It didn't take long after Ted Cruz's presidential campaign announcement in Virginia for the first truly laughable attempt at a hit piece on him to be published.*
This is pathetic, even for @thinkprogress. http://t.co/zZtgvbn2ch
— sarah (@mamaswati) March 23, 2015
The attack comes courtesy of ThinkProgress, the blog of the left-wing think tank Center for American Progress, and the dramatic headline is, "Ted Cruz Just Laid Out The Most Anti-Woman Agenda Yet." It's the sort of Upworthy-ish headline that will be sure to get thousands of shares and OMG SO TRUES on Facebook and Twitter from the liberal Kool-Aid gang, who no doubt are already convinced of Cruz's misogynist bona fides. (He is a member of the Republican Party, after all.)
Thing is, if they take the time to read the copy, they'll see author Kay Steiger essentially unravels her pre-ordained premise with each paragraph. The headline ought to have been, "Ted Cruz Gave a Speech and Some Of It Polls Well With Women and Some of It Doesn't, Although We're Not Sure Since There's Not Polling On Some of These Specific Issues and Cruz Was Sort of Vague Anyway." Yeah, not as sexy. "Anti-Woman Agenda" it is!
Let's get to it. How does Cruz seek to continue the Republicans' "War on Women"? ThinkProgress lines are in italics.
A Flat Tax And Abolishing The IRS
There’s little polling on a flat tax or abolishing the specifically [sic], since it mostly hasn’t been a serious policy proposal from either party.
Oh. So, maybe women would prefer a simpler tax system, but you don't really know. And everybody loves the Internal Revenue Service. But we have a dramatic headline to back up. In what other areas did Cruz try to send women back to the 1950s with his speech at Liberty University?
Immigration Reform
"Instead of the lawlessness and the president’s unconstitutional executive amnesty, imagine a president that finally, finally, finally secures the borders. And imagine a legal immigration system that welcomes and celebrates those who come to achieve the American dream," Cruz said.
It’s a bit unclear what this might actually mean in terms of policy, since Cruz voted against a bipartisan immigration reform bill that aimed to do much of this in 2013.
"It's a bit unclear." Don't hold back, Kay! I'd imagine a lot of women would support an immigration system with secure borders, but since they support a path to citizenship by a wide margin, we'll go along with ThinkProgress' conclusion that Cruz is a butt-slapping chauvinist pig.
Gun Control
"Instead of a government that works to undermine our Second Amendment rights, that seeks to ban our ammunition imagine a federal government that protects the right to keep and bear arms of all law-abiding Americans," he said.
It’s likely when Cruz talks about protecting the right to bear arms he means opposition to recent proposals to implement background checks and other minor reforms that have been proposed in the wake of school shootings like Sandy Hook.
There she goes again, reading Cruz's women-hating mind. Impressive.
Government Data Collection
"Instead of a government that seizes your e-mails and cell phones, imagine a federal government to protect the privacy rights of every American," Cruz said, in what looks to be an attempt to go after the libertarian branch of the Republican party that his colleague Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was eyeing. Cruz may even find some support among liberals on this point. However, women seem to care much less about government-sponsored data collection than men do. A Pew study found "a substantial gender gap: by a 51% to 29% margin men are more concerned that government policies have gone too far in restricting civil liberties." Women were roughly split, with 42 percent saying the government had gone too far in data collection and 40 percent saying they hadn’t gone far enough.
Oh my stars, women "seem to care much less about" data collection than men, and for this, Cruz is nothing more than a Texan Don Draper. But wait, women do say the government's gone too far in data collection by a 42-to-40 margin. So, I fail to see how this statement by Cruz constitutes being anti-woman. Sounds like he's with the plurality on that one.
School Choice And Common Core
"Instead of a federal government that seek to dictate school curriculum through Common Core. Imagine repealing every word of common core. Imagine embracing school choice as the civil rights issue of the next generation. That every single child, regardless of race, ethnicity, wealth or zip code, every child in America has the right to a quality education. And that’s true from all of the above whether public schools or charter schools or christian (sic) schools or parochial schools or — every child," he said.
Common Core is certainly an unpopular policy (though it is not, as Cruz claims, a federal policy that can be repealed but rather a voluntary state-run initiative), and it polls poorly among both men and women, with just 17 percent of Americans approving of the policy, but polling has also found that many Americans have dramatic misconceptions about it — including that it mandates teaching sex education, climate change, and the American Revolution.
Yes, Cruz's rhetoric against an "unpopular policy" that "polls poorly among both men and women" is meant to bolster the theory he's laid out an "anti-woman agenda." Yes, you read all that correctly.
Foreign Policy
"Instead of a president who boycotts Prime Minister Netanyahu, imagine a president who stands up unapologetically with Israel. Instead of a president that seeks to go to the United States (sic) imagine a president that says I will honor the Constitution and under no circumstances will Iran be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. Imagine a president that says we will stand up and defeat radical Islamic terrorism and we will call it by its name," he said.
It’s tough to find polling specifically on the Iran or Israel questions broken down by gender, but recent polling did find about 68 percent of Americans overall approved of direct negotiations with Iran over a nuclear weapon.
Ignoring the fact that the author makes another weak stab at critical commentary here, let's quickly visit the idea of looking at negotiations with Iran along gendered lines. Israel historically has one of the world's strongest records on rights and opportunities for women, while Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, just arrested women for dancing without their headscarves. Oh, and the radical Islamic terrorists Cruz wants to eradicate routinely subjugate, rape, and kill women.
In the world of partisan Internet journalism, a screaming headline is a lot like seeing a good parking spot in the city. Upon closer examination, there's probably nothing there.
*The first laughable puff piece on Cruz is at Breitbart, with EXCLUSIVE photos of ... his family eating dinner.