The Supreme Court fight over Judge Brett Kavanaugh is over. It was a national disgrace brought on by the Democrats, their allies in the media, and the progressive grassroots. You all know the timeline. The hearings went well, except for a few moments of rancor from protestors. A smooth confirmation looked inevitable. And then, sexual misconduct allegations were hurled at Kavanaugh at the last minute.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) office had a letter from one of the accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, which she sat on for weeks. Her office received the letter in July and only dropped it at the last minute. Ford alleges Kavanaugh tried to rape her at a high school party. Second accuser Deborah Ramirez claims Kavanaugh exposed himself at a party at Yale. And a third accuser, Julie Swetnick, said Kavanaugh was part of a gang rape ring. All allegations are without evidence or corroborating witnesses. It’s straight trash. The fourth allegation was recanted, and the fifth was an anonymous letter sent to Sen. Cory Gardner’s (R-CO) office, which had no contact information. It was summarily dismissed as well—and rightfully so.
In the aftermath, CNN had the temerity to have a segment assessing the media’s role during these proceedings. Host Brian Stelter had Frank Sesno, director of the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, Olivia Nuzzi, and April Ryan on to discuss whether journalists sided with the Kavanaugh accusers. Well, of course, they did, but Sesno was the one who bashed the media for their apparent lack of standards.
Sesno mentioned what we already knew, which is that a) the media is biased, and b) their trustworthiness numbers are in the basement. Sara Fagan, a GOP strategist, was on Meet The Press Daily last week, where she noted that the Ramirez and Swetnick hearsay accounts would never have met editorial muster in the media two decades ago. Sesno agreed, citing his experience as CNN’s Washington bureau chief. He said he would have run with the Ford story since there were therapist notes and people said she recollected this alleged attack. There were corroborating pieces of evidence to that effect, but Ramirez and Swetnick’s shoddy stories would have been nixed. He had procedures in place during the Lewinsky Scandal to ensure hearsay didn’t make it on the air.
He also touched upon why people would continue to see the media as biased. Prior to his ripping into the media for its lack of standards, Senso noted that the week of Kavanaugh’s confirmation was an excellent week for the Trump administration. We had new trade deals with Mexico and Canada, a solid jobs report, the economy is booming, unemployment is at 3.7 percent, and he got Kavanaugh on the Court. By any measure, it was a solid week, but the press coverage was negative.
If you want to watch a slow dagger being inserted into the back of CNN, watch as veteran journalist Ted Koppel tells Stelter that his network, and many others, are Trump all the time because it’s good for business and that his employer’s ratings would be in the toilet if it weren’t for Donald Trump.
Video: To consternation of @BrianStelter, Ted Koppel contended during 10/1 Kalb Report @PressClubDC: “You would be lost without @realDonaldTrump. CNN’s ratings would be in the toilet without Trump.” Stelter: “Ted, you know that’s not true. You’re playing for laughs.” #NPCLive pic.twitter.com/XGZl9yNzqh
— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) October 3, 2018