In a nearly five-minute liberal, sexist commentary masquerading as a comedy routine, NBC’s Late Night host Seth Meyers lambasted Carly Fiorina and pro-life conservatives early Wednesday morning and reveled in the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) indictment by declaring that Congress should “defund planned bulls***” instead of the abortion provider.
Constantly referring to CMP as “an anti-abortion group” and the videos as “heavily edited” without any doubt, Meyers started by touting the “surprising indictment” and sneered at Republicans as being “more excited about these tapes than your I.T. guy was for Force Awakens.”
Meyers played a clip of Fiorina from the second GOP debate daring Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama “to watch these tapes” and then launched the first of two sexist attacks against Fiorina: “You dare them? Is this a presidential campaign or a middle school sleepover? ‘Mr. President, we have some bad news. You have been dared.’”
Whining that “Republican candidates made this into a national political scandal,” Meyers claimed that “most independent fact-checkers insisted the tapes were deceptive” and following a clip of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer reporting on the indictment, Meyers gloated:
So, did you get that? Not only did they clear Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing, they even went so far as to indict the two anti-abortion activists who made the videos. They indicted them for using fake identification for the purposes of fraud and not only that....one of the activists was also indicted on a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs.
Meyers continued this diatribe with no definitive punchlines and mentioned how uniform the 2016 GOP candidates had been on this issue but circled back to Fiorina to attack her even more: “But the candidate who arguably stretched the truth the most when it came to the videos was Carly Fiorina. She was challenged repeatedly by journalist fact checking her claims, and for months, refused to back down.”
Meyers aired portions of Fiorina’s contentious interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on December 11, 2015 and reacted to it with more sexist remarks as the crowd repeatedly laughed:
She's got a real Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction vibe there. [LAUGHTER] “Let's be very careful about what we're saying!” So Carly Fiorina made these lies a huge part of her campaign and even after they were repeatedly proven false, she doubled-down on them. But hey, she took that gamble and it paid off. If she hadn't, she might not be polling as high as ninth place.
Turning back to the larger debate over abortion, Meyers lectured that “it's always going to take everyone's best effort on both sides to have an adult conversation about it which is why instead of defunding Planned Parenthood, I propose we defund planned bullshit.”
Meyers continued the attacks on opponents of Planned Parenthood as merely “bullshit where you edit tapes and you make fake ids and set up a make-believe company and send a phony e-mail trying to buy fetal tissue?”
The monologue that couldn’t have been more pro-abortion and as if it were written by Planned Parenthood concluded with a talking point from the organization: “Just the bullshit you put work into, all for the purpose of defunding something that provides healthcare for over 650,000 women.”
The relevant portions of the transcript from NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers in the early hours of January 27 can be found below.
NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers
January 27, 2016
12:41 a.m. Eastern
SETH MEYERS: A months-long grand jury investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood produced a surprising indictment that could have implications for the presidential campaign. For more on this, it's time for A Closer Look. [APPLAUSE] Now as you may recall, last July, an anti-abortion group released a series of secretly recorded, heavily edited tapes of Planned Parenthood officials allegedly discussing the sale of fetal tissue. Republicans got more excited about these tapes than your I.T. guy was for Force Awakens. [LAUGHTER] And the tapes quickly became a huge issue in the Republican primary.
(....)
CARLY FIORINA [at CNN’s Republican Presidential Debate, 09/16/15]: I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes.
MEYERS: You dare them? [LAUGHTER] Is this a presidential campaign or a middle school sleepover? [LAUGHTER] “Mr. President, we have some bad news. You have been dared.” [LAUGHTER] So the Republican candidates made this into a national political scandal. The tapes prompted a series of investigations, even as Planned Parenthood and most independent fact-checkers insisted the tapes were deceptive, but yesterday a grand jury finished its investigation which means the day is here when Planned Parenthood haters can finally say they were proven right.
CNN’s WOLF BLITZER [on CNN’s The Situation Room, 01/25/16]: Just now in Texas, a grand jury said it will not, repeat not indict Planned Parenthood on charges the organization broke the law.
MEYERS: What? But Ted Cruz just called them a criminal enterprise. And Ted Cruz would never say something that wasn't true.
(....)
BLITZER [on CNN’s The Situation Room, 01/25/16]: In a stunning twist the grand jury says it did find wrongdoing by the people who made the videos and indicted two people behind the recordings.
MEYERS: So, did you get that? Not only did they clear Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing, they even went so far as to indict the two anti-abortion activists who made the videos. They indicted them for using fake identification for the purposes of fraud and not only that, because he sent an e-mail to Planned Parenthood attempting to purchase fetal tissue, an e-mail that Planned Parenthood never responded to, one of the activists was also indicted on a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs. [LAUGHTER] First of all, there's a misdemeanor charge for purchasing organs? [LAUGHTER] And second of all, even if he doesn't do any jail time, that's a crappy thing to have on your resume. [LAUGHTER] Listen, you are our top choice for the job but we have to ask you, were you arrested for purchasing human organs? [LAUGHTER] “Yeah, but I'm also proficient in Excel so.” [LAUGHTER] So Republicans trumpeted these videos for months. Chris Christie called for shutting down the government over Planned Parenthood funding. Ted Cruz said he would intervene personally to force the Justice Department to investigate. But the candidate who arguably stretched the truth the most when it came to the videos was Carly Fiorina. She was challenged repeatedly by journalist fact checking her claims, and for months, refused to back down, like in this interview last month on CNN.
(....)
CNN's CHRIS CUOMO [on CNN’s New Day, 12/11/15]: Of course they were edited.
FIORINA [on CNN’s New Day, 12/11/15]: It's amazing that we're still having this conversation.
CUOMO [on CNN’s New Day, 12/11/15]: No, no, no. Let's be careful about what we're saying. Of course they were edited. What you're saying is —
FIORINA [on CNN’s New Day, 12/11/15]: Oh, let's be very careful about what we're saying, Chris. Let's be very careful about what we're saying.
CUOMO [on CNN’s New Day, 12/11/15]: You were saying that the —
MEYERS: She's got a real Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction vibe there. [LAUGHTER] “Let's be very careful about what we're saying!” So Carly Fiorina made these lies a huge part of her campaign and even after they were repeatedly proven false, she doubled-down on them. But hey, she took that gamble and it paid off. If she hadn't, she might not be polling as high as ninth place. [LAUGHTER] Look, the abortion debate is an emotional one and it's always going to take everyone's best effort on both sides to have an adult conversation about it which is why instead of defunding Planned Parenthood, I propose we defund planned bullshit. [LAUGHER] You know, the bullshit where you edit tapes and you make fake ids and set up a make-believe company and send a phony e-mail trying to buy fetal tissue? [APPLAUSE] Just the bullshit you put work into, all for the purpose of defunding something that provides healthcare for over 650,000 women. This has been A Closer Look.
