In contrast to the lunacy and character assassination of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on CNN and MSNBC, CBS’s reacted to Kavanaugh’s opening statement Thursday afternoon by calling it “searing, painful and tearful opening remarks” filled with “authenticity” that made one wonder “how you ever fake that” as his life has been ruined.
Not one to offer free-wheeling superlatives as predecessor Scott Pelley would, CBS Evening News anchor Jeff Glor immediately stated that the hearing was in a break following “searing, painful and tearful opening remarks from Judge Brett Kavanaugh and a first round of questions.”
Glor added that “it has been difficult to watch many times” and legal analyst Rikki Klieman agreed, opining that “you almost have to look away because it is so painful and what — what Kavanaugh has done was exactly what he should have done” in being “emotional” and “passionate.”
“It is indignant, and you see how his life has been torn asunder, and I don't know how you ever fake that. There’s an authenticity to it that you do have to look away. It’s like he — no matter how good Dr. Ford was and how credible she was that now you have exactly te complete counterbalance,” Klieman continued.
Glor then put it simply when it comes to how some Americans will assess the hearing:
This may be the challenge facing a lot of Americans as they try to assess this day, though is that if they find authenticity in both what they saw in the morning and also what they saw in the afternoon, how do you then — how do you reconcile those two things, John? I mean is that not one of the questions that some of us are asking right now?
CBS This Morning co-host John Dickerson observing that it was a “long extended kind of blast of anguish, and so you have two people who seem quite authentic in there, genuine pain, the ability to demonstrate what that pain has done to their lives and so the senators are faced with this question of two people who might seem totally compelling in what they say and what do they do about that?”
CBS and CNN contributor Bianna Golodryga broadened her take, feeling as though Kavanaugh was “defending his character and his honor more than he was the nomination” and breaking out “in tears” when his statement mentioned his family.
Crawford echoed that and agreed with Kavanaugh being “authentic” after having “been hung out there” with “no real opportunity to defend himself.”
Dickerson tried to knock Kavanaugh for claiming the behavior of Democrats as partisan and even wondered why Democrats didn’t pull anything on Neil Gorsuch, but Crawford put him in his place by pointing out that the Supreme Court’s tilt was “not in the balance with Gorsuch.”
“No matter what you feel about these two human beings, this has been a painful and unforgettable day for this country and it’s not over yet,” interjected Glor a few minutes later.
Right before Kavanaugh came back, Crawford asked her fellow panelists to consider the magnitude of Kavanaugh’s statement (click “expand”):
CRAWFORD: I think we need to stay with his statement a little longer, you know, all morning we had been talking about what was he going to be like? What was his demeanor going to be? What was his posture going to be? What was he going to say? And what we saw was a man who feels incredibly wronged, like his life as he knows it has been destroyed, his family has been destroyed, he will whenever get that back and that power of that statement and the authenticity. I believe — I mean, you cannot — and that makes it now for the Republicans who are kind of hoping maybe she might have — that makes it — I think it was very difficult for the Republicans based on that, and we will see what happens after the rest of the afternoon, to vote against him.
GLOR: Well he’s not saying — he’s not saying my life will be destroyed if I don't get this job.
CRAWFORD: He said it’s been destroyed now.
GLOR: He is saying it has been destroyed already.
CRAWFORD: I may never coach again. I may never teach again.
To see the relevant transcript from CBS’s coverage of the Kavanaugh hearings on September 27, click “expand.”
CBS Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearing
September 27, 2018
4:11 p.m. Eastern
JEFF GLOR: Okay. 15 minute break has been called by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley following searing, painful and tearful opening remarks from Judge Brett Kavanaugh and a first round of questions and a little bit more that came from the prosecutor picked by Republicans, Rachel Mitchell, and then Dianne Feinstein. But we have all been sitting here in Washington watching all of what has just happened, and as we bring in Bianna Golodryga, John Dickerson, also co-host of CBS This Morning, back with us. John’s been here all day, Ricky Klieman and Jan Crawford, both legal analysts with CBS have been with us all afternoon, it has been difficult to watch many times, Rikki.
RIKKI KLIEMAN: Well, I think you almost have to look away because it is so painful and what — what Kavanaugh has done was exactly what he should have done. It’s emotional, it’s passionate. It is indignant, and you see how his life has been torn asunder, and I don't know how you ever fake that. There’s an authenticity to it that you do have to look away. It’s like he — no matter how good Dr. Ford was and how credible she was that now you have exactly te complete counterbalance.
GLOR: This may be the challenge facing a lot of Americans as they try to assess this day, though is that if they find authenticity in both what they saw in the morning and also what they saw in the afternoon, how do you then — how do you reconcile those two things, John? I mean is that not one of the questions that some of us are asking right now?
JOHN DICKERSON: Absolutely right. I mean, this was a — his opening statement was — was for a man who has been understanding out by the process, one long extended kind of blast of anguish, and so you have two people who seem quite authentic in there, genuine pain, the ability to demonstrate what that pain has done to their lives and so the senators are faced with this question of two people who might seem totally compelling in what they say and what do they do about that? And how do they articulate the support for their vote in the end? And that is — they are — they are about in as tough a spot as you could be in, those senators who were genuinely of an open mind about how this was going forward.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: It was almost as if you saw him defending his character and his honor more than he was the nomination. You saw him come out and initially show rage. There was a lot of anger. And in his opening statement he said that he had witnessed the day after the initial accusation from the Dr. Ford came out that anger I think once he started talking about his family and the women in his family and his life, his daughters, his wife, his mother turned into pure emotion, and at times he had to stop and you thought he was going to break down in tears.
CRAWFORD: And his father.
GOLODRYGA: And his father.
CRAWFORD: All of the people that who influenced him or that he tried to model his life off of, he did the calendars because his father did and the people he believed he was going to be a role model for, his children, when he started talking about them, it was — that's when he became the most emotional. And, you know, yes, you saw very angry and as you said authentic and how could he not be? As he said he’s been hung out there, no — no real opportunity to defend himself, watched some of these allegations that he adamantly denies and said he has never been accused of, and imagine, you know, from his perspective, which is what we saw, a world where he was very well headed for confirmation, as he said, and then he believes, as he testified when Democrats saw they weren’t able to it this way then this comes out. He sees this and that, that was very powerful away, he framed that before the senators as well, this was, he believes, a Democratic hit job to keep him off the Supreme Court and they were willing to stop at nothing, including dragging him, his family, everything —
DICKERSON: And he walked a fine line there, calling it a left-wing conspiracy theory, saying this was a circus, grotesque character assassination, kind of what comes around goes around talking about his time in the Starr investigation. But a fine line and not going after Dr. Ford, and even mentioning his ten-year-old daughter said we should pray for her. So that, if anything, I think anybody that thought he was going to be attacking her, that clearly didn't happen.
DICKERSON: I have the senators who have to make this choice so much in my mind. I think that was a partisan argument, though a Democratic rebuttal would be if this was a planned hitjob, they would have done it on Gorsuch and didn't.
CRAWFORD: But that was — the court is not in the balance with Gorsuch.
DICKERSON: True, but I —
CRAFORD: And the Republicans who voted for Trump because of the supreme court know.
DICKERSON: But I think his most compelling argument was not so much this is all planned by the Democrats, but look at what the anguish this process has caused and what you will do to my family by — and me by not — by not believing me.
GLOR: No matter what you feel about these two human beings, this has been a painful and unforgettable day for this country and it’s not over yet.
(....)
4:25 p.m. Eastern
GLOR: Well, let's not forget that a lot of these senators have seen so many hearings over the years. They know how to take the temperature a of the room, they know what the — what the flow of the emotion is, and where they can potential go to those other places, so we think we’ll see what happens
CRAWFORD: I think we need to stay with his statement a little longer, you know, all morning we had been talking about what was he going to be like? What was his demeanor going to be? What was his posture going to be? What was he going to say? And what we saw was a man who feels incredibly wronged, like his life as he knows it has been destroyed, his family has been destroyed, he will whenever get that back and that power of that statement and the authenticity. I believe — I mean, you cannot — and that makes it now for the Republicans who are kind of hoping maybe she might have — that makes it — I think it was very difficult for the Republicans based on that, and we will see what happens after the rest of the afternoon, to vote against him.
GLOR: Well he’s not saying — he’s not saying my life will be destroyed if I don't get this job.
CRAWFORD: He said it’s been destroyed now.
GLOR: He is saying it has been destroyed already.
CRAWFORD: I may never coach again. I may never teach again.
