Most Americans didn’t watch PBS during Thanksgiving Week, but the Liberal Network aired an updated documentary on November 24th, loaded with the title Supreme Revenge: Battle for the Court. If you had seen it, you would have seen something so biased and exaggerated that it was almost amusing. The Frontline Show presented creepy black and white pictures, creepy music and endless hyperventilating on Mitch McConnell’s decades-long search for a Conservative Supreme Court.
With a menacing black and white image that made the Senate majority leader look like a PBS version of a Batman villain, narrator Will Lyman resented: “With Kavanaugh’s confirmation, McConnell had moved the court further to the right. But then, just over a month before the 2020 elections, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the most prominent liberal on the court, died. It was Mitch McConnell’s moment again. He was ready. “
After the liberal journalist Nina Totenberg stated again that it was Ginsburg’s dying wish that her seat “not be occupied”, Lyman McConnell sounded heartless: “But that was not what Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader of the Republican Senate, had in mind.”
The documentary repeatedly portrays McConnell as a cold, reckless operator: “McConnell didn’t care that it was just weeks before the election and that he had refused to fill a seat in the last year of the Obama presidency. “Later the narrator gave a direct lecture:”Election day is drawing near … the hearings for Amy Coney Barrett were a rush job … the partiality was on full display. “
As if telling a trailer for a Halloween movie, another dark photo and creepy music added to the frightened discussion of McConnell’s ultimate victory: “Well, the Supreme Court that Mitch McConnell built … is above the new president.”
Perhaps it didn’t cross the mind of the Liberals at PBS, but many Americans actually LIKE conservative victories and don’t find them scary at all.
(A previous version of Supreme Revenge aired on PBS in August. It was updated with new material including the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the confirmation battle for Amy Coney Barrett.)
A partial transcript is below. Click “Expand” for more information.
Front: Supreme Revenge: Battle for the Court
11/24/2020
NINA TOTENBERG: Your family said to her: “Is there anything that you would like to write?” She said: “My dearest wish is that my seat will not be filled until a new president has been elected.”
NARRATOR WILL LYMAN: But that was not what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had in mind.
…
NARRATOR: With Kavanaugh’s confirmation, McConnell had moved the court further to the right. But then, just over a month before the 2020 elections, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the most prominent liberal on the court, died. It was Mitch McConnell’s moment again. He was ready.
…
JOSH HOLMES (Former McConnell Chief of Staff): This is a conversation he has had with his members for at least a year at this point. And McConnell made it very clear to his colleagues that if there is a vacancy that always offers that position, we will fill a position.
NARRATOR: McConnell didn’t care that it was just weeks before the election and that he had refused to fill a seat in the final year of the Obama presidency.
SENATOR DICK DURBIN: The fact that it took place during the presidential election is unprecedented. It has never happened in the history of the Senate, for all its explanations and excuses. It’s never been done. And especially considering what happened four years ago, it really seemed hypocritical.
NARRATOR: But McConnell shrugged off the charge of hypocrisy.
TED OLSON: It wouldn’t get Senator McConnell into the stage of being called “ruthless” or “resolute”, or whatever adjectives or labels his behavior might be. He did it because he could.
DONALD TRUMP: Today it is my honor to nominate Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
NARRATOR: Election day is approaching …
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Solemnly swear the testimony you will give to this committee …
NARRATOR: The hearings for Amy Coney Barrett were a hasty job.
…
GRAHAM: The confirmation hearing …
MARK LEIBOVICH: He said, “We are here to validate Justice Barrett.” “Confirm,” which basically revealed the whole deal right there. It’s like, “We don’t think about anything, we’re just here to vote.”
…
NARRATOR: The partiality was fully exhibited.
…
NARRATOR: Democrats complained … But in the minority they were powerless
CARRIE JOHNSON (NPR): Mitch McConnell had the votes from start to finish. He knew and acted like that all the time.
NARRATOR: Just a week before the presidential election, the new judiciary was sworn in.
…
JOHNSON: For Senator McConnell, that would be achieving his life’s goal. With Justice Barrett on the court, you now have a solid Conservative split of 6-3 on the court.
NARRATOR: Three decades after Bork, it was now Mitch McConnell’s Supreme Court.
…
NARRATOR: Well, the Supreme Court that Mitch McConnell built is above the new president.
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