Thursday’s CBS Mornings devolved into a world divorced from reality as, led by co-host and Democratic Party donor Gayle King, the show said Republican questioning of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson was “tough” and “very painful to watch” as “[i]t felt so personal watching her being really attacked” and “needled” in “searing” fashion over “something that has nothing to do with the job that she's going to do.”
Unless she chose to forget how Democratic Party questioning and media coverage of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett went (or assumed viewers are too stupid to remember), King presumably saw no problem with the bigotry, lies, and smears leveled at the previous two nominees.
Co-host Nate Burleson said in the show’s Eye Opener that “tempers flared...over” her “treatment” while King said leading off their Jackson segment that “[t]ensions and emotions ran high” even though Republicans “did a lot of the talking.”
Tossing to congressional correspondent Nikole Killion, King huffed: “I watched a lot of the hearings yesterday. It was very painful to watch. A lot yesterday afternoon.”
Killion concurred and subtly played the race card, calling Wednesday’s proceedings “an emotional and exhaustive hearing with searing attacks on the first Black woman who is likely to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.”
Taking particularly aim at Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Killion used his questions to frame the GOP:
It was punctuated by several contentious exchanges beginning with South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, who needled the Judge over everything from whether she watched Justice Brett Kavanaugh's hearings...to relentless questioning over her sentencing record in child exploitation cases.
Killion stopped him during one of the breaks to gripe: “To people who felt your line of questioning was inappropriate, you say what?”
“That she would not answer my question,” he replied, to which Killion said in returning to voice-overs that “[i]t was a refrain echoed by other committee Republicans relitigating the same claims.”
On the fluff side, Killion said that “Jackson welled up on her final day of questioning” and Republican scoldings by Senators Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Ben Sasse (R-NE).
The CBS reporter closed by doing Senator Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) bidding by cheering his “closing argument” that was, in actuality, an embarrassing display of tears amid a political speech.
Both Burleson and King described Booker’s “words” as “powerful” and the former expounded on her statements about the hearing being “tough” to see in truly throw-the-remote-at-the-TV fashion:
It was so tough, I thought, yesterday to watch, regardless of how you feel about her. It felt so personal watching her being really attacked for something that has nothing to do with the job that she's going to do. That's the thing that got me. Lindsey Graham — many of these people have voted for her several times. And, now all of a sudden, the way she was treated I thought was very difficult to watch.
Burleson agreed: “Yeah. I think the word attack is a fitting word here.”
As our friends at Life News wrote on Twitter, Jackson’s questions (which focused on judicial issues) weren’t “as painful as being sexually abused and seeing your abuser back on the streets.”
To see a sampling of CBS’s coverage of the Barrett and Kavanuagh hearings, click here, here, here, here, here, and here.
CBS’s shameless hackery was made possible with the help of advertisers such as Ancestry and Ensure. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from March 24, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
March 24, 2022
7:01 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Historic Hearings]
NATE BURLESON: Tempers flare in a Senate hearing over the treatment of Supreme Court pick Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
SENATOR DICK DURBIN (D-IL): Senator, would you please let her respond?
SENATOR TED CRUZ (R-TX); No, not if she's not going to answer my question.
DURBIN: Would you just —
(....)
7:09 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: SCOTUS Confirmation Gets Heated; Republicans Press Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson]
GAYLE KING: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court confirmation hearing wraps up later today. Tensions and emotions ran high yesterday when Jackson faced some of the toughest questions yet from Republican senners [sic] — senators, rather who did a lot of the talking.
SENATOR JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): So you're not going to answer my question?
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: No, I've answered your question, and my I answer is —
HAWLEY: You haven't answered, I'm asking you, and you're declining to answer.
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Good, good —
JACKSON: I understand, Senator, but —
GRAHAM: Good. I hope you are.
JACKSON: — what I'm trying to do —
GRAHAM: Good.
DURBIN: Allow her to finish, please.
JACKSON: In that chart —
CRUZ: Okay, Judge, you said that before. These are the eight or nine child porn cases. I will say, to correct the record, I’ll talk about —
DURBIN: I’ll just say to the Judge, there's no point in responding. He's going to interrupt you.
JACKSON: Thank you.
KING: Nikole Killion is in the hearing room on Capitol Hill. Nikole, I watched a lot of the hearings yesterday. It was very painful to watch. A lot yesterday afternoon. What can you tell us about the plan for the final day?
NIKOLE KILLION: Well, the plan today is that Judge Jackson won't be in the hot seat as a panel of experts testify after an emotional and exhaustive hearing with searing attacks on the first Black woman who is likely to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
JACKSON: I love this country — [PAUSE] — because I love the law —
KILLION: Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson welled up on her final day of questioning.
CRUZ: The chairman refused to allow a witness to answer a question. [GAVEL BANGS] You can bang it as loud as you want --
KILLION: It was punctuated by several contentious exchanges beginning with South Carolina's Lindsey Graham, who needled the Judge over everything from whether she watched Justice Brett Kavanaugh's hearings —
GRAHAM: He was ambushed. How would you feel if we did that to you?
KILLION: — to relentless questioning over her sentencing record in child exploitation cases.
JACKSON: These defendants —
GRAHAM: Wait, Judge. You think it is a bigger deterrent to take somebody who's on a computer looking at sexual images of children in the most disgusting way is to supervise their computer habits versus putting them in jail?
JACKSON: No, senator. I didn't say versus.
GRAHAM: That's exactly what you said.
SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT): To see the badgering of this woman as she's trying to testify I thought was outrageous.
KILLION [TO GRAHAM]: To people who felt your line of questioning was inappropriate, you say what?
GRAHAM: That she would not answer my question.
KILLION: It was a refrain echoed by other committee Republicans relitigating the same claims.
HAWLEY: I'm sitting here asking you, and you're declining to answer.
JACKSON: I've explained how the guidelines work. [JUMP CUT] Judges all over the country are grappling with how to apply this guideline. [JUMP CUT] do you have other questions for me?
HAWLEY: Yeah, I do. I do.
KILLION: Senators on both sides of the aisle tried to turn down the dial.
SENATOR MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): I'm going to try and spread some aloha into this room.
SENATOR BEN SASSE (R-NE): I think we should recognize that jackassery we often see is partly because of people mugging for short-term camera opportunities.
KILLION: But it was New Jersey's Cory Booker who delivered this closing argument:
SENATOR CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): And you did not get there because of some left-wing agenda. [CUT — NO SCREEN WIPE] You got here how every black woman in America who's gotten anywhere has done. You have earned this spot. You are worthy. You are a great American.
KILLION: There were other notable issues raised. For instance, Judge Jackson said she would recuse herself from an upcoming Supreme Court case involving her alma mater, Harvard, if she is confirmed. The committee is expected to vote on her nomination April 4th. Nate?
BURLESON: Nikole, thank you. I must say the words of Senator Cory Booker were powerful.
KING: It was very powerful. It was so tough, I thought, yesterday to watch, regardless of how you feel about her. It felt so personal watching her being really attacked for something that has nothing to do with the job that she's going to do. That's the thing that got me. Lindsey Graham — many of these people have voted for her several times. And, now all of a sudden, the way she was treated I thought was very difficult to watch.
BURLESON: Yeah. I think the word attack is a fitting word here.
KING: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
(....)
8:01 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: SCOTUS Nominee Hearing]
HAWLEY: I'm sitting here asking you and you're declining to answer.
JACKSON: I've explained how the guidelines work.
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: Republicans attack Supreme Court pick Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Democrats come to her defense.
BOOKER: You got here how every black woman in America has gotten anywhere has done — you have earned this spot.
