Topic: Media Research Center
In a June 4 Media Research Center post, Kristine Marsh complained that an ABC reporter "almost seemed disappointed to hear pro-life conservatives weren’t the hateful bigots the media portrays them to be" in responding to a Texas student's "pro-abortion valedictorian speech attacking a Texas abortion law" that "is getting major praise from the liberal media." That reporter -- and Marsh -- needn't have worried; she and her MRC co-workers more than made up for any perceived deficit of hate, devoting a whopping seven posts in three days to the subject.
Abigail Streeman kicked off the hate parade on June 3 by maliciously branding the teen as "pro-baby killing":
Celebrities and journalists are rallying around Texas teen Paxton Smith for giving an unapproved pro-abortion commencement speech during Lake Highlands High School’s graduation ceremony. Among those who are showing their overwhelming support for the young teen are Olivia Wilde, Adam Scott, Molly Jong-Fast, and many, many more. It truly is hard being pro-baby killing isn’t it?
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Smith ended her rant by emphasizing that she “cannot give up this platform to promote complacency and peace when there is a war on my body and a war on my right. A war on the rights of your mothers, a war on the rights of your sisters, a war on the rights of your daughters. We cannot stay silent.” Really??
Marsh whined in a separate post:
The liberal media is in love with a Dallas high school student who used her valedictorian speech to wail about a Texas law restricting abortions. Of course, the hosts of The View were enamored as well with the “brave” teen “making a stand” holding up "democracy" and “speaking truth to power” ie: the Republican party.
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It shows what the media’s priorities are, when every year they largely ignore the massive gathering of pro-life young people at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Yet at the same time, they’ll give all kinds of attention and praise to one young woman abusing her school’s platform to give a political message fear mongering about women’s rights under attack by the GOP.
In her post on the ABC reporter, Marsh also denigrated Smith's speech as a "tirade" and complained she was "getting no punishment from her school for giving a highly political, unapproved graduation speech."
Kyle Drennen joined the hate parade as well:
After arguing weeks earlier that a new pro-life measure in Texas was a “public health threat,” on Thursday, NBC’s Today show hailed a high school valedictorian in the state for using her graduation speech to launch into a pro-abortion tirade trashing the law. While the policy protecting unborn children was labeled “controversial” in the report, the student’s nasty political screed was touted as a “powerful” address greeted with “positive reaction.”
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If you’re a radical leftist, you get instant adulation from the media and tweets of encouragement from Hillary Clinton. If a conservative student stood up to support the law, they would likely be ignored or attacked.
Scott Whitlock contributed his own meltdown, grumbling that the CBS morning show "began by hailing a Texas teen who hijacked her graduation speech to complain about the law. Gayle King marveled, 'wow.'"
Alex Christy ranted about the teen making a TV appearance, where he claimed she sounded "more like a partisan than a non-political, controversy-avoiding high schooler":
On Thursday afternoon's CNN Newsroom, co-host Victor Blackwell welcomed on newfound liberal darling Paxton Smith, the Texas high schooler who, according to CNN's chyron, went "off script, on a mission" during her valedictorian address to blast Texas' heartbeat bill. Predictably, Blackwell had nothing but praise for the allegedly non-political Smith and tried to turn her into a celebrity with a political career ahead of her.
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Unfortunately, viewers wanting to see CNN interview and sing the praises of a valedictorian who goes viral using their speech to condemn abortion should not hold their breath.
Brad Wilmouth further complained:
Hosting his late night MSNBC show, disgraced former NBC News anchor Brian Williams made obvious his pro-abortion bias by taking the time to cheer on a high school valedictorian in Texas who lied about what her speech would be about so she could speak out against her state's new law against abortion.
In the last few minutes of The 11th Hour show on Wednesday, Williams played almost two minutes of a speech given by a Texas high school senior, Paxton Smith, who used her valedictory speech to attack the state's new heartbeat law that protects unborn babies after a heartbeat can be detected.
Lauding Smith as having more "bravery" than most politicians, Williams also admired her dishonesty in slipping her speech into her speaking slot by lying about its content as the MSNBC host oozed:
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Then, almost two minutes of Smith's speech aired in which she complained about the possibility of not being able to get an abortion if she became pregnant by accident, and suggested that giving birth might ruin her life. She wrapped up by claiming that there was a "war" on her body by pro-life supporters.
Smith even got trashed in audio form on the June 4 NewsBusters podcast. Guest co-host Curtis Houck declared that Smith "ma[d]e it all about herself by going on a sort of abortion rant," then pretended the MRC doesn't hate her for not acquiescing to its right-wing agenda: "The problem isn't that she was pro-abortion -- no, we would wish her views were different, but this is America. The issue is she took over a day wait for and work their whole lives for, where families are there to celebrate their family members and loves ones' achievement of graduating college -- or graduating high school, excuse me. Graduating high school isn't quite what it used to be in terms of the pinnacle of one's education, but it's still important. So the idea that this girl hijacked it here is pretty narcissistic, to borrow a term here."
But if a high school student used her graduation speech to make an anti-abortion statement, Houck and his MRC buddies would never denigrate her as a narcissist who hijacked the ceremony.
