“Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz says his book “A Time For Truth” is a legitimate bestseller and on Friday challenged the New York Times to prove its contention that the tome’s high sales were due to bulk buying. In a statement on his campaign website, the Texas senator said the New York Times should apologize or release evidence of its analysis. He said he was being kept off the bestseller list because the newspaper is politically biased against him.
“HarperCollins Publishers said in a statement that it investigated sales of the book and “found no evidence of bulk orders or sales through any retailer or organization.” New York Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha said the company stands by its statement on Thursday that Cruz’s book did not meet the standards for its bestseller list, “which includes an analysis of book sales that goes beyond simply the number of books sold.” The book does not appear at all in the Times’ top-20 non-fiction books.
“I’m not one to go against the official reports and statistics, and I would have reacted this way even I had nothing to do with the book in question, but I feel obligated to raise my voice as this is personally aimed at me,” Cruz said. “Politics is at times a murky playground and people involved in it often do strange things. However, I feel that a book as good as this one should get the recognition it deserves, regardless of the fact that I’m the one who wrote it.”
The presidential hopeful also revealed he might sue the NY Times for “discrimination” if “his book is not rightfully placed on the top-20 non-fiction bestseller list immediately.”
“I just think it’s utterly disrespectful to discriminate and say the book is not a bestseller when it clearly sold more copies than the Holy Bible. I consider myself a tolerant man, but even I have limits. If the book is not given the recognition it deserves from the New York Times, I will consider taking legal action against them,” Cruz explained.
