As the Media Research Center has documented since his nomination earlier this summer, the liberal media’s seething rage over Kavanaugh’s seemingly inevitable confirmation has only grown more insane as they desperately try to kill the nomination. During Fox News Channel’s Special Report on Tuesday, chief national correspondent Ed Henry diagnosed the liberal media’s mouth foaming fits as “Kavanaugh Derangement Syndrome.”
In the introduction to Henry’s report, fill-in anchor and chief White House correspondent John Roberts noted that despite veteran sex crimes prosecutor Rachel Mitchell’s memo discounting the accusations of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, it “hasn't stopped some media outlets from grasping at a seemingly anyone willing to come forward with a story about Judge Kavanaugh.”
“Call it: Kavanaugh Derangement Syndrome,” Henry joked at the top of his report. “The relentless attacks normally directed at President Trump are now being aged aimed at Judge Brett Kavanaugh.”
Henry pointed to a Politico op-ed co-authored by former Hillary Clinton spokesman Brain Fallon that demanded the FBI get to the bottom of what “boofing” was. “Or this USA Today column, suggesting Kavanaugh should no longer be allowed to serve as a basketball coach for young girls,” he added. The obvious insinuation by the paper was that Kavanaugh was an evil pedophile. USA Today later issued “clarification” but the intended damage was already done.
Then there was the train wreck interview between NBC’s Kate Snow and third accuser, Julie Swetnick. MSNBC and NBC aired the interview despite blatant contradictions between it and her sworn statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The NBC interviewer admitted they could not corroborate it, even after Swetnick offered four names of potential witnesses,” Henry added. One alleged witness says they don’t know her, two have not responded to NBC, and the fourth was dead.
While the liberal broadcast networks (including NBC) eagerly pushed the Swetnick’s outrageous tall tale for days, they failed the report the Tuesday revelations from a man who claimed he once had a fling with her.
According to D.C. area weatherman Dennis Ketterer, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, “Julie never said anything about being sexually assaulted, raped, gang-raped or having sex against her will. She never mentioned Brett Kavanaugh in any capacity.” He also asserted that Swetnick “had psychological and other problems” and did not believe her accusations.
“Now, stories by Bloomberg and The New York Times are charging that while Kavanaugh was at Yale, he threw ice at someone at a bar. Kavanaugh was questioned by the police in 1985 but not arrested,” Henry noted of the laughable smears. He then played a soundbite of CNN’s Alisyn Camerota boorishly suggesting that meant Kavanaugh was capable of sexual assault.
Henry then exposed the arguably unethical nature of the article’s origin:
A co-author of The Times story was Emily Bazelon, an opinion writer who has been savaging Kavanaugh in recent tweets, including a July tweet charging Kavanaugh as, quote, "A fifth vote for a hard right turn on voting rights and so much more that will harm the democratic process and prevent a more equal society."
The Kavanaugh Derangement Syndrome afflicting the broadcast networks was so great that they almost never covered the dubious testimony of Dr. Ford, including what was discovered in a Tuesday Real Clear Investigations report that Ford might have misled the Senate Judiciary Committee on the reason for some of her home renovations.
According to the report, Ford told the committee that the second front door her and her husband added onto the house was to deal with her anxiety stemming from the alleged assault. It was to act as an emergency escape route. But the investigation found that the door was not used by Ford since it led to a part of the home meant for renters. Another home she owns had also undergone recent renovations and another door was not added.
All told, the liberal media’s Kavanaugh Derangement Syndrome keeps them from investigating the claims of both parties and they assert that Kavanaugh is guilty no matter what.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel's Special Report
October 2, 2018
6:28 p.m.JOHN ROBERTS: The Arizona prosecutor who sat in on last week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing between Judge Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford said the testimony proved even weaker than a he-said-she-said case. But that hasn't stopped some media outlets from grasping at a seemingly anyone willing to come forward with a story about Judge Kavanaugh. Tonight our chief national correspondent Ed Henry looks at whether these stories have merit or are simply over-the-top.
[Cuts to video]
ED HENRY: Call it: Kavanaugh Derangement Syndrome.
CHRIS CUOMO: Was Brett Kavanaugh known at Yale as a virgin?
LYNNE BROOKES: I have no idea.
HENRY: The relentless attacks normally directed at President Trump are now being aged aimed at Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
DONALD TRUMP: I think he’s been very brutally treated.
HENRY: Like a Politico op-ed entitled "Law and Order, Why the FBI Should Investigate ‘Boofing’". Co-authored by Brian Fallon a former spokesman for both Hillary Clinton and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. Or this USA Today column, suggesting Kavanaugh should no longer be allowed to serve as a basketball coach for young girls. The paper issued a clarification but the viciousness stunned a son of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
CHRISTOPHER SCALIA: That particular story was really tasteless I thought because last week he was a gang rapist and now the insinuation is he is a pedophile.
HENRY: Last night, it was MSNBC airing unverified allegations of gang rape lodged by Julie Swetnick, who backtracked on some of the accusations she previously made in a sworn statement.
JULIE SWETNICK: I saw him around the punch – I won’t say bowls or the punch containers. I don't know what he did but I saw him by them.
HENRY: The NBC interviewer admitted they could not corroborate it, even after Swetnick offered four names of potential witnesses.
KATE SNOW [voice over]: One of them said he does not recall a Julie Swetnick. Another of the friends she named his deceased. We've reached out to the other two and haven't heard back.
HENRY: Now, stories by Bloomberg and The New York Times are charging that while Kavanaugh was at Yale, he threw ice at someone at a bar. Kavanaugh was questioned by the police in 1985 but not arrested. Yet a CNN anchor today suggested if he was a quote-unquote "belligerent drunk" he was more likely to commit a sexual assault.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: I think that it's relevant to then a woman who says that you would corner her and put your hand over her mouth, somehow that, I think, makes more sense.
HENRY: A co-author of The Times story was Emily Bazelon, an opinion writer who has been savaging Kavanaugh in recent tweets, including a July tweet charging Kavanaugh as, quote, "A fifth vote for a hard right turn on voting rights and so much more that will harm the democratic process and prevent a more equal society."
[Cuts back to live]
The Times today admitted it was a mistake to have her contribute to the story and editors should have assigned someone else, but stress they stand behind that story. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy wants the FBI to probe false statements by Swetnick.
