• by Howard Polskin , October 2, 2018

One surprising result in the aftermath of the Sept. 27 SCOTUS confirmation hearings was the thunderous defense of Judge Kavanaugh by the right-wing media. A rebuttal of some sort was expected -- but this was a full-throated snarl with a wrinkled nose and bared fangs. Sort of reminiscent of the body language of a certain federal nominee last week.

Because I follow right-wing media outlets every day for my website TheRighting, I have a front-row seat to the reporting, commentary and insights coming from the red side of the media landscape.  It’s truly an alternative reality for anyone who consumes a media diet of what used to be called mainstream media (for those of you who need a cheat sheet, that would be network news programs, most daily newspapers, and major news and opinion magazines.  It’s the media that our teachers used to urge us read or watch.)

The right-leaning media see the events of the day through an entirely different lens.  When the political news environment hits the boiling point, as it did last week, this becomes vividly clear. 

To bolster my point, I’ve collected the most colorful conservative stories that were published on right-wing websites in the three business days after Sept. 27.  Have a look.

Friday, Sept. 28

By far the most incendiary headline and story of the day was RedState’s “It’s About Time a Privileged Male Like Brett Kavanaugh Got Mad.”  Reporter Kimberly Ross basically applauded the fact that Kavanaugh grew a pair and bit back instead of grinning and bearing the onslaught.

Biz Pac Review jumped headfirst into the fray with a claim by a prominent D.C. lawyer who questioned Dr. Ford’s emotional well-being.  The headline said it all: “Lawyer Claims Dr. Ford Is a Deeply Troubled Person with a History of Psychological Discord.”  

LifeZette played the Clinton card (this was inevitable) with this story: “Clinton Rape Accuser Charges Democrats with Double Standard.”

The Washington Times won the prize for the nastiest personal swipe of the day with this lead graf in a story about Dianne Feinstein: “Dianne Feinstein is not exactly the Wicked Witch of the West, though she is from the Left Coast and does a convincing imitation of Cruella de Vil, who tormented all those innocent puppies in ‘101 Dalmatians.’”

Monday, Oct. 1 

The vicious attacks on Feinstein continued on Monday, led by this story on WND. Here’s the lead: “Look at the women who are aggressively going after Brett Kavanaugh: Dianne Feinstein, D-CA (a nasty old woman who helped orchestrate the attack on Kavanaugh); Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY (wants to run for president); Kamala Harris, D-CA (wants to run for president); and Mazie Hirono, D-HI (wants men to ‘shut up’) are all evil.”  

Townhall described Flake as a “simpering sap” and added that "it’s sad to see what was once allegedly a man be utterly emasculated in public and then proceed to dance to please his new masters.”  

Meanwhile, The New York Post editorial board alerted its readers that the media were scrutinizing poor Judge Kavanaugh but were treading lightly on Texas Democratic Senate contender Beto O’Rourke.  “Rest assured,” the editors wrote, “that if there’s a rumor that, in third grade, young Brett Kavanaugh yanked on the ponytails of the girl in the second row (war on women!), The New York Times, NBC News and phalanxes of their journalistic colleagues will be all over it.”

Tuesday, Oct. 2

PJ Media published a pointed service piece headlined “How to “Christine Blasey Ford-Proof Your Daughter.”  Their suggestions: take her to church, teach her to shoot and be chaste. It may not win a National Magazine Award for useful service journalism, but it certainly was the headline of the week.  

Maybe the smartest story of the week -- if you felt Kavanaugh was unfairly targeted -- was TheBlaze’s story of a rape survivor who mistakenly misidentified her attacker, who wound up spending 10 years in prison.

The week’s strangest story was published courtesy of Infowars and charged that “Christine Blasey Ford co-authored a science paper that involves her carrying out mass 'hypnotic inductions' of psychiatric subjects as part of a mind control program that cites methods to ‘create artificial situations.’” I have no earthly idea what that means, but it sounds pretty nasty.

Peter Baker of The New York Times wrote an article Sept. 27 suggesting that the country is so divided it feels like we’re two countries living under the same border.  After reading the stories I’ve cited above, who could reasonably argue against his point?