Arizona Republican Sen. Martha McSally made news recently by responding plainly and forcefully to questions fired at her by CNN reporter Manu Raju. Here’s what she said…
“I’m not talking to you. You’re a liberal hack, buddy.”
Boo-yah!
The Fake News Industrial Complex, of course, had a cow.
CNN released an indignant statement saying it was “extremely unbecoming for a U.S. senator to sink to this level and treat a member of the press this way for simply doing his job.”
The mainstream media ganged up and demanded an apology. And in the pre-Trump era they probably would have gotten it from most Republicans. But not now. And not from Sen. McSally.
Asked if she regretted what she said by a FOX News host, McSally, the first female commander of a United States Air Force fighter squadron, responded…
“As you know, these CNN reporters, there’s so many of them around the capital, they are so biased, they are so in cahoots with the Democrats, they so can’t stand the president, and they run around trying to chase Republicans and ask trapping questions.
“I’m a fighter pilot, you know, I called it like it is, and that’s what we see out of the mainstream media, especially CNN, every single day, so obviously I’m going to tell the truth and I did it today and it’s laughable how they’ve responded. They’re cheerleading the Democrats, they hate the president.”
Boo-yah!
But McSally went even further.
Rather than timidly backing away from the controversy like most Republicans in the past, her campaign immediately took advantage by building a fundraising campaign around it – including the sale of “You’re a Liberal Hack, Buddy” t-shirts.
Look, in most cases, reporters are professionals trying to do their job objectively. And conservatives CAN get a fair shake if they develop and nurture a professional relationship with them. And they should.
But CNN’s anti-Trump “fake news” crusade, obviously, has become the exception to the rule. In this case, McSally handled the situation perfectly from start to finish. Textbook.
Cheers!
Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD
THE CAMPAIGN DOCTOR
Professor of Psephology*
(homeschooled)
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* Psephology (see-follow-gee): The study of campaigns and elections