Since the Democrats decided to leak out the flimsy allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the liberal media have shown an eagerness to work in conjunction with the left to move the goal posts on Republicans plus a general disdain for due process.
Wednesday afternoon’s MSNBC Live put that on display as host Katy Tur aired a video mash-up comparing Kavanaugh to other men such as the late Roger Ailes, Corey Lewandowski, Roy Moore, and Rob Porter because they too were firmly defended by President Trump as they faced their own allegations of sexual impropriety. In reality, Tur’s comparison is ghoulish at worst and, at best, misguided.
First, here were the clips that aired after a commercial break (click “expand” for more):
TRUMP [on 03/29/16 about Corey Lewandowski]: He's good guy, Corey and, by the way, the easiest thing. Corey, you’re fired. [SCREEN WIPE] But I can't destroy a man. I’d destroy a man He's got a beautiful wife and children. I'm not going to destroy a man for that. [on 07/24/16, on Roger Ailes] It's very sad cause he's a very good person. I've always found him to just be a very, very good person and by the way, a very, very talented person. Look what he's done. So I feel very badly. [on 11/21/17, about Roy Moore] He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen and, you know, you have to wish him well also. [on 02/09/18, about Rob Porter] We wish him well. It's a tough time for him. He did a very good job when he was in the White House and we hope he has a wonderful career and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him.
Tur then explained that the clips were “a small look right there at President Trump's history of defending his aides and allies and now he seems to be continuing his pattern of rushing to the defense of men while casting doubt on allegations made by women with his Supreme Court pick, Judge Brett Kavanaugh,” who, in her words, “faces a decades old allegation of what the accuser's attorney is calling attempted rape.”
The facts-deprived NBC personality then played a clip of Trump from hours earlier defending Kavanaugh.
Tur’s skulduggery was the epitome of media malpractice as, in the four other cases, there was either exhaustive investigative reporting on the alleged offenders, a number of alleged victims, photographic evidence of abuse, or settlements paid out to women.
And for Kavanaugh? It’s one instance put forth by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford that doesn’t answer when or where the incident happened and no one who’s come forward to corroborate it (and, no, the alleged classmate’s since-deleted social media posts offering zero direct evidence doesn’t count).
Furthermore, the males who have come forward thus far upon Ford’s insistence they were present for the incident have denied that this even happened plus vouched for Kavanaugh’s character. And that doesn’t even count the women who’ve done the same along with two ex-girlfriends (yes, really).
At any rate, since facts weren’t going to be at the forefront of this segment, Tur brought on Center for American Progress head Neera Tanden and New Hampshire Union-Leader columnist Jennifer Horn for what turned into not a debate but a friendly discussion.
Making sure to channel the left’s talking points, Tur brought up the demands for the FBI to investigate Kavanaugh (click “expand” to read more):
Why not have an FBI investigation....Why would Congress, why would the Senate, why would the President not want that to be brought to light by the FBI...I also understand that Anita Hill got an FBI investigation....It doesn't totally make sense to me that there wouldn’t be an FBI investigation in this regard to try and dig up what else is out there to make it not just a he said/she said to arm the senators, to arm the public with a little bit more color surrounding that circumstance — surrounding that time back in the 1980s and give us more information in order to allow us to make a better educated and more informed assessment of Brett Kavanaugh.
Tur’s colleague Kasie Hunt tweeted that the arguments against an FBI probe don’t stick because Hill got one, but a tweet by Sean Agnew dropped this nugget:
Ooops.
To see the relevant transcript from September 19's MSNBC Live with Katy Tur can be found below.
MSNBC Live with Katy Tur
September 19, 2018
2:47 p.m. Eastern
DONALD TRUMP [on 03/29/16 about Corey Lewandowski]: He's good guy, Corey and, by the way, the easiest thing. Corey, you’re fired. [SCREEN WIPE] But I can't destroy a man. I’d destroy a man He's got a beautiful wife and children. I'm not going to destroy a man for that. [on 07/24/16, on Roger Ailes] It's very sad cause he's a very good person. I've always found him to just be a very, very good person and by the way, a very, very talented person. Look what he's done. So I feel very badly. [on 11/21/17, about Roy Moore] He totally denies it. He says it didn't happen and, you know, you have to wish him well also. [on 02/09/18, about Rob Porter] We wish him well. It's a tough time for him. He did a very good job when he was in the White House and we hope he has a wonderful career and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him.
TUR: That was a small look right there at President Trump's history of defending his aides and allies and now he seems to be continuing his pattern of rushing to the defense of men while casting doubt on allegations made by women with his Supreme Court pick, Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh faces a decades old allegation of what the accuser's attorney is calling attempted rape.
TRUMP: He's a man of great intellect, as I’ve been telling you and he has an unblemished record. This is a very tough thing for him and his family. [SCREEN WIPE] He's such a outstanding man. Very hard for me to imagine that anything happened.
TUR: Joining me, president and CEO of the Center for Progress, Neera Tanden. She's a former senior adviser to President Obama and Senator Clinton and political columnist for the New Hampshire Union-Leader, Jennifer Horn. She’s the former chair of the New Hampshire Republican party. Ladies, thank you so much for joining me. One quick addition. The Corey Lewandowski charges were ultimately dropped by Michelle Fields, who brought him in exchange for an apology for grabbing her at a campaign victory party. Anyway, Neera, I do want to start with you. The president sides with the men usually. The men who are usually his allies. It sounds like he's siding with Brett Kavanaugh, although he's leaving an opening to hear from Dr. Ford. How do you think will play among voters in November?
NEERA TANDEN: Well, I think the fact that the Senate GOP, many Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee and off the Senate Judiciary Committee are already taking pot shots at Dr. Ford and the reality here is, obviously, no one considers Donald Trump a character witness in — towards man who has been accused of assault. I mean, obviously, there's a long list of people he's defended and you outlined that. But we should also remember 16 women credibly accused Donald Trump of assault — of some form of assault and I think this reminds voters — I think it reminds a lot of women out there not just the defense of men accused of, you know, basically assaulting or harassing or assaulting women but the President's own behavior and I think, as we head to the election, that's going to be front and center in women's, and I hope men's, minds.
TUR: Here’s an article from The Atlantic, Jen, that I want to read to you. It's called “The GOP response to Kavanaugh allegations sends an unmistakable message to women”: “It's likely many that women in the electorate have gotten the message, one that mirrors the message they've received from Trump Republicans all along: that the ruling patriarchy does not respond and indeed feels threatened by the power of women.” Jennifer, what do you think of that?
JENNIFER HORN: Well, thank you, Katy, for having me today and, you know, clearly the President has a pattern of very disturbing pattern of how he responds to and dismisses accusations like these that come from women and what you just read is exactly politically, at least, the cost of that — the pattern that he has. But it’s also just not right and it sets the tone within his administration. We know that when women come forward with these accusations, they must be heard with respect, with dignity, with honor, but at the same time I would point out within the context of what we're talking about today with Professor Ford, Senator Grassley has responded, I would suggest, in the manner that he should as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He has — as soon as these accusations came out, he started the process to create an opportunity for Professor Ford to be heard. When it became clear that she and through her attorney that she was not comfortable with the process that was in motion, he sent her another letter today offering her the opportunity to be heard in confidentiality, in private. So I think that while the criticisms of the President are certainly valid and credible that, so far, I think, the way that Senator Grassley is handling this is entirely within the constitutional process that is laid out for SCOTUS nominees.
TUR: Why not have an FBI investigation? We just heard a moment ago from Ken Dilanian, who says a classmate of Dr. Ford's has written a Facebook post and a tweet saying that she heard about this at the time. It was talked about in the hallways at school. That's somebody who could be a corroborating witness for Dr. Ford. Why would Congress, why would the Senate, why would the President not want that to be brought to light by the FBI?
HORN: I'm not an attorney but my understanding is that the Senate Judiciary Committee does not have any authority to call for such intervention by the FBI.
TUR: But they could ask the President to call for an FBI investigation.
HORN: Right. And it's on the president to do that, but I think you — in order to be fair with all of this as well I believe very strongly that Dr. Ford should be heard, that she has come forth with credible allegations here that must be heard. At the same time, Mr. Kavanaugh has denials of those allegations also come with some credibility with two classmates who had been identified as potentially connected who have denied it as well. This is an extremely challenging situation to be in, to my way of looking at it, the only thing that can happen that is for both of those individuals to address these allegations whether it's through statements to the FBI statements in public to the hearing, in private to the hearing. Professor Ford has the right to be heard. She also has the right to choose not to engage. But the members of the Judiciary Committee are going to have to consider everything that we've heard on this when they vote whether it's next week or a couple of weeks later.
TUR: Well, I think it’s interesting that — I get the opinion from someone like Senator Kennedy who says, hey listen, the cat is already out of the bag. We do need to hear from her and there are a lot of people do want to hear publicly from Dr. Ford. They want to hear her side of the story from her own mouth. I also understand that Anita Hill got an FBI investigation.
TANDEN: Yeah.
TUR: It doesn't totally make sense to me that there wouldn’t be an FBI investigation in this regard to try and dig up what else is out there to make it not just a he said/she said to arm the senators, to arm the public with a little bit more color surrounding that circumstance — surrounding that time back in the 1980s and give us more information in order to allow us to make a better educated and more informed assessment of Brett Kavanaugh. Neera, what do you think.
TANDEN: Absolutely. I think what's happening here, let's just be honest. We have a President who has defended a series of men who have been accused, credibly accused, and actually, you know, some have confessed to assaulting women or sexual harassment and it's up to the President and he is basically stopping an FBI investigation of these matters and the truth is we have people making statements like Mark Judge is making a statement this never happened, but he — the committee is not subpoenaing him and he's not talking to the FBI and Brett Kavanaugh himself has not asked to speak to the FBI. So, we have a situation where it's Dr. Casey — Dr. Ford who is making a case to be heard but also making a case there should be a full investigation. I think the American people should understand that.
TUR: Neera Tanden and Jennifer Horn
HORN: But, Katy — Katy, just very quickly.
TUR: You have to make it quick, Jen. Quick.
HORN: Very quickly there is a difference with the Anita Hill situation. They gave statements to the FBI. There was not any kind of criminal investigation with the Anita Hill circumstance and, at the same time, I would say —
TANDEN: We should investigate both.
HORN: — they both need to be heard. They both need to be heard.
TUR: Ladies, thank you very much. We enjoy having you.
