Nothing in the media is more nauseating than the Both Sides mentality that infests the Sunday morning talk shows. Case in point: ABC News’ decision, earlier today, to give free air time to Republican Senator Rick Scott, one of the 147 Republican seditionists who refused to certify Joe Biden’s election win; and who, in the subsequent impeachment trial, voted to exonerate the coup maestro who’d stoked the failed violent overthrow.
Why do the inside-the-Beltway broadcasters continue to hype the fiction – especially now – that both parties are equally legitimate and thus deserving of equal time; that the quest for “balance” requires “on the one hand/on the other hand” coverage; that – even worse – the most frontal assault on the electoral process in American history should be flushed down the memory hole, and that those who abetted it should not even be confronted?
Florida man Rick Scott popped up today on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, and was treated as if he were just another politician called upon to refute “the other side.” He had no business being there. But since the ABC News team obviously deemed him worthy, the least that George could’ve done – while Scott was mouthing the usual GOP boilerplate (the “Biden agenda” is bad, whereas “the Republican party is the land of opportunity”) – was to ask Scott some pertinent questions.
Such as: Do you regret your refusal to certify President Biden’s win? Do you now believe that Biden was legitimately elected? Why haven’t you called on Trump to stop lying about the election?
Instead, the insurrectionist fellow traveler was given carte blanche to uncork a string of unchallenged howlers. For instance:
“I think we ought to bring people together, not sort of incite people to do the wrong thing.”
“We’ve got to respect our law enforcement community…What Republicans are trying to do all across the country (is) keep people safe.”
“I’m sure (Biden) is going to talk about unity and bipartisanship which he’s not done since he’s been up there.”
“Republicans believe in this country. We know we’re a beacon of light…This is not a racist country.”
That last statement cracked me up. Trump, and cheerleaders like Scott, tried to overthrow the election by insinuating (without a shred of evidence) that Black people en masse, in cities like Detroit and Philadelphia and Atlanta, had somehow committed massive fraud. Which seems pretty racist, at least to me; but alas, George Stephanopoulos didn’t bother to challenge his guest.
George did manage to point out, twice, that Trump “continues to spread lies about the election,” but he never asked whether Scott still endorses those lies – thereby enabling Scott, twice, to change the subject. And George did ask Scott why he recently went to Mar-a-Lago to give Trump “something called the Champion of Freedom Award” (a made-up prize), but when Scott explained his reasons (“I gave him that award for the right reasons…I mean he worked hard”), that answer was deemed sufficient as well.
Coup abetters like Scott should not be indulged on the Sunday talk shows, as if the behavior which they refuse to acknowledge warrants no further scrutiny. Instead, they should be labeled for their dark deeds – as WITF, the public broadcasting affiliate in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania region, already does. In a recent announcement, WITF pointed out that eight Pennsylvania congressmen supported Trump’s lies about election fraud and essentially voted to nullify Pennsylvania’s election results. WITF said that whenever these lawmakers are in the news, they would be described this way: “(Congressman x), who signed a letter asking members of Congress to delay certifying Pennsylvania’s electoral votes despite no evidence that would call those results into question, today introduced a bill…”
And the broadcasting affiliate explained it reasoning: “We understand this may be an unusual decision for a news organization to make. But these are not normal times. As disinformation and misinformation take more and more of a foothold in our social media feeds and dinner-table discussions, it is important for our journalists to adapt, as transparently as possible, to bring you the facts and not memory-hole the damage done to our democracy in the last three months.”
That’s the professional way to play it. That sure beats the rote bye-bye I heard today, when the seditionist got off Scott free:
“Senator Scott, thanks for your time.”