Why CNN continues to give Scott Jennings time to pollute our airways is beyond me. During a discussion about a portion of Michelle Obama’s speech in Kalamazoo, MI this Saturday, where Obama discussed the fact that abortion bans harm everyone, not just women, State of the Union host Jake Tapper asked his panel to weigh in on the speech, and Jennings, as usual, managed to defend the indefensible and turn the conversation into a whine-fest about how mean Democrats and never-Trumpers are being to MAGA Republicans.
“Former first lady Michelle Obama speaking to male voters there with the message, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage. Does that help get votes for Kamala Harris, do you think?,” asked Tapper
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) responded by pointing out that the issue of abortion does affect men as well, and the “fact that, ever since June 2022, Democrats have consistently outperformed what the polling was in those elections, whether it was the special in Alaska, or Upstate New York, where we won two very difficult congressional races, that November, where Democrats historically overperformed a midterm election.
Boyle also noted that despite some ridiculous assertions to the contrary, women have not forgotten about the Dobbs decision.
Kristen Soltis Anderson agreed that the issue is a problem for Republicans, but managed to open the door for Jennings’ griping later during the segment.
“So if I was the Trump campaign, for them to close on a message that includes a lot of focus on abortion would be a concerning strategic choice. It’s the right choice for them. It would concern me as the Trump campaign,” Soltis Anderson replied.
“But I think telling male voters that you don’t care about this issue enough and you’re wrong and bad if you don’t, I do worry, is not — I think that that’s just not a good way to deliver a message. I think telling someone you’re going to scold them for not agreeing with you is never as good as a different tack to invite them to agree with you.”
Karen Finney responded that she “actually heard something different from the former first lady, which is to say, you have stakes in this issue as well. It is the women in your lives who will also suffer in ways that, as we have seen, even if you just say take it back to the states, we saw a woman die in Georgia.”
She also pointed out that since Dobbs, many people, including young Black men, are worried about what other rights might be taken away.
Which was followed by this whine-fest, revisionist history by Jennings.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I take the Obamas’ message all in, his and hers, when he went out the other day and told African-American men that, if they didn’t vote for Kamala Harris, it was because they just didn’t like the idea of having a woman president.
I think this browbeating, I think this scolding, this idea that if you don’t vote Democrat, then you can’t control your own rage, I don’t know anybody that feels rageful. I do know working-class men who feel like they have been beaten down in this economy.
I think there has been a lot of scolding and browbeating on this front. I think these never-Trump people are scolding and browbeating Republicans who decide they’d rather have a center-right government. And I just think when you’re closing on that sort of hateful message, it means you’re worried.
This is rich coming from a defender of Trump and Vance, who have nothing but pure hatred and rage to sell. Everything is projection with these people. And the people who have had their lives and health have threatened by the Dobbs decision have every right to be angry about what’s happened.
The ones who should worry about this being the closing message are Republicans, not Democrats.
