Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who is running to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) next November, has fallen into some pitfalls when it comes to playing the blame game. Last Thursday, he had an op-ed published for MSNBC, "As the Israel-Hamas war rages, extremist Republicans handcuff the U.S." Nearly 24-hours later, though, a correction had to be issued after Allred misstated Cruz's position on confirming Jack Lew, President Joe Biden's pick for Ambassador to Israel.
Not surprisingly, Allred went after Cruz, though the original op-ed had a glaring issue. As it read, with added emphasis:
It is not too soon, however, to look at ways we can secure lasting peace and use this tragedy as a catalyst for change. At least 27 American citizens have been murdered and an unknown number taken hostage. Yet Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continue to block the confirmation of Jack Lew, the eminently qualified nominee for ambassador to Israel.
Cruz cannot actually block Lew's confirmation, since a hearing hasn't taken place yet. With Republicans in the minority, it is the Senate Democratic leadership that schedules such hearings. A hearing is set to take place on Wednesday, as had been announced last Monday. Reuters' headline even read "U.S. Senate moves quickly toward confirming Lew as ambassador to Israel."
MSNBC was forced to issue a correction, with the timestamp showing it was made about 23 hours later.
"CORRECTION (Oct. 13, 2023, 6:10 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated Sen. Ted Cruz’s procedural stance on Jack Lew’s appointment. While he has not agreed to expedite Lew’s nomination, Cruz has not placed a formal hold on it," the correction added to the bottom of the piece reads.
Here's how the piece now reads, with added emphasis:
It is not too soon, however, to look at ways we can secure lasting peace and use this tragedy as a catalyst for change. At least 27 American citizens have been murdered and an unknown number taken hostage. Yet Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, have not agreed to expedite the confirmation of Jack Lew, the eminently qualified nominee for ambassador to Israel.
Macarena Martinez de Aldecoa, a spokesperson for Cruz, posted a screenshot of the correction while highlighting the embarrassing mistake on the congressman's part, especially considering he wants to be a senator.
"Colin Allred wants to be a Senator but he doesn't know anything about how the Senate works," her post read in part. "His flak keeps tweeting that Ted Cruz is holding an ambassador before a hearing (not how any of this works)."
Colin Allred wants to be a Senator but he doesn't know anything about how the Senate works.
— Macarena Martinez de Aldecoa (@macamrtz) October 13, 2023
His flak keeps tweeting that Ted Cruz is holding an ambassador before a hearing (not how any of this works).
Tonight he tried to publish it on MSNBC - which just issued a correction. pic.twitter.com/hHxMwrrnar
While Allred's op-ed refers to Lew as "eminently qualified," Republican senators have expressed concerns about his background, especially when it comes to the role he played in easing sanctions on Iran during the Obama administration.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran played a role in Hamas' attack on Israel that took place on October 7.
A report from The Daily Signal pointed to such concerns to do with Lew, including not only the Iran Nuclear Deal, but also what a Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigation found about the deal; his claim that "No administration has done more for Israel’s security than this one," referring to the Obama administration; his Pro-China association; payments from NYU; and CitiGroup payouts.
Although the report did not mention Allred's op-ed for MSNBC, it did include a statement from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) regarding charges about Republicans blocking the nomination, with added emphasis:
In the case of Mr. Lew, I have real concerns that he has misled and lied to Congress in the past, in terms of some of the financial arrangements that were made under the Obama administration. That is a valid situation. That is something that needs to be asked. The Republicans haven’t been blocking his nomination. He just got nominated. The paperwork on his nomination arrived literally a week ago here in the Senate. It would have been impossible to confirm him or anybody else. We’ll go through those hearings. We’ll go through that process.
This was not the only time that Allred also went after Cruz last week, including on Israel. In an October 11 post, Allred made similar charges. "Partisan extremists like Ted Cruz have instituted a blockade on ambassador nominees across the Middle East--including an Ambassador to Israel--just to score political points against the Biden Administration," it read in part, only getting more accusatory from there.
"Even after these horrific attacks, Sen. Cruz still refuses to allow a vote on a highly-qualified nominee as our Ambassador to Israel. It is shameful and it's dangerous," the post later went on to read. "For once, Sen. Cruz should do the right thing and put politics aside."
"By continuing to play political games & obstructing key nominations, Ted Cruz is jeopardizing our national security— and putting Israel at risk," the text accompanying the post also charged.
Martinez de Aldecoa replied to the post with another screenshot of the correction.
@CommunityNotes this is a blatant lie.
— Macarena Martinez de Aldecoa (@macamrtz) October 15, 2023
MSNBC had to be the adult in the room, because you wrote something that isn't true, so they had to step in and correct you, because you don't know how the Senate works.
Everyone in the world understands how the Senate works - except… pic.twitter.com/NVM2g7ZY02
As Townhall covered at the time, Allred and Cruz also got into a back-and-forth of quoted reposts over their political X accounts, with Cruz pointing out that Allred had urged aid be released to Gaza, despite how an internal document revealed that "due to its overall strength, and level of control over Gaza, we assess there is a high risk that Hamas could potentially derive indirect, unintentional benefit from US assistance to Gaza."
Allred has also had a problematic association with the anti-Israel J Street and Imam Omar Suleiman.
Forecasters consider the race to be "Likely Republican," and there are numerous Democratic incumbents who are considered far more vulnerable, especially and including in Montana, West Virginia, and Ohio. When it comes to both the seats that Democrats are defending and Republicans are defending, the 2024 map looks to be particularly favorable to the GOP, especially in comparison to the 2022 map.
I'd be shying away from that record too. Texans don't support funding terrorism.https://t.co/z3Q7ICiFuz
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 13, 2023
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