The occasion? Senator Kamala Harris, while campaigning in South Carolina, purchased a colorful sequined jacket.
Robin Abcarian notes that “manly” endeavors, such as Brit Hume’s skydiving with Bush 41, a publicity stunt for the campaign of the former president’s son, apparently do not count as embarrassing. Nor did Hume display any discomfiture about pitching softball questions after the jump to the candidate’s father about W’s campaign.
Abacarian chalks this up as sexism and a double standard. Maybe so, but I’ll offer another theory: it is shameless partisanship by a TV personality working for a cable channel, Fox News, that is bound at the hip to the Republican Party.
Sean Hannity serves as a co-host with Trump at his campaign rallies and acts as a presidential advisor by phone, while offering fawning coverage on the air. Nothing new here.
Tucker Carlson erupts, when confronted with a point of view (millionaires and billionaires should pay higher taxes) that’s the polar opposite of the Republican Party’s prime directive and then told that, in his role at Fox, he is “not meant to say these things.” Of course he’s not, nor does he need to be told.
Bret Hume, never doubt for a moment, is as much in the corner of the Republican Party as anyone at the conservative network. It’s not vintage ’80s clothing, or journalistic standards, or the peculiar way campaigns are run that’s agitating Hume. It’s simpler than that. This woman is running to replace Donald Trump in the White House. Oh, my.
March 2, 2019 update: Let’s add another Fox News on-air personality to the Republican hack list: Jeanine Pirro, whose starring role at Trumpetts USA events – yes, this is a thing and it enriches the President of the United States – was featured in a recent Erik Wemple column, which concluded that “the race to the bottom at Fox News has hit the homestretch. So long as Hannity has set the standard for ethical corruption with direct support to Trump World, how can the network even consider stopping someone like Pirro from speaking at an event from which the president profits?”