Following day one of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Senate confirmation hearings, the liberal bias and hero worship were nauseatingly abundant on Tuesday morning as ABC, CBS, and NBC swooned over “what a moment” it was for America with “history on the horizon” for the first Black woman nominee. All the while, she was never labeled a liberal or progressive (as was the case on Monday morning).
ABC’s Good Morning America must have been gunning for future White House or Jackson interviews with the love they showered on their allies. Co-host Amy Robach gushed in a tease of: “[h]istory on the horizon” with “Jackson preparing for a marathon day of questions,” but also fretted that “Republicans are planning to attack her record.”
Tossing to congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, co-host T.J. Holmes boasted: “We now turn to history. Senate confirmation hearings...now underway and Judge Jackson will be facing...question[s] after delivering a very personal opening statement yesterday.”
Scott — who embarrassed herself in trying to question Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) — swooning over “history made in this room” and “on Capitol Hill” as “[t]he weight of the moment [sunk] in” for an emotional Jackson.
Scott laid it on thick with personal details (click “expand”):
SCOTT: Jackson introducing herself to the country as the daughter of schoolteachers. She credits her father, who later became an attorney for shaping her passion for law.
JACKSON: My father in particular bears responsibility for my interest in the law. My very earliest memories are of watching my father study. He had his stack of law books on the kitchen table while I sat across from him with my stack of coloring books.
SCOTT: Seated there behind Judge Jackson, her two daughters and her husband Patrick Jackson, a cancer surgeon overwhelmed with emotion.
JACKSON: I have no doubt that without him by my side from the very beginning of this incredible professional journey, none of this would have been possible.
SCOTT: If confirmed, she would be the second working mother serving on the court.
JACKSON: Girls, I know it has not been easy as I've tried to navigate the challenges of juggling my career and motherhood and I fully admit that I did not always get the balance right. But I hope that you've seen that with hard work, determination, and love, it can be done.
Just as CBS also did, Scott ran soundbites from Southern University Law Center students who came to Washington “to show their support and witness history.”
Scott concluded by noting “Republicans already previewing their attacks calling her soft on crime,” but then dismissed those questions because “Democrats do not need any Republican support to confirm” her.
Before moving on, Holmes turned to Robach and weekend co-host Whit Johnson to offer his admiration: “And, guys, no matter how it works out, this is something we have never seen in the history of the country. A black woman is at SCOTUS confirmation hearings in the senate. So, something to see.”
CBS Mornings wasn’t any better. Co-host and Democratic Party donor Gayle King insisted Jackson “vowed to defend the Constitution and remain independent” and wondered to congressional correspondent Nikole Killion: “[H]ow tough do you think it could get for the judge today?”
Killion stated “both parties say they want this to be respectful” and “Jackson’s team says she's ready” to rebut Republican attempts “to drill down on her record.”
“I also spoke to her parents who told me they thought yesterday went well and was one of the most proudest moments of their lives,” she added.
Like her colleagues, Killion painted Jackson as non-partisan, saying she “acknowledg[ed] her family and confirm[ed] her commitment to the law.”
At the start of the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour, King wanted to send out one final valentine to Jackson (click “expand”):
KING: But can we say something about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. What a feeling that must have been to be there where she was with her parents being able to sit there and watch her.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah.
BURLESON: That’s right.
KING: A feeling for both of them.
BURLESON: There was a lot of emotion in the room. You could her husband tapping his foot —
KING: Yes, I saw that.
DOKOUPIL: — constantly and, at one point, she went for a tissue. I don’t know if she was on the verge of tears, but a lot of people in the room were.
KING: It was quite a moment.
BURLESON: Quite a moment.
KING: That’s so true.
BURLESON: What a moment that was.
Going to NBC’s Today, they were still pro-Biden but, like his basement campaign, tried to put us to sleep. Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Garrett Haake said Tuesday would be “the most pivotal day of her confirmation hearings where senators get up to 30 minutes each to put her record and life under the spotlight.”
That said, he made sure to have a line about her family: “Backed by beaming family, including her daughter and teary-eyed husband, Jackson thanking her parents for encouraging her on this historic course.”
Remember when family was seen as a negative for a Supreme Court nominee? We do! See here, here, here, and here for a few examples.
And prior to a soundbite of Haake speaking to Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Haake summed up how Democrats felt about her (as Republicans “preview[ed] lines of questioning and attack”): “Democratic senators noting magnitude of the moment confident in her ability to present her own best defense.”
Tuesday morning’s pathetic White House propaganda was made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as Charles Schwab (on NBC), Claritin (on ABC), and Nature’s Bounty (on CBS). Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant transcripts from March 22, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).
