On HLN's Across America with Carol Costello, Angelo Carusone points out that conservatives still won't say Christine Blasey Ford is lying
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
From the October 4 edition of HLN's Across America with Carol Costello:
CAROL COSTELLO (HOST): This hearing, it's going to have a lasting effect on America, right? That's what this Time magazine cover is trying to get across.
ANGELO CARUSONE (PRESIDENT, MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA): Yes, it will. And I think that, when I look at the way that some senators are coming out and talking about this report, this FBI report, I'm as much interested in what they're saying as what they're not saying. Because what they're not saying is that Professor [Christine Blasey] Ford is a liar. What we see is this sort of Washington speak where people get up there and say, “oh there's no additional corroboration,” but you know what they're not saying? They're not calling her a liar.
And the reason being is because deep down, they either recognize that what she's saying felt and seemed credible, but they're going to continue to act in a way that is political, and because they're not really being pressed to answer that. Because both things can't be true at the same time. The report can't prove that [Brett] Kavanaugh did nothing and should have a seat on the Supreme Court, and that Christine Ford is also telling the truth as well. One of them has to be misinforming and I think it's important.
...
CARUSONE: What Scott [Jennings] just said, and his answer, and what you had observed before about the senators and their responses -- that gets back to what you had initially pointed out, the lasting problem and damage that this conversation will do to this country. Because even in Scott's answer, right, he doesn't want to say that she wasn't telling the truth, it's “oh, she might believe it,” and “she has holes in her story” -- even though one party is already well-known to have a drinking problem, of which there were potential likely blackouts, or at least lack of memory. And I also think that -- so one I think part of the reason there's going to be lasting damage is because there's a whole bunch of people out there that seem to recognize what happened but are ignoring it anyway, and that's why you see the protests, that's why there was so much passion in those people on that bus.
And I think there's another lasting problem here too, because if you look at, to become a member of the Bar Association, if you look at all of their rules, the standard isn't whether or not you're being put in jail, it's not beyond a reasonable doubt. The standard for becoming a lawyer, for becoming a member of the Bar, is that you can't even have the appearance on impropriety. And you know why? Because the court, unlike the executive branch or Congress -- which each have their own powers -- the executive has guns and our military and can enforce things, Congress has money and the purse strings. The only things the Supreme Court and the courts have is faith and confidence in people. It's like Santa Claus, it's only relevant if there's a belief in the heart, and if you lose and crumble the confidence in that institution and the people that represent it, it loses its power.
Previously:
Bret Stephens' despicable Kavanaugh apologia
Pro-Kavanaugh shills claim nominee is the victim of a “lynching.” Have they ever seen a lynching?
Fox host: “Democrats should be ... apologizing to” Brett Kavanaugh