Pols Hate Ted Cruz, Will That Hurt or Help Him

As Senator Ted Cruz has become a serious contender for the Republican presidential nominating contest, he's facing greater scrutiny and opposition. That's to be expected. Some of the opposition is fairly traditional. Iowa's governor just attacked Cruz for opposing ethanol subsidies. Cruz opposes the subsidies because he doesn't believe the federal government should be picking business winners and…
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CBS Hypes: Ted Cruz ‘Deeply Unpopular’ With GOP Leadership

On Monday’s CBS This Morning, while covering Ted Cruz’s rise in the polls, correspondent Nancy Cordes noted the Republican presidential candidate’s “outspoken opposition to ObamaCare and his willingness to take on both sides of the Washington establishment resonates with Iowa conservatives,” but warned: “That approach has made Cruz deeply unpopular with leaders in his own party, who worry that he…

Crunching the Numbers: What to Watch For at the Next GOP Debate

After a five-week hiatus, the Republican presidential candidates meet tomorrow night for their next prime time debate, moderated by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Based on how the various networks handled the first four debates, viewers of Tuesday's CNN debate should expect: 1) the questions will be aimed at getting the candidates to fight with one another; 2) Donald Trump will take more airtime than any of…
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Scarborough: Republicans Tell Me They'll Vote for Hillary Over Cruz

Joe Scarborough prefaced his remarks this morning by saying "this is the sort of thing that right-wing bloggers get very angry about."  So let's oblige him . . .  On Morning Joe, Scarborough said "I am shocked by how many Republicans, that have always voted Republican, that have said they're going to vote for Hillary if it's Cruz or Trump running against Hillary. I'm talking Deep South, Southern…
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Mauled in the Morning: GOP Candidates Hit from the Left

An MRC analysis of interviews from January 1 to December 4 finds the broadcast networks have pounded the candidates with a blizzard of hostile and left-wing questions.

See How NPR Hacks Up Testy Interview with Ted Cruz

NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep is a big fan of President Obama, and when he interviews him, he helpfully sets him up. In a recent interview on race relations, Inskeep added little prompts instead of questions. That’s not what Ted Cruz received on Wednesday’s show. Inskeep was blunt when discussing the new Trump idea of banning Muslims from entering America: "Which Muslims do you want to…
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Mournful Mika Wonders If Anyone Can Improve on Trump Muslim Ban

The last person you'd imagine backing Donald Trump's Muslim ban might be Mika Brzezinski. Yet on today's Morning Joe, a reluctant Mika came close to doing just that. Brzezinski springboarded off the news that the visa screening program failed to stop Tafsheen Malik from entering the country although she was already radicalized at the time. While professing her opposition to the plan, she called…

Daily Kos Writer: Cruz a Fitting Leader For a ‘Christian Caliphate’

In 2010, Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas published his book American Taliban, which detailed his belief that “fundamentalist Muslims [are] basically hard-right Christians…American [religious conservatives] may be more constrained by American society and laws than their Middle Eastern counterparts, but…their goals are the same.” This past weekend, one current and one former Daily Kos writer…

Salon Pundit: Has GOP Rhetoric Already Inspired a Terrorist Attack?

In a column posted last Monday, two days before the San Bernardino massacre, Heather Digby Parton warned of Americans with “violent desires” who might find “inspiration” to stage mass-casualty attacks not in jihadist propaganda, but in rhetoric used during “a Republican presidential debate.” Parton linked the fatal shootings at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs to remarks by GOP…
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NBC, CBS Promote NY Daily News's 'Terrorist' Smear of the NRA's CEO

Friday's NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News both spotlighted the New York Daily News's latest anti-conservative front page, which denigrated Wayne LaPierre of the NRA as a "terrorist." CBS's Nancy Cordes touted how "the always-heated gun debate has gotten personal. The New York Daily News...called the head of the National Rifle Association a 'terrorist.'" NBC's Hallie Jackson played up the…
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CNN Boosts NY Daily News's 'Provocative' Anti-Prayer Front Page

Three CNN programs on Wednesday night and Thursday morning promoted the anti-prayer front page of the New York Daily News: "God Isn't Fixing This." Unsurprisingly, pro-gun control anchor Carol Costello quoted from the liberal newspaper's headline and sub-headline on Thursday's CNN Newsroom: "It's gotten a lot of buzz this morning...It reads, 'God Isn't Fixing This,' and slams [Ted] Cruz and other…
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Behar On 'The View': The Bird Flu Is More Popular Than Ted Cruz

The View on Wednesday took issue at a recent video from Ted Cruz, in which he talks about encouraging staff using Star Wars voices. After the clip played, The View began a barrage of comedic jabs at Cruz’s expense. Michelle Collins began with “Did you see what a co-worker said?” Joy Behar interrupted Collins’ thought, saying “The bird flu is more popular than Ted Cruz.” Collins laughed at the…

WashPost 'Fact Checker' Hurls '4 Pinocchios' at Cruz -- Not Hillary

The Washington Post “Fact Checker” column is crying “pants on fire” or something like it against Ted Cruz. The unsubtle headline is “Ted Cruz’s Four-Pinocchio claim that ‘the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats’.” Cruz told radio host Hugh Hewitt there was a “simple and undeniable fact” that “the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats.” Claiming this was a…
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CNN's Louis: Ex-Convicts Are Dems Because Respect 'Human Rights'

Appearing as a guest on Tuesday's At This Hour with Berman and Bolduan, CNN political commentator Errol Louis dismissed GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz's assertion that Democrats are more likely to commit violent crimes than Republicans by theorizing that prison converts some GOPers into Democrats because, after spending time in prison, they become "a little bit more respectful toward civil…