On Sept. 4, anchors and reporters on each cable-TV information channel repeatedly described a hearing through which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared earlier than the Justice Committee as “contentious.”
It was, it is true. But that description does not go practically far sufficient in describing what transpired over the three-hour hearing. Words not stated, like, “insane,” “wild,” “jaw-dropping” and “mind-blowing” hit nearer to the mark. It was unbelievable TV.
“Here’s what’s important to keep in mind,” NCS’s Dana Bash stated because the hearing wound down. “This was not just a typical, run-of-the-mill political food fight.”
Or, as Bill Hemmer put it on Fox News, “This hearing … was something else.”
This was the wildest hearing I’ve ever seen
It was, certainly. I’ve been watching these hearings for years, and have seen loads of them descend into political posturing. But I’ve by no means seen one like this.
Kennedy, the Health and Human Services secretary, was grilled relentlessly over his earlier assaults on vaccines, his dealing with of the division he runs and the remedy of its workers, amongst different issues. That’s typical, you would possibly suppose, as these hearings have lengthy been a partisan sound-bite alternative, with senators much less involved about solutions and extra about getting a clip on Fox News or MSNBC, relying on their political alignment.
Not Thursday. Several (although certainly not all) Republican senators joined in, urgent Kennedy for solutions. And when you suppose this was all carried out with well mannered, stately decorum, you could not be extra improper. Kennedy typically shouted on the senators, who shouted at him. And it wasn’t only a matter of raised voices, both.
“He lobbed insults, which many of them gave right back,” Bash stated.
For occasion, Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington instructed Kennedy that his place on mRNA vaccines disagreed with science. Then this occurred:
“The mRNA technology is about continuing the research to be ready for the next flu, influenza, the next pandemic,” Cantwell stated.
“You are so wrong on your facts,” Kennedy stated.
“You’re a charlatan,” Cantewll stated. “That’s what you are.”
Or this, when Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire stated Kennedy was limiting entry to vaccines.
“That’s crazy talk,” Kennedy stated. “You’re just making stuff up.”
“Sometimes when you make an accusation, it’s kind of a confession, Mr. Kennedy,” Hassan stated.
The Senate hearing was like a bar struggle between Bears-Vikings followers
Maybe this can be a good place for a reminder that this was a public hearing involving U.S. Senators and the secretary of Health and Human Services, not a bar struggle over the Bears-Vikings sport or one thing. You don’t typically hear a witness testifying earlier than a senate committee say issues to senators like, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about, you’re talking gibberish” or “You’re not understanding how the world works,” however there it was on our TV screens Thursday. Just beautiful stuff.
Sen. Raphael Warnock, whereas extra restrained in tone, didn’t maintain again in any other case. He instructed Kennedy that he’s a “threat to the American people.”
Kennedy stated, “How am I a threat?”
“You are a hazard to the health of the American people,” Warnock stated. “I think you ought to resign.”
Cantwell, Hassan and Warnock are Democrats. But Republicans joined in with criticism.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a doctor whose vote was essential in Kennedy’s affirmation, performed an fascinating card. He requested Kennedy if Donald Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, which delivered a COVID-19 vaccine in document time. What might Kennedy, who fulfills the unwavering loyalty to Trump that’s a necessary job requirement, say, as he has additionally repeatedly attacked vaccines as unhealthy and agreed Thursday with the false claims that the mNRA vaccine can kill folks?
When push involves shove, praising Trump is job one. Kennedy is aware of that, and stated he agrees Trump deserves the Nobel Prize. This opened the door for repeated questions concerning the inconsistency in his solutions. And they had been many.
Sen. John Barraso of Wyoming, like Cassidy a Republican, instructed Kennedy that Americans “don’t know who to rely on,” and that there have been “real concerns that safe, proven vaccines like measles, like Hepatitis B, could be in jeopardy. That could put Americans at risk and reverse decades of progress.”
Some Republicans rallied to Kennedy’s protection. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin stated there wasn’t sufficient time to “refute all the falsehoods that have been confidently spewed during this hearing.”
Numerous it boiled down as to if you imagine in many years of confirmed science and knowledge, or Kennedy’s disproved theories.
People like Ari Fleischer, the previous White House press secretary for George W. Bush, do not assist. Immediately after the hearing, Fleischer appeared on Fox News and stated, “It’s so hard to know who or what to believe when it comes to medicine anymore.”
It actually isn’t. It’s only a matter of whether or not you let political allegiance outweigh frequent sense. But dissent just isn’t allowed.
‘How are you able to be that ignorant?’
One of the extra outstanding exchanges occurred between Kennedy and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia. Warner requested Kennedy if he believed that 1,000,000 Americans died from COVID.
“I don’t know how many died,” Kennedy stated. When Warner, incredulous, requested if Kennedy thought the vaccine prevented extra deaths, Kennedy was noncommittal, saying he want to see the info.
“The secretary of Health and Human Services doesn’t know how many Americans died from COVID, doesn’t know if the vaccine helped prevent any deaths,” Warner stated. “And you are sitting as Secretary of Health and Human Services? How can you be that ignorant?”
Happily so, apparently. If you needed to seek out the most effective instance of the disconnect between science and absurdity, the reality and lies, Thursday’s hearing was it.
Fox News, NCS hosts react to capturing: ‘Freedom vs. protecting children’
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This article initially appeared on Arizona Republic: Fox News to NCS, RFK Jr. Senate hearing shocked | Opinion