Tears and raw fury: Kavanaugh hearing makes for riveting TV

By David Bauder

AP Media Writer

NEW YORK

The nation’s political divide and the burgeoning #MeToo movement played out in a riveting daytime drama Thursday before millions of Americans who tuned in to the Capitol Hill hearing on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Raw fury, tears, sex, alcohol, power and partisanship – it was all on display.

California psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford, acknowledging she was “terrified” to be on stage, told the Senate Judiciary Committee of being sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh when they were in high school.

Kavanaugh, getting choked up at times, angrily denied the accusation and denounced the process as “a national disgrace.”

The proceedings were shown all day on the nation’s major TV networks, starting with Ford’s unwavering account in the morning and Kavanaugh’s equally emphatic response in the afternoon.

It was a whiplash-inducing spectacle for television commentators, who went from practically burying Kavanaugh during the lunch break to reviving him later in the day.

Nowhere was that more clear than on Fox News Channel, where Chris Wallace at one point called Ford’s testimony “a disaster for the Republicans.” His colleague Brit Hume said that “the more hesitant, the more fragile she has seemed, the more credible and powerful she seems to the audience.”

That was significant since Fox is the preferred network of Kavanaugh’s supporters, including President Donald Trump.

Similarly, ABC’s Dan Abrams said Ford’s testimony was an “unmitigated disaster” for Republicans, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer suggested people were crying at home, and NBC’s Savannah Guthrie said Ford’s description of Kavanaugh and a friend of his laughing uproariously during the alleged attack is a moment that will resonate with many Americans.

Yet the relief was visible at Fox following Kavanaugh’s forceful and often combative appearance, and a message of support tweeted by the president. Hume liked how Kavanaugh fought back.

Fox’s Andrew Napolitano said in the morning that Ford was “exceptionally credible.” After Kavanaugh talked, he said that even people who opposed him had been moved by his defense.

Analysts said the Republicans had been harmed by Rachel Mitchell, the sex crimes prosecutor brought in by the all-male GOP members of the Senate panel to question Ford.