The Media Research Center needed something to distract its followers’ attention from the house hearings on the Capitol riot, which it tried to insist wasn’t news. It found that distraction in the form of a man who planned to shoot Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, following the leak of a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, but turned himself in before he even allowed himself to pull the trigger. The MRC went into full screech mode and declared this an “assassination attempt” and “failed … murder” — again, despite the fact that nobody was shot by anyone and the man turned himself in before anything even happened — and ranted that the non-right-wing media wasn’t paying enough attention to this:
- BREAKING: Murder Attempt on Pro-Life SCOTUS Judge Brett Kavanaugh
- UPDATE: CNN Denied Attempted Kavanaugh Assassin Was Armed, Cries ‘Both Sides’
- Telemundo IGNORES Justice Kavanaugh´s Would-be Attacker (also in Spanish)
- Liberal Media Encouraged TARGETING Justices at Home Before Assassination Attempt
- PBS Runs Short 50 Second Story on Kavanaugh Assassin Attempt, PBS Website Ignores
- USA Today Has NOTHING on Threat to Kavanaugh Today, Other Papers Yawn
- Priorities: Morning Networks Spend Over 3x More on January 6 Than Kavanaugh Threat
- The View Decries Boosting SCOTUS Security After Assassination Attempt, Send ‘Thoughts’
- Shameless Nicolle Wallace Blacks Out Coverage of Kavanaugh Assassination Attempt
- Bill Maher Slams New York Times for Burying Attempted Murder of Kavanaugh
- CNN Uses Kavanaugh Assassination Attempt to Highlight ‘Anti-Abortion Extremists’
- No Time For Kavanaugh, Cross Focuses on Need For Stripper Unions
- Liberal Media: WHAT Foiled Supreme Court Assassination Plot?
- After Attempt on Kavanaugh’s Life, NY Times Won’t Give Schumer the Palin Treatment
- NPR Offered NO Story (Just Two Vague Mentions) on the Failed Kavanaugh Murderer
- Sunday Shows IGNORE Kavanaugh Threat, Spend Over An Hour on Jan 6
- NewsBusters Podcast: Fox News Haters Have No Shame on Kavanaugh Scare
- ABC Ignores Kavanaugh Threat to Gush Over Jean-Pierre’s LGBTQ Identity
- MRC’s Houck Tees Off on Liberal Media Memory-Holing Attempt on Kavanaugh’s Life
- NPR Skipped Attempted Murder of Kavanaugh, But Obsesses Over Tiny Boston Neo-Nazi Group
Speaking of memory-holing, the MRC was certainly not going to mention the inconvenient fact that the anti-abortion movement has a 50-year legacy of violence and murder, as it similarly refused to do when it was fearmongering about violence in the wake of the leaked opinion — and they got mad when others did. Alex Christy accused CNN of “both side-ism” — ironically, a favorite MRC tactic — in bringing it up:
CNN is still stuck on both sides-ism when it comes to reporting on the failed assassination attempt of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. It could even be argued that New Day Weekend went beyond both side-ism on Saturday and used the attempt to highlight violence from the other side.
[…]Against a backdrop of old news footage, Watt continued, now using the occasion to highlight that “Abortion has long fueled fury since the Roe v. Wade decision nearly 50 years ago. Anti-abortion extremists have carried out multiple bombings and murders.”
Reverting back to both sides-ism, Watt added, “Now, the DHS since the leak of that draft opinion that could Roe v. Wade also fears pro-abortion rights extremist violence. So, there is now a high fence around the highest court in the land.”
It is almost impossible to mention that a failed attempt to assassinate a liberal judge would have resulted in so much denunciations of “both sides.” Instead, we would’ve gotten much talk about how the GOP needs to watch its tone.
Actually, the MRC would be complaining that any attempt to assassinate a liberal justice got too much coverage, because liberals don’t deserve coverage.But you stick with that narrative, Alex.
Remember that the MRC spent a lot of time defending Kavanaugh during his nomination process — even using him to spew more hate at Anita Hill — in part by denigrating the women who accused him of sexual misconduct. As a right-wing apparatchik who reliably rules in favor of conservative causes, he remains useful to the MRC.