving has expanded his name recognition, and with it his potential donor pool. Liberals have predicted – in a hopeful fashion – that with a bit more scrutiny, Ted Cruz would flame out. The new reality is that they, along with their celebrity spokesmodels on cable news, are beginning to realize that they have a serious problem.

In the beginning of Cruz’s journey onto the national stage, I fully confess that I fell rather easily into the narrative which the Texas Democrats had been pushing out to the national press. All I really knew was that he was engaged in a contentious primary against an establishment figure in the Lone Star State and he was the Tea Party favorite. No matter who won that race, they would be the next senator so it really didn’t grab my attention. But the storyline being pitched was a common one: Ted Cruz was one of those crazy guys.

Even after he won his seat, the media was keeping up the drumbeat, frequently abetted by senior members of his own party. (Wacko Birds, anyone?) But long before it was certain that Cruz might run for the White House, he began defying the narrative media formula. Those of us who didn’t know him were expecting the avalanche of stories which would erode his status as a serious politician. The problem is, they didn’t happen. Where were the “gaffes” we were all promised? He was supposed to come out and immediately begin screaming about the President being from Kenya, saying that women should enjoy being raped and calling for the South to secede again.

Unfortunately for the cable news talking heads, it never happened. Cruz staked out a number of domestic and foreign policy issues and began beating the drum with his own proposals for how to meet those challenges. The media seemed to shoot themselves in the foot by tripping over each other to give the Senator air time, waiting for the expected crazy to emerge. There were times when his tactics were fairly brought under scrutiny, such as his approach to the budget battles / government shutdown situation, but that was a difference in opinion on legislative strategy, not the hoped for wild man moments. In the end, all they came up with was a recitation of a Dr. Seuss book during a filibuster, but anyone who looked briefly beyond the dishonestly edited clips on TV saw that it was actually a short message to beloved children. Not exactly the stuff of which career crashes are made.

Slowly but surely, Cruz began winning over some of the more open minded and scaring those who would like to see him fail. After a rather epic battle with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski over the letter to Iran, the panel began discussing Cruz’s viability. The all too predictable Donny Deutsch tried to immediately dismiss him as a joke, calling him “the Sarah Palin of this election.” But Mika had talked to Cruz a few times by then and was forced to take the counter argument.

“Character. Exactly,” Deutsch replied. “There’s no such thing as climate change… basically his first few years in the Senate is basically no legislation, this is a complete obstructionist, this is not what this country is all about. You’ve done nothing but run for president. I find him offensive. I find him completely against the grain of where this country wants to go.”

Brzezinski replied, “I wouldn’t underestimate him. I think he’s really really smart,” before adding, “I don’t agree with a single thing he says.”

Mika wasn’t the only one. Cruz has not shied away from the press one bit, no matter how much of a lion’s den he’s entering. Rather than hiding out and only doing shows on Fox News, he’s taken the battle into the enemy camp. And so far, as near as I can tell, nobody has landed a glove on him in a significant way. Now he’s moved up into the front runner category, and the press is beside itself.

What can one do about Ted Cruz if he stubbornly refuses to implode? Stay tuned. I’m starting to think that this race is going to be a lot more interesting than I originally suspected.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cruz; media; msm; polls; tedcruz
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1 posted on 04/03/2015 12:22:12 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet


The Cruz family looks like a traditional American family
MSM HATES that
2 posted on 04/03/2015 12:28:47 PM PDT by BigEdLB (We're experienceing the rule of a Roman Emperor, Barack I)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

MSM, and the Establishment Republicans can go pound sand. We’re here, we ain’t queer, and we ain’t going away!


3 posted on 04/03/2015 12:30:49 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: stephenjohnbanker

The League of Latin American Voters and LA RAZA must be tickled pink that a REAL Hispanic has risen to the top.


4 posted on 04/03/2015 12:34:19 PM PDT by rovenstinez
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The mainstream media has a serious Ted Cruz problem


DUH!..


5 posted on 04/03/2015 12:34:58 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole..)
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To: stephenjohnbanker

Cheers to the “Wacko Bird” party. LOL


6 posted on 04/03/2015 12:35:01 PM PDT by right way right
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To: SoConPubbie

Go Ted go! This just gets better and better. Bunch of FReepers here are with you all the way.

FINALLY - a Conservative with enough smarts and cojones to make the lame streamers wake up. FINALLY!

Ping.


7 posted on 04/03/2015 12:35:45 PM PDT by upchuck (The current Federal Governent is what the Founding Fathers tried to prevent. WAKE UP!! Amendment V.)
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To: lonevoice

Shaking in their boots, they are. Time to send more money to help Cruz win the White House in 2016.


8 posted on 04/03/2015 12:37:18 PM PDT by Pride in the USA
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To: right way right
The Wacko Bird Party


9 posted on 04/03/2015 12:38:07 PM PDT by Slyfox (I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Go Cruz Go.


10 posted on 04/03/2015 12:39:32 PM PDT by IC Ken
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I had the great honor of meeting Ted Cruz and hearing him speak several times during his Senate election campaign.
Ted Cruz is without a doubt the most intelligent conservative politician of this generation. He is proudly conservative and has the ability to eloquently articulate exactly why he is. This is what scares the Democrats to death.

If Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton each get their party’s nomination, the presidential debates will be the highlight of the year. It will be like a debate between Thomas Jefferson and an old, socialist, female version of Daffy Duck.


11 posted on 04/03/2015 12:53:34 PM PDT by Bubba_Leroy (The Obamanation Continues)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I too was waiting for that gotcha moment the press always has but Ted has deflected them without a sweat. I really like this guy and if he can keep up the smart intelligent answers, he’s my man.


12 posted on 04/03/2015 12:54:57 PM PDT by lucky american (Progressives are attacking our rights and y'all will sit there and take it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The Mainstream Media has a very serious problem, and it is not limited to their hysterical reaction to Ted Cruz's candidacy. They have long exhibited an intellectual level that would be a joke at any earlier period in American history. Nothing better reflects the "dumbing down" of Western Education in the verbal arts, than our "Mainstream Media."

They are a major cultural embarrassment.

13 posted on 04/03/2015 12:59:42 PM PDT by Ohioan
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To: Bubba_Leroy
If Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton each get their party’s nomination, the presidential debates will be the highlight of the year. It will be like a debate between Thomas Jefferson and an old, socialist, female version of Daffy Duck.

You have got that about right. And the really revealing thing about that farce, will be that the Media will largely report that Hillary got the best of it. I can tell you some funny stories about just how "perceptive," some of the self-imagined pundits really are.

14 posted on 04/03/2015 1:05:39 PM PDT by Ohioan
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
They have a big problem, all right. They can't figure out how to deal with an unabashed Conservative with credentials most on the Left wish they could get, especially the excellence at Harvard Law School, arguably the most prestigious law school in the USA.
15 posted on 04/03/2015 1:08:07 PM PDT by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’ve already written 2 checks to his campaign. Now where can I get a Ted Cruz 2016 bumper magnet?


16 posted on 04/03/2015 1:12:44 PM PDT by BlueStateRightist (Government is best which governs least.)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

“If Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton each get their party’s nomination, the presidential debates will be the highlight of the year. It will be like a debate between Thomas Jefferson and an old, socialist, female version of Daffy Duck.”

Apt analogy, Bubba. Good work.


17 posted on 04/03/2015 1:13:19 PM PDT by SharpRightTurn (White, black, and red all over--America's affirmative action, metrosexual president.)
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To: Ohioan

Because they are pretty much in echo chambers, what would you expect?


18 posted on 04/03/2015 1:16:00 PM PDT by Morpheus2009
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I find him completely against the grain of where this country wants to go.

Hilarious - "everyone wants what I want".

What a Deutschbag.

19 posted on 04/03/2015 1:25:00 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: Bubba_Leroy
If Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton each get their party’s nomination, the presidential debates will be the highlight of the year.

He'd better tread carefully - if Ted so much as opens his mouth to respond to a Hillary charge the feminists, amplified to deafening by the MSM, will be screaming about what a bully he is for attacking a female.

I HOPE most women will not buy it this time.

20 posted on 04/03/2015 1:28:23 PM PDT by skeeter
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