According to an actual participant in Good Morning America’s town hall with Ted Cruz last week, the participants were selected based on an apparent dislike of the conservative Republican. In contrast to the fawning town hall with Hillary Clinton, Cruz faced mostly hostile, tough questions.
Writing on the blog American Rattlesnake, Gerald Perry began, “I had the dubious honor of being invited to participate in Good Morning America’s first presidential town hall Monday morning, featuring Senator Cruz and his wife Heidi. Although I did not learn anything new, the experience did reaffirm some preexisting beliefs about both the news media-particularly, the way it frames narratives-as well as Ted Cruz, almost none of them flattering.”
He explained:
The trouble began with the first audience question, which was asked by an extraordinarily tall, dapper African-American gentleman, who prefaced it with the caveat that he was a former drug dealer/gang member who had, presumably, turned his life around by becoming a youth pastor. I later spotted some copies of his self-published memoir, which he had brought to what was undoubtedly an advantageous marketing opportunity for his business/church. He wanted to know what Senator Cruz would do about those dastardly southern gun dealers who were flooding his community with illegal firearms, relying upon talking points derived from the thoroughly discredited Bloombergian campaign ascribing violent crimes in this city to legal, constitutionally protected businesses.
Lest you think this an aberration, the next question, asked by a gay pizzeria owner, pertained to the recently enacted North Carolina law forbidding the use of certain restrooms by transgendered individuals. A law that, even using the loosest definition of that term, might impact a tenth of one percent of the population of that state-and very few registered Republicans. Granted, there are probably lingering pockets of Rockefeller/Lindsay Republicanism in this city-most likely in neighborhoods like the Silk Stocking District and the tonier parts of Brooklyn Heights, prime Kasich territory based upon last night’s primary results-but the opening sequence of this town hall would give you the impression that they formed the majority-or at the very least, a decisive plurality-of New York State Republicans.
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to believe that this message-broadcast to the rest of the country-was deliberate. Much like the Jeb Bush plant of Internet acclaim, these individuals were carefully vetted by Good Morning America’s producers before being selected to appear on national television. Just as I was vetted before my question-dealing with the negative impact H-1B visas have upon American workers-was rejected. Regardless of whether you are in favor of open borders or support constructive immigration enforcement, the idea that this issue is inconsequential-especially to Republican primary voters-is hard to countenance. However, if you’re a member of the mainstream media, the boutique concerns of leftist members of the press corps must always take precedence over those of conservative Republican voters-even if you are hosting an ostensibly Republican campaign forum.
As NewsBusters noted at the time, ABC strung together clips of Cruz’s opponents saying nasty things about him. As explained on American Rattlesnake, the GMA journalist also stacked the deck with hostile questioners.
In contrast, Stephanopoulos appeared baffled to why some would distrust Clinton. The bias even extended to...the weather report.
