This week’s Liberal Media Scream features an extreme example of the media’s portrayal last week of all GOP questions to Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson as racist.
On TV show after TV show and in liberal newspapers, GOP senators were called racists if they didn’t offer praise for the “historic” nominee — a ridiculous standard, especially for a pick with a rookie appeals court record and who wouldn’t even define what a “woman” is.
But some went further, charging that Republicans simply don’t want black judges on the court, which might come as a surprise to senior Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, the lone black judge on the court — and a conservative. He was chosen by former President George H.W. Bush, who rejected questions that he picked Thomas only because of his race, as you can see in the above C-SPAN clip.
Subsequent Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, didn’t name a black judge to the highest court.
On Real Time with Bill Maher, host Bill Maher actually said of Republicans, “I think they would be thrilled to have no black seats on the court.” Guest John Heilemann, national affairs analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, agreed, calling the GOP questions “racist top to bottom through the whole week.”
From Friday’s Real Time:
BILL MAHER: We have the first black woman, let’s go back — some of the people who don’t remember this also. The first black we’ve ever had, we’ve only had two, Thurgood Marshall [in] 1967. When he died, it was — George [H.W.] Bush … was president, and so they accepted the idea there was now a black seat on the court, and that’s how we got Clarence Thomas. Now, I thought it was not exactly cricket to give the black seat to someone who didn’t represent the majority of black thinking in America, but here’s the difference. At least they accepted, George Bush did, the idea of at least one black seat on the court, right? I think today’s Republicans would not do that. I think they would be thrilled to have no black seats on the court. OK, a lot of them. OK, so —[Applause]
JOHN HEILEMANN: Judging by the way they treated this nominee, which was racist top to bottom through the whole week.
Brent Baker, vice president of research and publications for the Media Research Center, explains our weekly pick: “The casualness with which these two leading media figures accuse an entire political party of virulent racism is in itself astounding, confusing a preference for conservative over liberal policies for racism. All Republicans I know would be ‘thrilled’ to replace every white liberal on the court with conservative black men and women.”
Rating: FOUR out of FIVE SCREAMS.
