Appearing as a guest on Thursday morning's CNN Newsroom with Carol Costello, CNN political commentator and Daily Beast editor-in-chief John Avlon used praise for Ted Cruz's ads and social media campaign to take an underhanded swipe at the GOP presidential candidate by suggesting that, unlike the ads, he is not "effective" or "charming."
His jab at Cruz inspired laughter from host Costello as she mildly chided him for being "kind of harsh."
The exchange came at 10:21 a.m. ET during a discussion of a Cruz campaign ad using humor to attack Donald Trump over the issue of his past support for Democrats and his use of eminent domain. After fellow guest Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics predicted that the ad would be ineffective, Avlon weighed in to disagree:
I just think the Cruz ad is enormously effective because it uses humor. Humor is one of the most underrated tools in politics, particularly in attack ads because it's disarming, because it speaks to a different truth, and it ends up getting a lot of earned media.
Avlon could not resist taking a shot at the Texas Republican as he added:
And I think that actually is an enormously effective ad. And Ted Cruz's ads and social media presence in this campaign have been a heck of a lot more effective and more charming than the candidate himself.
Laughing, Costello responded: "Wow, okay, that was kind of harsh, John Avlon."
