The national media pounced on a delicious story alleging Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz terrified a 3-year-old girl at a New Hampshire speech with wild, over- the-top cries of, “The world is on fire!”
Gawker set the tone.
“‘The world is on fire?!’ Julie Trant shouts about 40 seconds into the clip embedded above. ‘YES! Your world is on fire,’ Cruz says in an arguably ineffective method of consoling a small child. ‘But you know what? Your mommy’s here, and everyone’s here to make sure the world you grow up in is even better!’ Hm,” Gawker blogger Alexander Chan wrote, signaling to fellow liberals they must point and giggle at Cruz.
Mediaite piled on: “During a pre-campaign stop at the Turbocam facility in New Hampshire Sunday, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) finally got someone to take his warnings about the Obama administration’s foreign policy seriously: a three- year-old girl.” (They published a more fair-minded follow-up.)
“Ted Cruz scares the hell out of a terrified little girl in New Hampshire,” Raw Story “reported” breathlessly, accusing Cruz of doing damage control.
The New York Daily News glommed off Raw Story: “The little girl was far too young to cast a ballot, but she was old enough to be scared by Sen. Ted Cruz’s fiery rhetoric,” their cutesy lede reads.
“Ted Cruz’s New Campaign Strategy: Scare Tiny Children!” squeals New York Magazine, calling Cruz a “spittle-spewing angry monster.” (Would they use the same phrase to describe Hillary Clinton at her last press conference? Rhetorical.)
“Ted Cruz has taken fear-mongering to the next level,” a concern troll at the Daily Dot snarks. Cruz is guilty of leaving a toddler “permanently scarred.”
All this from a sober Washington Post article from a reporter trailing Cruz as he gave routine pitches to Republican grassroots. So, what actually happened?
At one point, Cruz spoke about the “Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind,” and said the world is on fire. A young girl in the crowd immediately said aloud, “The world is on fire?” Cruz looked at the girl, Julie Trant, 3, who was sitting with her mother, Michelle. “Yes, the world is on fire,” Cruz said. “Your world is on fire.” He then told Julie that her mommy is here and that they are all trying to make the world better for her as the crowd applauded.
Scary stuff.
The story pushes all the leftists buttons: Republicans are insane religious racist rednecks, they are cartoonish buffoons, they’re a danger to the country and everyone around them. Please, dear God, don’t let America wind up like the crying little girl.
Except little Julie Trant didn’t cry, or act scared, or cringe in terror. Michelle Trant, Julie’s mother, said Julie was delighted and called the senator “Uncle Cruz” afterwards.
“She looked at him as a hero,” Trant told WRKO, a radio station. “She was like, ‘Oh, this is a great man.’ He’s a firefighter in her mind. She was quite happy and wanted a cookie.”
The media, prejudiced as they are against Republicans, cast Cruz as a maniac while publishing videos that directly contradict their reports. No matter how good-humored a GOP candidate acts on tape, he may still get smeared as a maniac in print. The video shows the audience and Cruz having a good-natured laugh at Julie’s question. Ever been around a three-year-old? They have a lot to say and don’t wait patiently for their turn to address a senator.
The media, prejudiced as they are against Republicans, cast Cruz as a maniac
1988 - The media, prejudiced as they are against Republicans, cast Quayle as an air-headed pretty boy
1992 - The media, prejudiced as they are against Republicans, cast Bush I as a out of touch elitist (actually, they may have been on to something there)
1996 - The media, prejudiced as they are against Republicans, cast Dole as an doddering old man
2000 & 2004 - The media, prejudiced as they are against Republicans, cast Bush II as dumber than dirt
2008 - The media, prejudiced as they are against Republicans, cast Palin as an idiot
2012 The media, prejudiced as they are against Republicans, cast Romney as an out of touch elitist (hey, it worked in '92)
Question: This is an old pattern. Does the GOP even care about addressing it? Does the GOP care about winning?
