Network journalists on Monday night and Tuesday morning hailed the “icon” “rock star” Ruth Bader Ginsburg, insisting that “everybody loves” one of their “favorite women.” Going beyond cheering the recovery the Supreme Court justice from cancer — something every decent person should do — the hosts seemed to assume that most Americans appreciate her hard-left ideology.
CBS This Morning reporter Nikki Battiste highlighted Ginsburg’s appearance at the University of Buffalo on Monday, cheering, “We start off with one of my very favorite women.” She enthused, “Love her!” Co-host Gayle King agreed, extolling, “Everybody loves her!”
Over on Monday’s NBC Nightly News, Andrea Mitchell repeated how the “Notorous RBG” nickname came about for Ginsburg, noting the justice was “receiving an honorary degree and acknowledging her notoriety.”
Mitchell ended the segment by heralding the “rock star” justice: “The oldest justice on the court, described today as an opera loving-rock star showing no sign of slowing down.” Of course, Mitchell never once used ideological labels when describing the liberal.
On Tuesday’s Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos touted Ginsburg as a “pop culture icon”: “In her first public appearance since announcing treatment for pancreatic cancer, she made a quip about becoming a pop culture icon.”
This tone of assuming that everyone loves and endorses Ginsburg isn’t new. On August 3, 2018, Today’s Al Roker gushed, “I don’t think there isn’t a person out there who doesn’t love Ruth Bader Ginsburg!”
When Antonin Scalia died in the spring of 2016, the Washington Post’s headline complained, “Supreme Court conservative dismayed liberals.” While there was some praise after Scalia died (ABC and NBC honored him as a “legend” and an “original”), MSNBC before his death assailed the “terrible” justice as “the Donald Trump of the Supreme Court.”
Not quite a “rock star” that “everybody loves.”
A transcript of the CBS segment is below. Click “expand” to read more:
CBS This Morning
8/27/19
7:49
NIKKI BATTISTE: We start off with one of my very favorite women. Here are a few stories we think you'll want to talk about today. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made her first public appearances yesterday since had revealing she underwent a successful cancer treatment. The 86-year-old mused about her nickname before a packed crowd at the University of Buffalo in New York.
RUTH BADER GINSBURG: That's how it all began. She called it the Notorious RBG. After the Notorious B.I.G., which she said was altogether fitting and properly because, after all, we had one important thing in common: We were both born and bred in Brooklyn, New York.
BATTISTE: Love her! Earlier, the University School of Law awarded Justice Ginsburg an honorary doctoral degree She said her inspirations are Amelia Earhart and Nancy Drew.
GAYLE KING: Everybody loves her! Everybody is pulling for her. She gets treated for cancer and still keeps going and going and going. So great!
BATTISTE: She’s remarkable.
