Reaching to new Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Senate confirmation vote, Friday’s CBS Mornings debased itself with cartoonish fluff and hero worship over Jackson and the “emotional,” “exciting,” and “proud” moment that so many had “people...watch[ing]” that the country’s “collectively...beaming with...pride” for her.
Simply put, words like ebullient were insufficient to describe the 10-minute-and-three-second-long tsunami of gush that emanated from the CBS Mornings studio off Times Square.
Co-host, Democratic Party donor, and Obama family friend Gayle King led the show with Jackson and “front pages from newspapers all around the country really tell[ing] the story,” surmising that “a lot of people around the country watched this vote.”
If it wasn’t clear how much of a leftist King is, she added that “it was pretty exciting to see.”
Congressional correspondent Nikole Killion called it a “very emotional day” thanks to “a moment of historic celebration” with “[c]heers...from the Senate floor” and “watch parties across the country.”
Referring to her confirmation hearings, Killion swooned: “The 51-year-old mother of two stood firm on her career accomplishments during the Senate hearings...despite some who tried to depict Jackson as soft on crime and a judicial activist.”
Speaking with grandstanding Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), Killion boasted: “What did this vote mean to you personally?”
After Killion wrapped, King went full fan girl, saying she would “so look forward to” and “hope to meet her.” But for today, King said she “can’t imagine how [Jackson] must be feeling” and “[waking] up knowing” you “made history.”
“[A] very proud moment for a lot of people,” she added.
The Jackson coverage continued into the second half-hour by highlighting James Meredith, the plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court case argued by Constance Baker Motley, one of Jackson’s idols.
King was back at it again, introducing correspondent Jericka Duncan by giddily saying she “just love[s] saying...soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.”
After the piece on Meredith and a Washington pre-teen who wants to become a Supreme Court justice, Duncan appeared back with the table and shared that grandmother and aunts attended the hearing because they were so “inspired” by what President Biden did.
Co-host Nate Burleson then had a cringe take about how America’s “collectively...beaming” for Jackson (click “expand”):
KING: I love hearing what Mr. Meredith has to say about what this means. I mean, you can't help but look at it and think I'm so sorry it took this long —
BURLESON: Yeah.
KING: — when you look at the course of history, it’s — really sorry it took this place, but so glad that it has finally happened.
BURLESON: Yeah.
DOKOUPIL: And people have pointed out she's unlikely to change the ideological shift of the court.
KING: Yes.
DOKOUPIL: But, for the first time in the 230-year history of the Supreme Court –
KING: Yes.
DOKOUPIL: — the majority will not be white men.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah.
DUNCAN: Got to start somewhere.
BURLESON: And one image comes to mind — you remember the committee testimony where her daughter — 17-year-old daughter Leila —
KING: I loved it.
BURLESON: — was looking at her mother —
KING: Yes, the way she smiled.
BURLESON: — beaming with pride.
KING: Yes.
BURLESON: It seems like collectively as a country we are all beaming —
KING: Yep.
BURLESON: — with that same pride.
KING: Such a good analogy.
DUNCAN: Absolutely.
KING: I love that picture.
BURLESON: Yeah.
DUNCAN: Absolutely.
With more to say, King led off the 8:00 a.m. Eastern hour with more liberal fluff and insisted Jackson’s “an inspiration for everybody in this country” and “not just for black women or people of color.”
While still overwhelmingly positive, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today were in slightly better control of their faculties.
On ABC, congressional correspondent Rachel Scott griped that “Republicans headed for the door” after the vote tally while, after Scott’s 7:00 a.m. Eastern hour report, fill-in co-host Linsey Davis gushed that it was “[a] transformational moment for the court and country.”
NBC chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander chose to rehash the narrative from the Thursday night newscasts, cheering how more than half the justices won’t be white men.
Alexander closed his story by fawning over Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA):
And yesterday, there was another powerful moment...when Kamala Harris gave Raphael Warnock, a black senator from Georgia, a piece of stationery to write a letter to his daughter about that moment. He wrote it to his daughter Chloe, in part saying, “she is the first Supreme Court justice who looks like you, with hair like yours, you can achieve anything you set your head and heart to do. Love you. Dad.
Friday’s Team Biden propaganda was brought to you thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as AARP (on CBS), Amazon (on CBS), Carmax (on ABC), Citi (on NBC), and Dawn (on CBS). Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from April 8, click here.
