With the midterm elections just two weeks away, the liberal media have ramped up their efforts to drag their dreamboat, Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke over the finish line in the Texas Senate race. With President Trump’s visit to campaign for Republican Senator Ted Cruz on Monday, the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) seized on the opportunity boast about Beto’s qualities while downplaying his poor poll numbers.
“Running behind and running hard, Democrat Beto O’Rourke hit eight early voting sites today as the President winged in to campaign against him,” declared CBS News chief congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes during the CBS Evening News.
All the networks mocked how President Trump was campaigning for Cruz after he called him “Lyin’ Ted” and attacked his family during the GOP primary in 2016. Cordes boasted about how “all those insults took a toll” as she touted O’Rourke getting in an endorsement from a Texas newspaper.
“The Houston Chronicle endorsed O’Rourke Friday, despite backing Cruz in 2012. The paper citing O’Rourke’s ‘command of issues that mattered to the state’ and faulted Cruz's, quote, ‘repellent personality,’” she said before praising how “O’Rourke’s personality and his refusal to move to the right have made him a progressive icon.”
When conservative and Republican candidates raise lots of money, the liberal media condemn it as “dark money” “funneled” into the campaigns by “special interests”. But on ABC’s World News Tonight, Paula Faris fawn for the Democratic heartthrob because he “raised a record $38 million in just three months. Using some of it on ads all shot on an iPhone.”
“O’Rourke is pro-gun control, pro-abortion rights, and pro-immigration,” Faris continued. “On immigration, Cruz has been in lockstep with Donald Trump.”
The only time ABC mentioned that O’Rourke was down in the polls was just as they were wrapping up, with sensationalist anchor David Muir noting: “And we've seen it in Beto O’Rourke’s campaigning. A sharper tone in the final weeks as he tries to close that gap.”
According to Faris, O’Rourke being down in the polls was something only Cruz thought. “That's right. And Cruz believes that's because O’Rourke is rattled and down in the polls,” she said.
Meanwhile, on NBC Nightly News, White House correspondent Kristen Welker was trying to paint Trump and Cruz as in a terrible predicament. “The two now unlikely allies fighting to hold on to power in Washington with Mr. Cruz trying to fend off a tough challenge from Democratic upstart Beto O'Rourke,” she proclaimed.
“Upstart” was a weird way to describe a candidate that’s already a U.S. Congressman. It’s like she was trying to make O’Rourke sound as though he was a fresh candidate who came out of nowhere.
And in an underhanded compliment to President Trump, Welker noted that “his approval rating is at 47 percent, that's two points higher than former President Obama had at about this point in 2010”. She then added that the rating was measured “just before Democrats got badly beaten in the midterms.”
Welker also hyped how “[w]ith early voting already underway, Texans say they’re energized.” She omitted NBC’s own findings that showed that not only were Republicans leading early voting in Texas but many early voting states as well.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
ABC's World News Tonight
October 22, 2018
6:43 p.m. Eastern(…)
PAULA FARIS: Cruz is banking on Trump to rev up the Republican base, because his rival, Congressman Beto O’Rourke, with his cheering crowds, is energizing Democrats.
BETO O’ROURKE: We just literally show up everywhere, all the time, for everyone.
FARIS: He's raised a record $38 million in just three months. Using some of it on ads all shot on an iPhone.
O’ROURKE: Just human becomes, real people making this happen.
FARIS: It's been nearly 25 years since a Democrat won statewide in Texas. And O’Rourke is pro-gun control, pro-abortion rights, and pro-immigration. You say you want to secure the borders. Can you do that without a wall? Can you do that without militarizing the border?
O’ROURKE: So, we don't need a wall, to answer your question. We don't need to militarize the border. [Flash] If things are so desperate in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador that someone would risk their lives to come here, then what can we do to improve conditions there?
FARIS: On immigration, Cruz has been in lockstep with Donald Trump. But he tells me he'll push back if the President reinstates his family separation policy. If it comes to it, will you say, President, this isn't the right policy?
TED CRUZ: Well, listen, I've been very clear to the President. We need to enforce the law but we should also keep families together.
[Cuts back to live]
DAVID MUIR: This is a fascinating race, a lot of people watching it. Not just Texas, but the whole country. Paula with us now. And we've seen it in Beto O’Rourke’s campaigning. A sharper tone in the final weeks as he tries to close that gap.
FARIS: That's right. And Cruz believes that's because O’Rourke is rattled and down in the polls. And O’Rourke knows this is an uphill battle. Voter turnout notoriously low in Texas, that’s what he has visited all 254 counties.
(…)
CBS Evening News
October 22, 2018
6:40 p.m. Eastern(…)
NANCY CORDES: Running behind and running hard, Democrat Beto O’Rourke hit eight early voting sites today as the President winged in to campaign against him. Does the President being here help you or hurt you?
BETO O’ROURKE: We'll see. I don't know that it matters one way or another. The people of Texas want to decide this on their own terms, on our own terms.
(…)
CORDES: President Trump insisted the two had buried the hatchet.
DONALD TRUMP: To me, he’s not Lyin’ Ted anymore. He's beautiful Ted.
CORDES: But all those insults took a toll. The Houston Chronicle endorsed O’Rourke Friday, despite backing Cruz in 2012. The paper citing O’Rourke’s “command of issues that mattered to the state” and faulted Cruz's, quote, "repellent personality." O’Rourke’s personality and his refusal to move to the right have made him a progressive icon.
O’ROURKE: Schoolteachers, we will support you. We will make sure you're paid a living wage.
(…)
NBC Nightly News
October 22, 2018
7:04:36 p.m. Eastern(…)
KRISTEN WELKER: The two now unlikely allies fighting to hold on to power in Washington with Mr. Cruz trying to fend off a tough challenge from Democratic upstart Beto O'Rourke.
BETO O’ROURKE: He’s dishonest. It’s why the President called him ‘Lyin’ Ted’ and it’s why the nickname stuck, because it’s true.
WELKER: With early voting already underway, Texans say they’re energized.
(…)
[Cuts back to live]
WELKER: In a boost for the President, our latest NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll shows his approval rating is at 47 percent, that's two points higher than former President Obama had at about this point in 2010, just before Democrats got badly beaten in the midterms.
