It makes perfect sense that the ladies of ABC’s “The View” would turn to “poop” when going to bat for journalists Thursday during “Hot Topics.” In this case, liberal journalists. Specifically, the Guardian‘s Ben Jacobs, who was either body slammed or nearly strangled on Wednesday at a campaign event in Montana by House GOP hopeful Greg Gianforte.
Police have charged Gianforte with a misdemeanor.
In all seriousness, The Mirror is taking a stand. According to trusted witness accounts of what happened, including BuzzFeed‘s Alexis Levinson, who was there and saw a lot of what happened and appeared on CNN’s “New Day” Thursday to discuss it, and a Fox News crew, the mild-mannered Jacobs was not at fault. He asked a question that a would-be lawmaker didn’t like concerning the healthcare bill moving through Congress and got thrown to the ground for it.
He never once raised his voice to the candidate. He pushed a little with his question, but not nearly to the extent that reporters sometimes do. Can you imagine Gianforte in a press huddle in the Capitol?
(With this fantasy in mind, let’s hope he gets elected?)
This is not even remotely comparable to ex-Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields, who claimed she was manhandled by candidate Donald Trump‘s campaign manager Corey Lewandowksi during a campaign event in 2016. Fields tried to press charges, but it all fell apart because she inflated her story and there was nothing to back up her claim. Not even the video, which you had to watch 500 times before you could maybe see — if you strained your eyes real hard and hated Lewandowski just a little — that there was slight contact.
Big League Politics founder Patrick Howley was suspended from Breitbart News after he had the audacity to question Fields’ account of what happened to her. Later, higher-ups agreed with him, reinstated him and Fields resigned.
“Michelle Fields is on the case of the Ben Jacobs ‘body slamming,” Howley snarked on Facebook late Thursday night. “It’s like how Marcia Clark comes back for commentary on every celebrity acquittal.”
It’s never ok to assault anyone — be it a male liberal reporter or a female conservative one. But it’s also not ok to embellish an incident to the point where it doesn’t resemble what happened. Thankfully, in this case, we have witnesses from all ends of the political spectrum.
Naturally, the ladies of The View sided with Jacobs.
“This one, he panicked and turned on him immediately,” Joy Behar declared of the candidate. “That’s what happened.”
Behar said President Trump’s attitude toward the media is largely to blame. “We are being led by a child,” she said. “…He’s giving permission for people to act like assholes.” (The show bleeped out her curse word.)
Jedediah Bila, who previously worked at Fox News and is the token righty on the show, said, “This guy did nothing wrong but did his job.”
A horrified Sara Haines asked, “This is your idea of conflict resolution?…Why would you run for office if you can’t take a tough question?”
Whoopi Goldberg didn’t excuse Gianforte. But she pointed out that lawmakers fist fighting didn’t used to be abnormal. When co-host Sunny Hostin marveled at the idea of the Constitution allowing a lawmaker like this to get elected to Congress, Whoopi offered up historical precedence.
“In medieval days they’d beat each other up all the time,” she said. “They’d just smack the poop out of everybody.”
Hostin remarked, “As a journalist I feel like the media is under attack, under constant attack.”
Whoopi had the last word on the matter.
“Just because you call someone liberal media doesn’t mean that you can put your hands on them — sorry,” she said as the show drifted to a commercial break.
