Old left-wing media biases sometimes die hard. Deadspin blogger Dave McKenna is still making an issue of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's coaching of girls' youth basketball. Months after he was exonerated by the FBI of claims of sexual misconduct and confirmed to the Supreme Court, McKenna claims it's news that the justice is still coaching and relays the shocking tip from an anonymous source that Kavanaugh might not actually be an "intolerant douchebag."
Earlier this fall, while Kavanaugh was fighting false allegations of sexual misconduct, he said the smear campaign might destroy his future as a girls' youth basketball coach. Over the weekend, he coached his 12-and-under girls' team to second place in a tournament.
Taking the low road, McKenna writes mockingly, "Brett Kavanaugh’s still got coaching on his calendar after all." Apparently he thinks the seriousness of Christine Ford Blasey's unproven charges that Kavanaugh attacked her should have warranted him getting the boot as a youth coach.
During testimony to the Senate Judicial Committee, Kavanaugh said those phony charges that he sexually abused women many years ago might bring his passion for coaching youth basketball to an end. McKenna claims Kavanaugh "moaned" about this and calls it "one of the many, many lowlights of the proceedings."
“I love coaching more than anything I’ve ever done in my whole life,” Kavanaugh said in his opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “But thanks to what some of you on this side of the committee have unleashed, I may never be able to coach again.”
On Sept. 18, USA Today's Erik Brady agreed, saying the nominee "just might be right" and asking "But should he?" be allowed to coach again. Brady also remarked, "He shouldn’t – at least not until further investigation has concluded." USA Today also tweeted this:
USA Today later re-edited the story and deleted the tweet and Brady's remark about keeping Kavanaugh off the court pending an investigation. Nevertheless, the publication's true, pathetic thoughts on the matter had been demonstrated. And Margot Cleveland, who contributes to The Federalist, USA Today and other publications, tweeted that the harm to the judge's reputation was not undone. Medium's Mary Flowe also demonstrated reckless media harm in her story: "Brett Kavanaugh may never coach girls basketball and it's not our problem."
This past weekend, Coach Kavanaugh's Blessed Sacrament team competed in the 2018 Dick Brown Memorial Turkey Shootout CYO basketball tournament in Hyattsville. Nevertheless, McKenna let fly with insults:
"The rest of the testimony notwithstanding, Kavanaugh’s claim about being an ardent supporter of girls hoops is unimpeachable. Tournament director Joe Sego tells me that Kavanaugh has brought teams to the event—named after longtime DC-area youth coach Dick Brown, who died in 2006—for at least the last four years. Word around D.C. basketball circles is that the FBI actually contacted youth hoops referees during their September investigation of Kavanaugh and asked about his conduct during the games. 'I think everybody said he wasn’t an intolerant douchebag,' says one source familiar with the background check."
McKenna had another snide remark to direct Kavanaugh’s way after the justice's team fell to Holy Redeemer in the championship game. The biased writer says there is "No need to blame anybody’s bias for the result, however."
