Cruz, Trump, and Attacking the Media

This week, Ted Cruz put out a satire video making fun of Democrats using spin-offs of Christmas stories. In that video, he used his daughters in the video. A Washington Post cartoonist then drew a cartoon, spoofing Cruz, showing his daughters as monkeys. Cruz was outraged, probably fairly. The cartoonist said he made it a fair-game topic, by using his children as props. They both have a point, though I generally just wouldn't use a candidate's children. Cruz is now fundraising off the cartoon.

Donald Trump said that Hillary Clinton got "schlonged" in 2008, recently. The media correctly called that vulgar. Trump says they are wrong, and is attacking them for a bias. We all know what "schlonged" means, and it's not the kind of language that a Presidential candidate should be using about any woman, let alone the one he might end up running against. Trump has made his fight with the media over this term a staple of his speeches to his followers.

My point is that this isn't about real outrage. This is about posturing by conservative candidates to "egg on" their crazy base of voters. Don't give them too much credit when they start bashing the media.