The far-left Texas Tribune held their annual liberal confab and meeting of the hacks over the weekend (and framed similarly to the clownishly elite Aspen Ideas Festival) and, to his credit, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) entered enemy territory.
Sure enough, the way the outlet’s Twitter (or X) account framed his appearance sure looked a lot different than their portrayal of sit-downs featuring Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), faux-Republican and CNNer Adam Kinzinger, and Cruz’s likely 2024 opponent, Congressman Colin Allred (D-TX).
First, here’s how Texas Tribune explained Cruz’s sitdown with their top political correspondent, Patrick Svitek: “At #TribFest23, @tedcruz says there's ‘zero evidence’ that proposals to raise the age of purchase for semi-automatic rifles work. But experts believe that proposal is part of a range of policies that can help address gun violence problems in the U.S.”
“Experts”? By experts do they mean gun control groups or crazed leftists like Shannon Watts?
In another tweet, Texas Tribune was worked up over Cruz’s support for school choice: “@tedcruz says he believes voucher programs that let parents take their kids out of public schools and enroll them into private ones using taxpayers' money, often referred to as ‘school choice,’ are the ‘civil rights issue of the 21st century.’ #TribFest23”
Here’s one more: “U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called school choice a civil rights issue and defended his decision to go to Cancun during the 2021 winter storm in an interview Saturday at #Tribfest23.”
In contrast, they were smitten by Allred. Along with simply running a quote about Texas voter turnout without any commentary, they made sure to have one about January 6. At the onset of his appearance, they put out a tweet encouraging people to tune in to hear him “discuss the race against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.”
For Cruz, their framing was more pointed, saying he’d discuss “why he should be reelected to a third term.”
Texas Public Policy Foundation’s chief of communications Brian Phillips first took notice, blasting this double standard: “Hey @TexasTribune, why didn’t you include rebuttals to what @ColinAllredTX said like you did with @tedcruz? #mediabias #LibFest2023”.
In contrast to Cruz, Kinzinger drew a more receptive spin, including this from one of their reporting fellows: “Adam Kinzinger talking to Kara Swisher about how right-wing media ecosystems and campaign fundraising based on fear has fueled the rise of conspiracy theories and helped Donald Trump #TribFest23 @karaswisher @AdamKinzinger”.
Kelly was even more of a rockstar, as per Texas Tribune’s Twitter (or X) account:
