On MSNBC late Thursday night, former Gore and Obama flack Ron Klain appeared on The Last Word and blasted the Republican responses to the Alabama Republican senatorial candidate Roy Moore’s sexual misconduct allegations by stating that ‘if true’ is to pedophilia what ‘thoughts and prayers’ are to mass shootings.”
Klain was teed up by self-described socialist host Lawrence O’Donnell, who correctly suggested that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell grill Moore about the allegations.
O’Donnell then bemoaned how The Washington Post (which published the sexual misconduct allegations against Moore) wasn’t part of “any political machine” despite what Moore claimed in a fundraising e-mail in seeking donations off of the claims he had inappropriate relationships with minors.
The allegations are damning and a clear example of not living life according to The Ten Commandments, but that doesn’t mean The Post is absolved from being labeled a part of the liberal machine. Allegations and important reporting can come from outlets across the political spectrum (e.g. Ronan Farrow’s masterful Harvey Weinstein stories in The New Yorker), but it’s important to recognize where stories are coming from.
Anyhoo, Klain agreed with O’Donnell about The Post and correctly noted that the newspaper sought them out instead of vice versa. From there, he dropped this bizarre and shameful comparison:
Look, Lawrence, I think we're learning that the phrase “if true” is to pedophilia what “thoughts and prayers” are to mass shootings — an excuse for inaction, an effort to dodge what needs to be addressed straight up and straight on in an effort to avoid responsibility.
Who does Klain think he is? Don Lemon? Igor Volsky?
He concluded that if Moore “doesn't step up and answer questions” or drop out, he could very well win the election. And at that point, Senate Republicans will have to decide “whether or not he should be seated as a United States Senator and, so, there’s just no dodging this and there’s ‘if true’-ing out of the dilemma they're in.”
Here’s the relevant transcript from MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on November 9:
MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
November 9, 2017
10:26 p.m. Eastern
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: My question to Roy Moore that Mitch McConnell should be asking him is when you're an assistant district attorney, how many other little girls did you tell their mothers you would take care of them while the mothers went in and testified in a child custody case? How many other little girls did you meet on that bench in the courthouse? Roy Moore sent out a fundraising appeal today based on these accusations saying: “The forces of evil are on the march in our country...will take a stand by chipping in a donation to let me know you've got my back in our all-out war against the Obama/Clinton machine?” Ron Klain, the accusations didn't come from any political machine.
RON KLAIN: Uh, no, they didn't. In fact, the women themselves didn't make themselves available to The Washington Post. The Post found them. Not the other way around. Look, Lawrence, I think we're learning that the phrase “if true” is to pedophilia what “thoughts and prayers” are to mass shootings — an excuse for inaction, an effort to dodge what needs to be addressed straight up and straight on in an effort to avoid responsibility. But as David said, the Republicans in the Senate cannot avoid this question. If they do not do something, if Roy Moore himself doesn't step up and answer questions, if he's on the ballot, if by some chance he wins, then the Republicans will have to face the question whether or not he should be seated as a United States Senator and, so, there’s just no dodging this and there’s “if true”-ing out of the dilemma they're in.
