There are photo-ops, and then there are photo-ops. For the liberal media, the bad ones are those staged by Republicans. The good ones are those orchestrated by Democrats!
Take Mika Brzezinski on today's Morning Joe, tearing into Ted Cruz for posting photos of himself handing out water to victims of the Texas freeze and power-and-water outages. This coming after what Cruz has admitted was a mistake in traveling to Cancun during the crisis.
"Now, the senator seemingly in damage-control mode after rushing back and posting photos over the weekend of himself loading water into Texans' cars with the hashtag #TexasStrong," she noted. "Are you kidding me? Many online criticized the move as simply a photo-op. Obviously it is."
Of course, some photo-ops were much more sincere. "Meanwhile Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- from New York -- and Beto O'Rourke, who currently does not even hold public office in Texas, amassed $5 million in total so far to help struggling Texans."
Mika said Cruz was "very Trumpian," and asked Michael Steele about Cruz's political demise. "I've heard of senators being brought down for different things. This is about as much close as you get to dereliction of duty. Will he skate?"
And when Dr. Jill Biden staged a gooey Valentine's Day photo-op on the White House lawn that featured not only big hearts, but also the Bidens' two dogs, the liberal media did nothing but gush over it, as NBC News did here.
Mika also cited the "many online" criticizing Cruz. Shades of the "some say" that Katie Couric made famous and has since been adopted across the MSM to work in a shot at Republicans and conservatives.
What's fascinating is trying to find a Mika Brzezinski "photo op" performing acts of charity. We Google-searched for images under "Mika Brzezinski charity work," "Mika Brzezinski food bank," and "Mika Brzezinski homeless" and came up empty.
A bit later, the show offered up another example of how, in the eyes of the liberal media, scandals are always worse for Republicans than for Democrats. When Joe Scarborough asked John Heilemann how bad things currently are for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Heilemann responded that they were "pretty bad"—but not as bad as they are for Cruz.
Let's review: Cuomo forced COVID-infected seniors into nursing homes, resulting in thousands of additional deaths. Then he threatened to destroy an assemblyman unless he lied about the Cuomo administration covering up the number of deaths.
But that's not as bad as Ted Cruz taking his family to Cancun. Gotcha!
Morning Joe ripping Ted Cruz for a photo-op while ignoring AOC traveling to Texas to stage her own was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual, Humira, GMC, Sandals, and Allegra.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Morning Joe
2/22/21
6:09 am ETMIKA BRZEZINSKI: Well, speaking of leadership, Ted Cruz, when his house was freezing, just like the people who died, a woman who was found in her backyard, the man who was found in his house, the little boy who died in his home, Ted Cruz left his freezing house and went to Cancun.
Now, the senator seemingly in damage-control mode after rushing back and posting photos over the weekend of himself loading water into Texans' cars with the hashtag #TexasStrong. Are you kidding me? Many online criticized the move as simply a photo-op. Obviously it is. He wasn't planning on being there. He was going to be on the beach with his family. With some pointing out that the senator broke quarantine protocol after traveling international....
Meanwhile Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- from New York -- and Beto O'Rourke, who currently does not even hold public office in Texas, amassed $5 million in total so far to help struggling Texans.
. . .
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So, John Heilemann, there's an article that posted in the New York Times this morning, 3:00 am. Headline: "Can Andrew Cuomo's bullying style still work in politics?" . . . And I'm just curious, how bad are things right now for the New York governor?
JOHN HEILEMANN: Uh, pretty bad, Joe. I mean, I think, if you rank them on the scale of, are they as bad as they are for Ted Cruz, the answer would probably be no.
