Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) came under fire over the weekend after deceptively editing a video and accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh of “punishing women.” What she failed to mention was that the video she posted had been intentionally edited to mislead voters.
Kavanaugh chooses his words very carefully, and this is a dog whistle for going after birth control. He was nominated for the purpose of taking away a woman’s constitutionally protected right to make her own health care decisions. Make no mistake – this is about punishing women. pic.twitter.com/zkBjXzIvQI
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) September 7, 2018
Harris and Planned Parenthood have come under fire after accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh of describing contraceptives as “abortion-inducing drugs” — when he was in fact only summarizing the position of a pro-life group, Fox News Reported.
The flashpoint came on Thursday when Kavanaugh was asked at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing about a case he ruled on that involved Priests for Life, who were challenging Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate that the group said violated their religious beliefs.
“That was a group that was being forced to provide certain kind of health coverage over their religious objection to their employees. And under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the question was first, was this a substantial burden on the religious exercise? And it seemed to me quite clearly it was,” Kavanaugh told lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“It was a technical matter of filling out a form in that case,” he said. “In that case, they said filling out the form would make them complicit in the provision of the abortion-inducing drugs that they were, as a religious matter, objected to.”
Pro-choice and anti-Kavanaugh groups seized on his reference to “abortion-inducing drugs.” Harris tweeted the video, but cut out the preface that showed Kavanaugh making it clear he was summarizing the arguments of Priest for Life.
This deceptive video came on the heels of Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) bragging about breaking Senate rules – when it turns out he actually didn’t – and adds to the list of the Democrats partisan theatrics that surrounded last week’s Supreme Court hearings.
Yet throughout this grandstanding, Sherrod Brown remained silent, refusing to condemn his colleagues’ behavior.
Brown’s ties to Harris and Booker are deep. He has consistently been an ally of Booker and Harris, voting with them in near-lockstep. Booker has helped furaise for Brown in the current election cycle, while Harris has maxed out her donations to his re-election campaign.
And just last week, the Ohio Democrats announced Harris would be the party’s keynote speaker for this year’s state dinner.
By embracing these national Democrats that made a circus out of the Supreme Court nomination and intentionally tried to mislead voters, Brown and the Ohio Democrat Party are once again proving just how out of touch they are with hardworking Ohioans, said Mandi Merrit, the Ohio spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.
“It seems that Sherrod Brown and Ohio Democrats think that over-the-top theatrics and misleading publicity stunts will help motivate their base in November,” she said. “Time and again, voters have rejected the obstructionist tactics espoused by Democrats for the results driven message of Republicans, but if Ohio Democrats want to continue this path of resistance – be our guest.”
Vice President Mike Pence said in weekend interviews that the Democrats had “embarrassed themselves” at the Kavanaugh hearings.
America Rising, a research firm that aggregates images of U.S. politicians, sent out an email alert Monday documenting “these embarrassing displays” on Capitol Hill. The image tracker stated:
“The Democrats’ behavior surrounding last week’s Supreme Court nomination hearings highlights the importance of holding them accountable. Weighing nominations to the country’s judiciary should not be a platform of political posturing or a testing ground for campaign rhetoric. America Rising Images is here to remind voters of these embarrassing displays now and in the future.”
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Anthony Accardi is a writer and reporter for The Ohio Star.
