Posted on 03/26/2016 2:49:48 PM PDT by Kaslin
On Saturday, all three broadcast morning news shows talked about the National Enquirer allegations against GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz, allegations for which there is still no on-the-record source or any other supporting evidence.
CBS, which took the high road and skipped the tawdry allegations on Friday’s Evening News, this morning offered a 68-second item read by CBS This Morning: Saturday co-anchor Anthony Mason, which cast the matter as a “he said, he said,” between the two candidates.
ABC’s Good Morning America offered a full report from weekend political correspondent Devin Dwyer, in which Dwyer unfortunately cast both Cruz and Trump as guilty of soiling the campaign discourse: “On one of the most solemn days of the year for Christians, Good Friday, the Republican frontrunners descended into a battle over sleaze,” Dwyer fretted.
As she did on Friday’s Nightly News, NBC correspondent Hallie Jackson was the most thorough in explaining the many reasons to doubt the Enquirer story, listing the tabloid’s past boosting of Trump and the categorical denials of two of the women linked to Cruz in the story.
Unlike Friday, however, none of the networks on Saturday morning talked about the role of onetime Trump aide Roger Stone in promoting the Enquirer story to the media, although NBC’s Jackson showed viewers the spectacle of pro-Trump journalist Adriana Cohen hijacking a CNN interview on Friday to smear Cruz supporter Amanda Carpenter as a way to force the media to pay attention to the story.
Given that the Cruz story falls far below the normal journalistic threshold for covering such sensational claims, the only fair way to discuss it at all is to point out the evidence that it is, in all likelihood, part of a smear campaign from a political rival. NBC’s Jackson accomplished this in her report, but ABC and CBS limited themselves to merely running Cruz’s own condemnation of the story, juxtaposed with Trump’s Facebook declaration that he had nothing to do with it.
ABC’s premise that both “Republican frontrunners” had “descended into a battle over sleaze” does a disservice to Cruz, since Cruz — unlike Trump — did not attack his rival’s wife, while his attacks on Trump as “Sleazy Donald” are a reaction to what is by all journalist norms a false story being forced onto the national media by Trump supporters such as Adriana Cohen and Roger Stone.
ABC Scolds Both Cruz and Trump After Tabloid Smear
Here’s a bit more of how each of the three networks covered the Cruz story on Saturday morning:
CBS This Morning: Saturday:
ANTHONY MASON: The battle between Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz is escalating, fresh off their heated back and forth about each other's wives. Cruz spent much of Good Friday responding to a tabloid article that claimed he cheated on his wife.
[Followed by a clip of Cruz and reading of Trump’s Facebook statement]
ABC’s Good Morning America
DAN HARRIS: Back home now where the Republican race for the White House has become really a race to the bottom. Ted Cruz is now accusing Donald Trump of planting a very personal and potentially damaging story about him in a supermarket tabloid, with the candidates' wives at the center of an increasingly nasty fight We get the latest now from ABC's Devin Dwyer who is at the white house. Devon, good morning to you.
DEVIN DWYER: Yeah, good morning, Dan. You know, on one of the most solemn days of the year for Christians, Good Friday, the Republican front-runners descended into a battle over sleaze....This morning, explosive allegations from Senator Ted Cruz against Donald Trump — Cruz accusing Trump of planting a story in the National Enquirer, which claims political operatives are looking into rumors that Cruz had multiple marital infidelities....
NBC’s Today
HALLIE JACKSON: ...Arguing it’s tabloid trash, a furious Ted Cruz is firing back at the National Enquirer, denying its story claiming he had extramarital affairs.
SENATOR TED CRUZ: Let me be clear, this National Enquirer story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear, and it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen.
JACKSON: Trump, who’s been endorsed by the Enquirer and wrote an op-ed in its pages, says in a statement, quote, “I had absolutely nothing to do with the story,” adding he also has “nothing to do with the paper,” again calling Cruz, “Lyin’ Ted.” Cruz creating his own nickname for his rival.
CRUZ: With this pattern, he should not be surprised to see people calling him “Sleazy Donald.”
JACKSON: All of it spilling over into a tense exchange on live TV between a Trump supporter and a Cruz backer.
Columnist ADRIANA COHEN (on CNN): Where we should move to is the National Enquirer story that has reported that Ted Cruz has allegedly had affairs with at least five mistresses, including — you’ve been named, Amanda.
Cruz spokeswoman AMANDA CARPENTER (on CNN): What’s out there is tabloid trash. If someone wants to comment on it, they should talk to my lawyer. It is categorically false.
JACKSON: Another woman who’s been the subject of speculation, a former Cruz ally and current Trump spokesperson, tweeting, “of course the National Enquirer story is 100% FALSE!!!”...
Cruz is a real conservative? Who knew? He’s anything but - he has fooled many, many people, one of which is you.
Wasn’t Cruz’s name mentioned in the ad?
They go public Cruz is done.
Birds of a feather
what an embarrassment and circus this primary is turning into.
just like reality tv.
I have to ask who stands to gain from all of this? Not these two candidates. This was deliberately started to stir up trouble between them. Somewhere, 3rd parties are backslapping and congratulating each other. It doesn’t take a stretch to figure out who. GOPe operatives.
This whole election has gone to hell and a hand basket. One big laughing joke while the muzzies rearm and aim
Yup
I love it!!!!!!!!!!!
It is a sad day in America when Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders look more presidential than Trump and Cruz.
Yep. The ad said “vote for Ted Cruz”.
But in lawyer-speak, I guess that is the same as having “nothing to do with Cruz”. :/
Cruz needs to COME CLEAN here...and hope for the best.
You knew before posting Trump had nothing to do with the Cuban Mistress crisis. you also knew it was the Rubio Camp set it up and was shopping it. You also knew the entire blame Trump strategy came out of the Cruz camp planning sessions long before the story broke and was set up by the Campaign manager buying the license to use the GQ photo of Mrs trump for professional purposes as part of the set up.
To continue posting your deceptive unfounded attacks on Trump and his supporters over the Cuban Mistress Crisis is dishonest and not what good people do.
Except... They very same ad said -— VOTE FOR TED CRUZ!
But nothing to do with Cruz. Yeah, right.
So the ad said, "Vote Kasich" or the ad said, "Vote Cruz"?
You're being absurd.
Look at it this way, at least BusTed is getting all that free media he's been snarking about...
“The anti-Trump, pro-Cruz PAC fired the opening round and I believe it was done in Cruz’s name whether he approved it or not”
Two of the women in these scandals have links to Cruz. Amanda Carpenter and Liz Mair. Plus the $500K to the Fiorina campaign. I expect more to come out this week. Drip, drip, drip.
I don't believe this story about Ted, but I think he should have put out a statement on twitter and let it go. His doing a full press conference just kept the sleaze going for days.
ROFL @ #BangOfEight
Stupid. You are BS.
I have to ask who stands to gain from all of this? Not these two candidates. This was deliberately started to stir up trouble between them. Somewhere, 3rd parties are backslapping and congratulating each other. It doesn’t take a stretch to figure out who. GOPe operatives.
If it was a plan by GOPe operatives, it appears to be working very well.
The reality is, the GOPe does not want Trump or Cruz. They wanted Jeb. Next is Kascich. That way, win or lose, their power isn’t threatened.
It’s just the way humans are. We love power and we don’t give if up easily. We had to shoot other English speaking redcoats to gain independence
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