While CNN media guy, Brian Stelter, normally puts on a kind of halfway-decent act when pretending to be an objective journalist, when the liberal media needs all hands on deck to help smear a Republican Supreme Court nominee, he drops the act it in a snap. That’s exactly what happened during Sunday’s so-called “Reliable Sources” where he actively teamed up with left-wing radicals to lob smears and misinformation at Judge Brett Kavanaugh and the right.
Stelter began the program by pretending to be obtuse and claimed he didn’t see how the media took the side of Democrats in the battle for the Supreme Court seat. He even feigned shock when veteran journalist Jeff Greenfield called out CNN for not focusing on news enough and just running left-wing opinion for hours on end. But Stelter knew exactly what he was doing.
American Conservative Union Chair Matt Schlapp was on the lone conservative on the entire program (and for only a small part of it) to push back on the nonsense. “What I do want to focus on the dishonesty at the hearing. Because many, many fact checkers have concluded that Kavanaugh was dishonest at the hearing. That he said things that were misleading,” Stelter told him.
“What fact checkers,” Schlapp pushed back. “They're funded by left-wing donors.” The bitter CNN host snapped back at him, claiming “that’s not true.” But that was a lie. PolitiFact has seen income streams from left-wing organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Craig Newmark Foundation. Newmark was actually a fan of Stelter’s show, what does that tell you?
What was the big falsehood Kavanaugh allegedly told that “many, many fact checkers” were calling him out on? According to Stelter, it was how much the Judge drank in his youth. “Now, I do believe he probably blacked out in college. Lots of college people -- kids blackout,” Stelter declared.
Stelter’s supposed indisputable evidence for his assertion? Speculation from Lynn Brookes, the friend of Kavanaugh’s second accuser. Schlapp fired back by stating the obvious (which apparently zoomed right over Stelter’s head), “He is the only person, Brian, who can answer that question. How dare anyone say that they know or can get into the innermost part of his soul and tell him when he blacked out and when he didn’t.”
Immediately following Schlapp, Stelter did bring on Jessica Valenti, columnist for Medium and the two joyously volleyed liberal anti-Kavanaugh talking points back and forth. “When I thought about if Dr. Blasey Ford came out and acted the way that Judge Kavanaugh did, she would not be credible. They would have taken her out by security,” she bitterly argued with no pushback from her host. “That is something I kept coming back to again and again, and just how angry and dishonest Kavanaugh was.”
The two chattering hens agreed that it was appalling that Kavanaugh would be upset by what he saw as unjust accusations of being a “gang-rapist”. And the new insinuation from the USA Today that he’s a pedophile didn’t help. You ever think that might be the case, Brian?
According to Valenti (who Stelter apparently agreed with because he said nothing), the right loved Kavanaugh’s fiery defense because they supported sexual assault:
I think part of the reason so many on the right were really praising this sort of rageful diatribe that he went on was, he was really epitomizing this moment of backlash that we're in among entitled white men who are furious about being finally held to account. It wasn't just about this hearing, but about the broader movement that's been happening over the last year.
As if the two cases were somehow related, Stelter noted that “this Friday when the FBI investigation is due, the anniversary of the first Harvey Weinstein story in the New York Times.” “He looked like a conservative radio host! He sounded like a conservative talk show host,” Stelter shouted, going back to how angry Kavanaugh was. “He sounded like Sean Hannity! He expressed the kind of resentment and fury that they express on the radio every day.”
Building off of him, Valenti was aghast that he “the disdain in his voice (…) I can't even believe I have to be here and answer these questions.”
After this disgrace of a performance by Stelter, it’s now completely impossible for him to ever again claim he’s not a liberal hack. This is CNN.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN
Reliable Sources
September 30, 2018
11:19:13 a.m. Eastern(…)
BRIAN STELTER: You've litigated that on CNN in recent days. I don’t want to go there. What I do want to focus on the dishonesty at the hearing. Because many, many fact checkers have concluded that Kavanaugh was dishonest at the hearing. That he said things that were misleading.
MATT SCHLAPP: You can't do that. What fact checkers?
STELTER: Let me show you.
SCHLAPP: They're funded by left-wing donors.
STELTER: That’s not true. Well, he’s what he said, at the hearing on Thursday.
SCHLAPP: Well, which one?
STELTER: Let's watch.
BRETT KAVANAUGH: I liked beer. I still like beer, but I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out.
STELTER: Now, I do believe he probably blacked out in college. Lots of college people -- kids blackout. Here is what one of his college friends said to Chris Cuomo.
LYNNE BROOKES: There had to be a number of nights where he does not remember. In fact, I was witness to the night that he got tapped into that fraternity. He was stumbling drunk in a ridiculous costume saying really dumb things. And I can almost guarantee that there's no way that he remembers that night.
STELTER: If Kavanaugh lied on Thursday, does that make him a fit Supreme Court justice?
SCHLAPP: Look, I think it's a very serious thing to give false testimony to the Senate. And I wouldn't blame senators for voting against him if they thought he did that flagrantly. But let’s look at what you’re talking about.
I watched that interview with Chris Cuomo with another former classmate as well. That woman said, I think he drank too much, but I didn't see any inappropriate sexual behavior. Blacking out is a very specific question. When you can't remember anything that happened. He is the only person, Brian, who can answer that question. How dare anyone say that they know or can get into the innermost part of his soul and tell him when he blacked out and when he didn’t.
(…)
11:24:08 a.m. Eastern
STELTER: And Jessica, I want to ask you the same question I asked Matt Schlapp. What did Thursday feel like to you as a viewer?
JESSICA VALENTI: I mean, it was difficult to watch. I know a lot of women felt the same way that I did. It was sort of unbelievable she even had to be there going through that. The big, broad thing that stood out to me was the disparity in standards that we have for women and men. When I thought about if Dr. Blasey Ford came out and acted the way that Judge Kavanaugh did, she would not be credible. They would have taken her out by security. That is something I kept coming back to again and again, and just how angry and dishonest Kavanaugh was.
STELTER: Not all men share Matt Schlapp's views, not all women share your views. But there is a profound gender divide in this country right now. I feel about it. You worry about it. I worry about it. I think you worry about it.
(…)
STELTER: I wanted to look at Thursday for a moment and look how the coverage of Kavanaugh was played. In the morning, when Ford testifies, it was, there was unanimous agreement over on Fox News, and CNN, and MSNBC that she was very credible, that it was a very important moment. But then things changed when Kavanaugh testified. Let's watch the split when Kavanaugh testified.
[Awkward silence]
I don't know if I actually have it. I'm sorry. I'll see if we can get it.
Essentially, on Fox News, the reactions were different than what they were on MSNBC. What we were seeing were folks saying: Kavanaugh, now, has dug himself out of the hole that he was in. He has a fighting chance here. People were praising his anger and his rage. To your point, we wouldn't have seen that if it was a woman expressing that.
VALENTI: Absolutely not. I think part of the reason so many on the right were really praising this sort of rageful diatribe that he went on was, he was really epitomizing this moment of backlash that we're in among entitled white men who are furious about being finally held to account. It wasn't just about this hearing, but about the broader movement that's been happening over the last year.
STELTER: The #MeToo anniversary, this Friday when the FBI investigation is due, the anniversary of the first Harvey Weinstein story in the New York Times.
VALENTI: Right. And I think for a lot of conservatives, seeing him act in that way was what they have been waiting to see. Right? They wanted the moment of backlash. They wanted that moment of pushback.
STELTER: He looked like a conservative radio host! He sounded like a conservative talk show host!
VALENTI: He sounded like Alex Jones!
STELTER: I don’t know if I’d go that far.
VALENTI: I would.
STELTER: He sounded like Sean Hannity! He expressed the kind of resentment and fury that they express on the radio every day.
VALENT: Right. And it was, again, coming from this place of -- I mean, the disdain in his voice, right? I can't even believe I have to be here and answer these questions.
(…)
