The New York Times could not have done more for sales of Senator/presidential candidate Ted Cruz\’s new book, if its “brain trust” (such as it is) allowed it on the Times Best Seller List, and wrote a glowing review…..instead of denying it a place on the list and writing no review at all.
Could the Times\’ partisanship possibly have been made more clear?
And could Ted Cruz possibly have gotten better publicity for his bood (not that it was necessary to make it a success…Cruz\’s “A Time For Truth” is selling like hotcakes).
Excerpted from Dylan Byers\’ article at politico.com (with a special plaudit to Mr. Byers, who, unlike most mainstream media, has been apprising the public of this disgraceful episode:
On Thursday, a Times spokesperson said that the book was excluded because the paper had found its sales to be mostly “strategic bulk purchases” – a common practice among political authors, but a claim hotly disputed by Cruz\’s campaign.
“The Times is presumably embarrassed by having their obvious partisan bias called out. But their response – alleging \’strategic bulk purchases\’ – is a blatant falsehood,” Cruz campaign spokesperson Rick Tyler said in a statement Friday. “The evidence is directly to the contrary. In leveling this false charge, the Times has tried to impugn the integrity of Senator Cruz and of his publisher Harper Collins.”
Tyler’s blast came just minutes after HarperCollins announced it had found “no evidence of bulk orders or sales through any retailer or organization” – a statement that all but accused the Times of lying. The publisher also pointed out that \’A Time For Truth\’ “ranked high on other publishing industry bestseller lists including Nielsen Bookscan (#4) … The Wall Street Journal (#4) and Barnes and Noble (#7),” all of which “omit bulk orders books from their rankings.”
For a right wing conservative like Ted Cruz, it doesn\’t get much better than this. His book sales are soaring, The New York Times people look like a bunch of small, vindictive, dishonest, mean-spirited partsan hacks (which part of that description doesn\’t fit? I dare you to find one)…
…and, as his campaign progresses and the Times – as it most assuredly will – attacks him, Cruz will be able to point to this sorry episode as proof that the Times is not an honest source for information about him.
Me? As any reader of this blog knows, I am no fan of Ted Cruz as a presidential candidate. But I have to say that Mr. Cruz\’s book, as the latest basis for demonstrating what a partisan joke the New York Times has become, is giving me a McDonald\’s moment:
“I\’m lovin\’ it”.
