President Trump and his supporters complain that no matter what he said about the riot in Charlottesville, his critics will never be satisfied. Some truth exists surrounding this complaint, as exemplified by an exchange between a New York Times Reporter and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. When the exchange was over, the varsity debater and Harvard law grad from Texas had the advantage.
Cruz and Rubio condemned the white supremacists in Charlottesville.
As the smoke began to clear in Charlottesville, with the injured being treated, the dead mourned, and fingers being pointed, Cruz stated his condemnation of what happened and who caused it.
“The Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists are repulsive and evil.” The senator went on to call for a Justice Department civil rights investigation into the matter. Subsequently, the department duly opened an investigation. Sen. Marco Rubio offered similar sentiments.
Eric Lipton apologizes for being cynical
Cruz’s and Rubio’s statements elicited a snarky response from Eric Lipton, a New York Times reporter. He tweeted, “Sorry to be cynical, but most of all Rubio and Ted Cruz to me seem mostly to be doing a tremendous job of posturing for 2020.” There is no evidence that either Rubio or Cruz are planning presidential runs in 2020, which would likely involve them going up against President Trump.
In any case, the tweet was heavy with the implication that the two Republican senators were feigning outrage they did not really feel for political reasons. Lipton was not able to criticize the two senators for being insufficiently outraged, however.
Cruz responds as only he can
Senator Cruz offered the following tweet in response, “Gosh, you're right.
Because Nazis & the Klan have such love for Cuban-Americans. If only we worked for a paper that shilled for Stalin.” He linked to material about Walter Duranty, a New York Times reporter who send glowing articles about Stalin’s Russia in the 1930s, failing to mention the Soviet dictator’s mass murders and various other crimes against humanity.
Duranty won a Pulitzer for what was an early example of “fake news.” Every once in a while the suggestion is mounted to strip Duranty of his ill-gotten award but thus far to no avail.
The tendency of the New York Times to gloss over the evils of Soviet communism has never entirely died. The newspaper recently published a story that suggested that women behind the Iron Curtain enjoyed better sex than their sisters in the free world, having twice as many orgasms. The bizarre claim has earned lots of mockery on social media.
The exchange proves a couple of things. The first is that the press doesn’t care what Republicans have to say about events like Charlottesville. GOP politicians will get slammed regardless what they say. The second is that one gets into as battle of wits with Ted Cruz at one's peril.
