No Spin News – September 25, 2018

Brett Kavanaugh on Fox News Last Night
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his wife Ashley Kavanaugh sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Martha McCallum. This was Judge Kavanaugh’s first press appearance since two women have brought allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Judge Kavanaugh has unequivocally denied all allegations and continued to do so during the interview.

In the interview, Judge Kavanaugh pointed to his own testimony with Senate Judiciary Committee staff during a phone call that took place last week, when he also unequivocally denied these allegations. “Under penalty of felony, I denied this categorically,” he said. He noted that three other individuals who Ford has said were at the party where the alleged assault took place have not been able to corroborate her story.

When pressed on whether he had ever considered withdrawing from this process, Kavanaugh took a more aggressive tack and firmly said he would not be doing so. “I’m not going to let false accusations drive us out of this process,” he said. “I’m not going to go anywhere.

Ted Cruz Chased Out of Restaurant by Ford Supporters
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was forced to leave a Washington, D.C. restaurant on Monday September 24th, after being met by protesters chanting "we believe survivors."

Ted Cruz and his wife Heidi Cruz were seen being questioned by protesters in videos posted on Twitter by the account Smash Racism DC. The couple was at Fiola, an Italian restaurant near the Capitol building. Smash Racism DC is the activist group that led the protest forcing Ted Cruz to leave the restaurant.

"I know you're very close friends with Brett Kavanaugh, do you believe survivors sir?" an unidentified woman in the video asks of Senator Cruz as he sits down in a booth at the restaurant. She continued to press. "Senator, I have a right to know what your position is on Brett Kavanaugh" to which Senator Cruz replied: "God bless you, ma'am."

As chanters grew louder, Cruz and his wife were seen leaving the restaurant out of frustration. "Let's go ahead and go," the senator said as he put his coat on to exit.

Ted Cruz's opponent in the upcoming midterm elections, Democrat Beto O'Rourke, condemned the protesters in a tweet on Tuesday, saying that it was "not right" that the Cruz's were forced to leave the restaurant. "The Cruz family should be treated with respect," he added.

The group behind the protest posted similar videos back in June of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen being forced out of a DC Mexican restaurant as protesters demonstrated the administration's "zero tolerance" policy over undocumented immigrants at the U.S. border.

Liberal PAC Targeting #MeToo-Accused Politicians, but Only Targets Republicans, Gives Prominent Democrats a Pass
A liberal PAC, The Enough Is Enough Voter Project which is affiliated with Women’s March is targeting political candidates accused of #MeToo-related misconduct. The PAC appears to only be going after Republican candidates and includes zero Democrats on its list of targeted candidates.

So far the PAC’s list of targeted candidates only includes Republicans and excludes several prominent Democrats accused of sexual misconduct, domestic abuse or covering up harassment. The group has currently singled out five Republican candidates, two at the congressional level and three at the state level, for defeat in the 2018 elections.

The Enough Is Enough Voter Project launched on Monday to “end a culture that protects the careers of powerful men who abuse women or other survivors, and put this issue before the voters,” Stanford Law School professor Michele Dauber said in an announcement on Monday. Dauber, who specializes in feminist, gender and sexuality studies, launched the PAC in coordination with the Women’s March Sister Network and Feminist Majority, a pair of left-wing nonprofits.

President Trump’s United Nations Speech
President Donald Trump delivered a sharp rebuke of multinational authority at the United Nations on Tuesday, drawing headshakes and even laughter from fellow world leaders as he boasted of America’s economic and military might.

Speaking in triumphal terms, Trump approached the address as an annual report to the world on his country’s progress since his inauguration. He crowed that in “less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”

Rather than applaud or indicate they were impressed, the audience began to chuckle and some broke into outright laughter. Trump appeared briefly flustered before joking that it was not the reaction he expected but “that’s all right.”

Trump seized his opportunity to assert American independence from the international body. He was unapologetic about his decisions to engage with the erstwhile pariah North Korea, remove the U.S. from the international Iran nuclear accord and object to U.N. programs he believes are contrary to American interests. “We reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism,” Trump said.

He referenced a long list of U.N. initiatives, from the International Criminal Court to the Human Rights Council, that his administration is working to undermine.

Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years
45 percent of Americans now have a favorable view of the Republican Party, this is a nine-point gain from last September's 36 percent. It is the party's most positive image since it registered 47 percent in January 2011.

The Republican Party's favorability rating for the last decade averaging 39%, compared with the Democratic Party's 44%. Only one other time in the last decade has the Republican Party had a significantly higher score than the Democratic Party. That one exception came in November 2014, immediately after elections that saw Republicans capture control of the Senate and expand their majority in the House, when 42% rated the GOP favorably and 36% the Democrats.

The percentage of Republicans and leaners with favorable views of their party grew from 67% last September to 85% now.

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Takes Shot at O’Reilly
This morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America” host George Stephanopoulos interviewed White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on the president’s consistent support for accused sex predators.

In the interview this morning, George Stephanopoulos said, “There does seem to be a pattern here. When Roy Moore is accused, when Bill O’Reilly is accused, when Roger Ailes is accused, when Rob Porter is accused, and now when Brett Kavanaugh is accused, the president consistently every single time takes the side of the man.”

Sarah Sanders responded saying, “It’s interesting that you say that. It’s a lot of Democrats that like to ignore Keith Ellison and Cory Booker. They love to fight and champion women until they disagree.”

George Stephanopoulos Defended Bill Clinton in the 90’s:

1992: Sam Donaldson interviews George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week”: 

Sam Donaldson: Now, Governor Clinton has a character problem, but I take it that your line of counterattack is…
George Stephanopoulos: …Bill Clinton has no character problem.
Donaldson: He has not denied that he has engaged in marital infidelity, he only denied a specific one.
Stephanopoulos: He said that there were problems in his marriage.
Donaldson: That’s right and he said he has talked about the draft and to some people that’s a character problem.

Stephanopoulos: Bill Clinton’s passed his character test throughout his life and throughout this campaign and he’s shown it through commitments to real fights. What he’s going to do in this campaign is to focus on what’s important to the American people, on the jobs and the education. That’s what the American people care about. They want to move into the future, they don’t want to be diverted by side issues.

1999: Excerpt from George Stephanopoulous’ book, “All Too Human”
In the book “All Too Human” published in 1999, Stephanopoulous writes that he felt like a "dupe" when he first learned of the truth of the affair between President Clinton and Lewinsky. He wrote that he doubted Bill Clinton's denials in January 1998 when the scandal first broke.

"I didn't believe [Bill] Clinton, and I couldn't buy the party line -- which meant I was the enemy now," Stephanopoulos wrote. "I didn't think I was a hypocrite, because my defense of Clinton against past bimbo eruptions had been predicated on my belief that he wouldn't create new ones ... For several years, I had served as Clinton's character witness. Now I felt like a dupe."

Diane Sawyer interviews George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “20/20”:
Stephanopoulos: I do owe the president a lot and I’m grateful for the chance he gave me, and I defended him through an awful lot. When this story broke [Lewinsky] um, I did not say the president’s lying. I did not say he should be impeached.

Diane Sawyer interviews George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “20/20”:
Sawyer: His [Stephanopoulos] anger only subsided after August 17th, when the president admitted an inappropriate relationship to the grand jury.
Stephanopoulos: And just when he finished reading it, um, he took off his glasses and he just had this quiet moment and his face just fell, and in that moment, I did feel sorry for him. Here is a guy who just worked his whole life to be president. That was heartbreaking.

Diane Sawyer interviews George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “20/20”:
Sawyer (voiceover): Stephanopoulos said goodbye to the first lady.
Stephanopoulos: She came up to me and just put both her hands on my shoulders and said ‘I love you George Stephanopoulos.’ And I said, ‘I love you too.’ And I walked out the door.
Sawyer (voiceover): And two years later he would end his journey and his book with these words.
Stephanopoulos (voiceover): Now I watch from faraway, enjoying the show, but wondering too. Wondering what might been if only this good president had been a better man.

Mail Time!
• I'm beyond angry about Kavanaugh, Bill. It is the last straw for me. I'm so angry that a good man like Kavanaugh would be subjected to these filthy disgusting tactics. Who is behind all of this? And what do we do about it?

• I hate to say this, but the well-suited, soft-handed Republicans are going to have to fight fire with fire.... as in what is good for the goose is good for the gander. If they can dig up just a little true dirt about certain high-flying Democrats, maybe just maybe this constant and growing attack on Republicans will stop. What do you think of this method?

• Bill, if Judge Kavanaugh gets confirmed and if he is innocent of Ms. Ford's allegations, can he file a defamation suit against her?

• Sure, Nike stock is up. Their name is in the news. That's it. Once it goes away, the folks like me who know why their name is in the news will continue to NOT buy their products. Those who don't know why will just move on and forget.

Word of the Day: Sniffish