Liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer retired on Wednesday, prompting absurd responses from journalists such as Andrea Mitchell. She bizarrely described Breyer as “conservative or moderate.” (He’s not.) Here’s a look back at the media reaction to the last vacancy, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
On September 18, 2020, in the minutes after the death of Ginsburg was announced, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow described Hillary Clinton’s loss and Ginsburg’s death as a “feminist catastrophe.” That night, NBC’s Pete Williams absurdly claimed that she “was consistently one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s moderate to liberal members.” Moderate to liberal? How about far-left?
Later that evening on MSNBC, guest Rebecca Traister called the vacancy “the world's most chilling and horrible poetry.” That same Friday night, ABC began lobbying for Democrats to block a replacement.
Host George Stephanopoulos freaked out, melting down about the Court opening: “It’s as earth-shaking as it gets, Byron. Eight, nine, ten on the Richter scale.” Reporter Jon Karl echoed the growing horror of the left: “And the idea of Donald Trump replacing the liberal core of the Court with another justice like Kavanaugh or Gorsuch would tilt the Court decisively, perhaps for a generation, to the right.”
Over on CNN that night, CNN ended the evening with political analyst Gloria Borger sounding like a Democratic strategist. She was already gaming out ways for the left to stop Donald Trump from naming a replacement:
What if Donald Trump loses? What if the Democrats end up controlling the Senate? What would the American public do then? What do moderate Republicans do? Who are already on the record like Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Already on the record saying, “I don't think it's right. I don't think this is the way to behave. We have to wait until the president is elected and see who the President is. And then we ought to decide.” Whatever happened to the Senate? Which is supposed to have rules and decorum.
Look for the media to completely flip positions when it comes to Breyer’s replacement. Now, suddenly, it will be time to fill the vacancy as quickly as possible. At least according to the corrupt journalists on the networks, CNN and MSNBC.
For more examples from our FLASHBACK series, which we call the NewsBusters Time Machine, go here.
