Longtime journalist and MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell was so eager to dunk on Republican Senator Ted Cruz Wednesday with her literary knowledge, that she didn’t even bother doing a basic Google search to see if she was right before tweeting.
Mitchell was responding to what Cruz said on Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom. He had quoted Shakespeare to explain the impeachment trial: "It's reminiscent of Shakespeare [in] that it is full of sound and fury, and yet signifying nothing," which is a famous passage from Macbeth.
But Mitchell felt the need to school Cruz on Twitter with this snarky comment: "Ted Cruz says Impeachment Trial is like Shakespeare full of sound and fury signifying nothing. No, that's Faulkner."
.@SenTedCruz says #ImpeachmentTrial is like Shakespeare full of sound and fury signifying nothing. No, that’s Faulkner
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) February 10, 2021
Her catty attempt to dunk on the Republican backfired spectacularly, with several users pointing out Cruz was quoting a Shakespearean passage, not the Faulkner book title. She apologized shortly afterwards with: "I clearly studied too much American literature and not enough Macbeth. My apologies to Sen. Cruz."
I clearly studied too much American literature and not enough Macbeth. My apologies to Sen. Cruz.
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) February 11, 2021
But not before other journalists like Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post also ignorantly mocked Cruz:
and it says volumes about his lack of soul. That's Any Thinking Person.
— Jennifer 'America is Back' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) February 10, 2021
But Cruz himself teased Mitchell by responding, "Methinks she doth protest too much," and the Macbeth passage in question:
Methinks she doth protest too much.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 11, 2021
One would think NBC would know the Bard. Andrea, take a look at Macbeth act 5, scene 5:
“[Life] struts & frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound & fury,
Signifying nothing.” pic.twitter.com/3GbvoLSJTh
He followed up by mocking the two media outlets: "Between NBC & the Washington Post, you’d think somebody would have read Macbeth."
