CNN’s State of the Union co-moderator Dana Bash is always quick to interrupt and correct her Republican or conservative guests when they make claims she believes are false or misleading. Yet, on Sunday when Bash brought up the Supreme Court case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis had no interest in doing the same to Biden’s Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg when he made the pants-on-fire claim that there’s “no evidence” wedding website maker Lorie Smith was requested to design a website for a same-sex wedding. He then went a step forward and lied through his teeth that Smith went into the “wedding business” to provoke this recent Supreme Court case.
These outright lies would never be allowed to go unchallenged if they were uttered by a Republican cabinet official. Sadly, that’s exactly what happened. Bash turned to Buttigieg and asked her long winded question:
The Supreme Court ruled, as you know, that a Christian web designer is not required to make websites celebrating same-sex weddings, due to her religious objections. Justice Neil Gorsuch argued that if the court had ruled the other way, then, quote, governments could force an unwilling Muslim movie director to make a film with a zionist message, they could compel an atheist muralist to accept a commission celebrating evangelical zeal, and they could require a gay website designer to create websites for a group advocating against same-sex marriage.
After reading Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s well thought out legal reasoning, Bash asked if there’s “any merit to that argument.”
Buttigieg claimed there wasn’t and then began smearing Smith and her business 303 Creative LLC: “I think it's very revealing that there's no evidence that this web designer was ever even approached by anyone asking for a website for a same-sex wedding.”
“As a matter of fact, it appears this web designer only went into the wedding business for the purpose of provoking a case like this,” Buttigieg falsely claimed.
Bash let Buttigieg say these unproven claims without any pushback or clarification. Instead of following up, she proceeded to move onto another topic and let the smears stand.
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The transcript is below:
CNN’s State of the Union
7/2/2023
9:16:01 a.m. EasternDANA BASH: The Supreme Court ruled, as you know, that a Christian web designer is not required to make websites celebrating same-sex weddings, due to her religious objections. Justice Neil Gorsuch argued that if the court had ruled the other way, then, quote, governments could force an unwilling Muslim movie director to make a film with a zionist message, they could compel an atheist muralist to accept a commission celebrating evangelical zeal, and they could require a gay website designer to create websites for a group advocating against same-sex marriage. Is there any merit to that argument?
PETE BUTTIGIEG: No, there isn't. And I think it's very revealing that there's no evidence that this web designer was ever even approached by anyone asking for a website for a same-sex wedding. As a matter of fact, it appears this web designer only went into the wedding business for the purpose of provoking a case like this.
