CBS This Morning on Tuesday amplified the network’s one-sided narrative when it comes to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The show’s co-hosts wondered “what message” any kind of support for Kavanaugh sends to women. They also pushed the idea that women, like accuser Christine Blasey Ford, simply aren’t allowed to get angry.
Talking to Senator Joni Ernst, co-host John Dickerson offered this seemingly no-win question to the Republican: “What message does a vote of support for Judge Kavanaugh send to women in America?” However, Ernst, a backer of Kavanaugh, retorted: “What message that sends to women in America is that we are innocent until proven guilty in this great country.”
Other questions on Kavanaugh were similarly touting Democratic talking points. Dickerson asked Ernst: “Democrats are saying that [Kavanaugh's] descriptions of his past don't match the record. Is that important to you?”
Later, the co-hosts talked to Rebecca Traister, the author of a new book claiming women need to be angrier in how they deal with certain situations. Traister explained how “white men” like Kavanaugh have been allowed to scream, but not women:
REBECCA TRAISTER: If you saw the way that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified, it's impossible to imagine her going in -- though she was telling a story of assault and treatment that was terrible, it's impossible for us to imagine her going into that hearing room and saying, "I was assaulted! I've been dragged into the spotlight!" Screaming like that. She was, instead, consummately polite, solicitous, deferential. She said, “I just want to be collegial.” Her voice was calm and steady. She couldn't show angry emotion. It wouldn't have worked for her.
Brett Kavanaugh, on the other hand, came in and was able to snarl and yell and bluster and cry furious tears and confront and talk back to his questioners. He could use that anger as a tool to let us know that he saw himself as a victim. That he was being treated unfairly. That's a tool, the expression of anger and our ability to take it seriously, that white men have been able to use historically to amplify their points. But it works against women.
In July, the radically liberal Traister wrote in New York magazine that Republicans run a “brutal white patriarchal party.”
A partial transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
10/2/18
8:03
JOHN DICKERSON: Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa is with us from Capitol Hill. Senator, good morning.
JONI ERNST: Good morning, John. Thank you very much.
DICKERSON: Senator, Senator, on the question of the Kavanaugh nomination, Democrats are saying that his descriptions of his past don't match the record. Is that important to you?
...
DICKERSON: Is there a particular question you're anxious to get to the bottom of?
...
DICKERSON: What message does a vote of support for Judge Kavanaugh send to women in America?
ERNST: What message that sends to women in America is that we are innocent until proven guilty in this great country. And I have absolutely no doubt after reviewing Dr. Ford's testimony that she has suffered from something very traumatic in her lifetime. But simply the corroboration wasn't there with even the witnesses that she brought forward. So, believe me, we want those that -- those that are accusing others of coming forward if they have experienced something in their lifetime, it is important that they are heard. But, again, in the United States, people are innocent until proven guilty.
GAYLE KING: She said, senator, that she was 100 percent certain. And she also said that she knew Brett Kavanaugh. Does that matter?
...
8:32GAYLE KING: A year ago this week, the Me Too movement moved to the center of our national conversation. Allegations of sexual assault by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein spurred protests and triggered many women to speak out publicly, often for the first time. This has changed the political and cultural landscape and prompted backlash from some people who think it's gone too far. Those forces came to a head with last week's testimony by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford. In her book, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger, Rebecca Traister places the anger of women in its historical context. And she shows us where it could take the country in the future. The book, by the way, is published by Simon and Shuster which is a division of CBS. Rebecca, good morning and welcome.
REBECCA TRAISTER: Good morning. Hi. Good morning.
KING: You said women are taught that anger is unattractive, overly dramatic, a perversion of our nature and social norms because we're viewed as unhinge wanted and out of control. I would imagine you vehemently disagree with that, and the example of what we saw in Washington this week. You said it's a really good example of the ability of women's anger and the ability of men's anger, how?
TRAISTER: If you saw the way that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified, it's impossible to imagine her going in -- though she was telling a story of assault and treatment that was terrible, it's impossible for us to imagine her going into that hearing room and saying, "I was assaulted! I've been dragged into the spotlight!" Screaming like that. She was, instead, consummately polite, solicitous, deferential. She said, “I just want to be collegial.” Her voice was calm and steady. She couldn't show angry emotion. It wouldn't have worked for her.
Brett Kavanaugh, on the other hand, came in and was able to snarl and yell and bluster and cry furious tears and confront and talk back to his questioners. He could use that anger as a tool to let us know that he saw himself as a victim. That he was being treated unfairly. That's a tool, the expression of anger and our ability to take it seriously, that white men have been able to use historically to amplify their points. But it works against women.
