OPINION:
Sen. Rand Paul went on “This Week” on ABC and, after being labeled by host George Stephanopoulos a liar and characterized as a political hack and practically called out as carrying water for the former president, Donald Trump, fought back with this: George, you’re not so much a “journalist” as “a fool.”
And Paul was being polite.
That’s what most in the media these days deserve.
Stephanopoulos — who was once a Bill Clinton White House flak — kicked off by asking Paul the obviously leading, subtly snarking, “This election was not stolen — do you accept that fact?”
It’s that old liberal sleight of hand that pretends something controversial is not at all controversial, and that the only people who think it’s in fact controversial are the stupidly uninformed.
It’s how arrogant liberals treat climate change — as “settled science,” when of course, it’s far from settled.
But as Paul pointed out, leftists in the media have been, with increasing frequency, leaving out the middle man, i.e., the liberal guest, to make the partisan hit themselves.
“Well, what I would say is that the debate over whether or not there was fraud should occur,” Paul said, Breitbart noted. “We never had any presentation in court. Most of the cases were thrown out for lack of standing, a procedural way of not hearing it.”
And on some of those matters, the U.S. Supreme Court could still step in — should step in, actually. When state legislatures clearly have the jurisdiction to make election law, and those laws are simply tossed to the side by politicians in the executive at the state level, it’s incumbent on higher courts, on the U.S. Supreme Court, to clarify — and to confirm legislative powers. Framers didn’t form a government of checks and balances, and separations of powers, for nothing.
Pretending these electoral violations didn’t occur, when they clearly did, doesn’t make the violations disappear. It simply erodes trust in the system.
Stephanopoulos: “No election is perfect, but there were 86 challenges filed by President Trump and his allies in court. All were dismissed. Every state certified the results. … The Department of Justice, led by William Barr, said there’s no widespread [evidence] of fraud. Can’t you just say the words, ‘This election was not stolen?’”
Polls show a large percentage of Americans believe the election was rightfully won by Trump — and even some Democrats agree.
“[E]ven among independents, 42 percent said they do not currently trust the election results,” Vox reported, in a January 11 story about its Vox/DFP poll.
From December, it was this, as reported by the Hartford Courant: “A new Quinnipiac University poll says 77% of Republicans believe there was widespread voter fraud during the November election between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden. In a deeply polarized nation, 60% of registered voters polled believe that Biden’s victory was legitimate, but 34% do not.”
Seems a national conversation is indeed in order.
Or, as Paul suggested: Perhaps the Democratic Party’s water carriers in the press could stop pretending the election outcome is settled science.
“George, where you make a mistake is people coming from the liberal side like you — you immediately say everything’s a lie instead of saying there’s two sides to everything. Historically, what would happen is I said I thought there was fraud, you would interview someone who said there wasn’t. Now you insert yourself in the middle and say the absolute fact is that everything I’m saying is a lie,” the Kentucky Republican said.
That’s exactly how the left-leaning members of the media have been acting: like paid defenders of the party, rather than paid watchdogs for the people. Remember Candy Crowley of CNN doing Barack Obama’s bidding by furthering his deceptive messaging against then-GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney?
Many in America’s media think it’s their job to defend the Democrat way — which is barely disguised code for attacking conservatives.
Stephanopoulos received a greatly deserved smackdown. Now if only all his fellow Democrat defenders masquerading as unbiased journalists would receive the same.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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