On all three broadcast network Sunday talk shows, hosts pressed some of their GOP guests by forwarding a quote from Planned Parenthood complaining that "hateful rhetoric" from abortion opponents had contributed to the shooting attack on Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain in Colorado.
NBC's Chuck Todd on Meet the Press notably managed to utter the words "hateful rhetoric" three times and "heated rhetoric" once as he repeatedly brought up Planned Parenthood's complaints about being criticized by the pro-life movement for selling baby parts.
On ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, substitute host Martha Raddatz brought up the Planned Parenthood statement as Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain President Vicki Cowart appeared as a guest. Raddatz posed:
I want to move back to this idea of domestic terrorism. You are being cautious about what the suspect may or may not have said, but you have said in a statement that "extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism."
The ABC host then prodded her guest to implicate "members of Congress" and "politicians" in her condemnation:
MARTHA RADDATZ: Are you talking about members of Congress? Are you talking about politicians?
VICKI COWART, PLANNED PARENTHOOD ROCKY MOUNTAIN: I think politicians have been in that conversation and, I mean, you know that the airwaves are full of anti-abortion language, of anti-Planned Parenthood accusations, much of which is false in nature. And we here at Planned Parenthood are first and foremost a health care provider. We provide life-saving services to all kinds of folks, men and women across our communities, and the tirades against Planned Parenthood in the last few months have really been over the top.
A bit later, Raddatz raised the issue with Dr. Ben Carson as the GOP presidential candidate appeared as a guest. After getting Dr. Carson's initial reaction to the murder spree, the ABC host pressed him further by citing Planned Parenthood. Raddatz:
Dr. Carson, the Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain's Vicki Cowart said that "extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country." Do you agree with that?
NBC's Chuck Todd began Meet the Press by teasing Planned Parenthood's accusatory charges of "hateful rhetoric" at the top of the show:
And that attack in Colorado: Planned Parenthood says it is hateful rhetoric that has led to this kind of violence.
About 10 minutes into the show, during an interview with Donald Trump, Todd asked the GOP presidential candidate if "heated rhetoric" about Planned Parenthood had gotten "out of hand." Todd:
A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood said, is concerned that the heated rhetoric around the Planned Parenthood debate could have had an adverse effect basically on this mentally disturbed individual. Do you think the rhetoric got out of hand on Planned Parenthood?
About 25 minutes into the show, during an interview with Dr. Ben Carson, Todd brought up Planned Parenthood's charges of "hateful rhetoric" again and this time read from the statement:
There was this shooting in Colorado Springs, and, overnight, there's now been reports that this shooter was yelling about baby parts. Planned Parenthood put out his statement: "We've seen an alarming increase in hateful rhetoric and smear campaigns against abortion providers and patients over the last few months. That environment breeds acts of violence. Americans reject the hatred and vitriol that fueled this tragedy." That, again, was from a Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain spokesperson.
Do you believe that the rhetoric got too heated on Planned Parenthood? And are you concerned that it may have motivated a mentally disturbed individual?
After concluding the interview with Dr. Carson, the NBC host used the words "hateful rhetoric" a third time as he plugged further discussion of the issue:
Coming up, more on whether it was hateful rhetoric that led to that attack in Colorado. As I told you, Planned Parenthood indicates yes. But first, there are 63 countries in the coalition taking on ISIS, so why does it seem as if no one is actually helping the United States?
On CBS's Face the Nation, as host John Dickerson raised the issue with Dr. Ben Carson six minutes into the show, the CBS host seemed to stumble over his words as he oddly referred to the Planned Parenthood shootings as merely a "domestic political event" before asking Dr. Carson if opponents of abortion should "tone down their rhetoric." Dickerson:
Okay, I'd like to ask you about a domestic political event there's -- or what some people see has political element to it -- and that's the shooting at a Planned Parenthood location in Colorado Springs. Some abortion rights supporters have said that the rhetoric has led to that kind of violence. What's your view on that?
(...)
Should abortion rights -- excuse me -- should those who oppose abortion rights tone down their rhetoric?
Below are transcripts of relevant portions of the three Sunday talk shows from ABC, CBS and NBC, for November 29:
#From ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos:
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC SUBSTITUTE HOST: I want to move back to this idea of domestic terrorism. You are being cautious about what the suspect may or may not have said, but you have said in a statement that "extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism."
VICKI COWART, PLANNED PARENTHOOD ROCKY MOUNTAIN PRESIDENT: We've experienced so much hateful language, hateful speech. Such a negative environment has been created around the work that Planned Parenthood does, around the idea of safe and legal abortion, and we've seen that across the country from all sorts of speakers in the last few months. I can't believe that this isn't contributing to some folks -- mentally unwell or not -- thinking that it's okay to target Planned Parenthood or to target abortion providers.
RADDATZ: Are you talking about members of Congress? Are you talking about politicians?
COWART: I think politicians have been in that conversation and, I mean, you know that the airwaves are full of anti-abortion language, of anti-Planned Parenthood accusations, much of which is false in nature. And we here at Planned Parenthood are first and foremost a health care provider. We provide life-saving services to all kinds of folks, men and women across our communities, and the tirades against Planned Parenthood in the last few months have really been over the top.
(...)
RADDATZ: We'll get to your trip in a moment, but first, you reaction to what happened in Colorado Springs?
DR. BEN CARSON, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, obviously, you know, any hate crime is a horrible thing, no matter from where it comes, and it should be condemned very strongly.
RADDATZ: Dr. Carson, the Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain's Vicki Cowart said that "extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country." Do you agree with that?
#From CBS's Face the Nation:
(6 minutes in)
JOHN DICKERSON: Okay, I'd like to ask you about a domestic political event there's -- or what some people see has political element to it -- and that's the shooting at a Planned Parenthood location in Colorado Springs. Some abortion rights supporters have said that the rhetoric has led to that kind of violence. What's your view on that?
DR. BEN CARSON, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no question that, you know, hateful rhetoric, no matter which side it comes from -- right or left -- is something that is detrimental to our society. This has been a big problem, you know. Our strength in this country has traditionally been in our unity, and we are allowing all kinds of circumstances to divide us and make us hateful toward each other, and the rhetoric is extremely immature, divisive, and is not helpful when you have outside forces, global Islamic radical jihadists who want to destroy us, why would we be doing that to ourselves? We at some point have got to become more mature. No question, the hateful rhetoric exacerbates the situation, and we should be doing all we can to engage an intelligent, civil discussion about our differences. That's how we solve problems. We don't ever solve them with hateful rhetoric.
DICKERSON: Should abortion rights -- excuse me -- should those who oppose abortion rights tone down their rhetoric?
DR. CARSON: I think both sides should tone down their rhetoric-
DICKERSON: All right.
DR. CARSON: -and engage in civil discussion.
#From NBC's Meet the Press:
CHUCK TODD, IN OPENING TEASE: And that attack in Colorado: Planned Parenthood says it is hateful rhetoric that has led to this kind of violence.
(...)
(10 minutes in)
CHUCK TODD: Let me ask you about your reaction to what happened in Colorado.
DONALD TRUMP: Okay, I think it's terrible. It's terrible. It's more of the same, and I think it's a terrible thing.
TODD; You know, they-
TRUMP: And he's a maniac. He's a maniac.
TODD: A spokesperson, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood said, is concerned that the heated rhetoric around the Planned Parenthood debate could have had an adverse effect basically on this mentally disturbed individual. Do you think the rhetoric got out of hand on Planned Parenthood?
TRUMP: No, I think he's a sick person, and I think he was probably a person ready to go -- we don't even know the purpose, I mean, he hasn't come out to the best of my knowledge with a statement as to why it happened to be at that location as opposed to a different area.
TODD: Well, we have reporting, we have reporting that he was talking about baby parts and things like that from law enforcement officials during his interview
TRUMP: Well, I will tell you, there is a tremendous group of people that think it's terrible that all of the videos that they've seen with some of these people from Planned Parenthood talking about it like you're selling parts to a car. I mean, there are a lot of people that are very unhappy about that. Now, I know some of the tapes were perhaps not pertinent, I know that a couple of people that were running for office or are running for office on the Republican side were commenting on tapes that weren't appropriate. But there were many tapes that are appropriate, in terms of commenting on, and there are people that are extremely upset about it. It looks like you're talking about parts to some machine or something, and they're not happy about it- (INAUDIBLE)
TODD: So that means you're not surprised that -- you're not surprised that someone might take an extreme reaction to this?
TRUMP: Well, this was an extremist, and this was a man who obviously -- and they said prior to this that he was mentally disturbed -- so he's a mentally disturbed person. There's no question about that.
TODD: But it does sound like that you understand why people might react this way?
TRUMP: Well, there's tremendous, there's tremendous dislike -- I can say that because I go to rallies and I have by far and you will admit that I think -- but I have by far the biggest crowds, nobody even close, and that includes Bernie Sanders, by the way, whose crowds are going down, down, down, like a rock ever since he gave Hillary a free pass on the emails. But I see a lot of anxiety, and I see a lot of dislike for Planned Parenthood. There's no question about that.
(...)
(25 minutes in)
TODD: And let me just ask you a quick domestic issue. I know you've been traveling. There was this shooting in Colorado Springs, and, overnight, there's now been reports that this shooter was yelling about baby parts. Planned Parenthood put out his statement: "We've seen an alarming increase in hateful rhetoric and smear campaigns against abortion providers and patients over the last few months. That environment breeds acts of violence. Americans reject the hatred and vitriol that fueled this tragedy." That, again, was from a Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain spokesperson.
Do you believe that the rhetoric got too heated on Planned Parenthood? And are you concerned that it may have motivated a mentally disturbed individual?
DR. BEN CARSON, GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think any hateful rhetoric directed at anyone from any source is too much. It's something that we need to get away from. We have to stop allowing ourselves to be pushed into different corners and then throwing hateful barbs at each other. You know, all you have to go is go to the internet and read any article, and you go to the comments section, you don't get five comments down before people are calling each other idiots and all kinds of names. You know, when did we become so immature? We must somehow manage to regain the high ground and understand that we're not each others' enemies, even though we may have some differences of opinions about things. Let's stop trying to destroy each other, and let's work constructively, let's put things on the table, let's have a conversation about the rationale for our approaches.
TODD: I'd say a good way to end things, Dr. Carson. Appreciate you coming on Meet the Press, and travel home safely, sir.
DR. CARSON: Thank you.
TODD: You got it. Coming up, more on whether it was hateful rhetoric that led to that attack in Colorado. As I told you, Planned Parenthood indicates yes. But first, there are 63 countries in the coalition taking on ISIS, so why does it seem as if no one is actually helping the United States?
