Fmr. Bush Assistant Tears into CNN over Northam Abortion Comments: 'Don't Interrupt Me'
A former special assistant to former President George W. Bush lashed out Sunday at comments made by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on the subject of abortion.
The panel in CNN’s “State of the Union” show had been convened to focus upon the furor that erupted over a photo that appeared on Northam’s 1984 medical school yearbook that showed a man in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan robes.
Northam first apologized for the photo, then denied that he was in it and has resisted calls to resign.
Last week, Northam, elected with the support of Planned Parenthood, issued statements supporting a pro-abortion bill that infuriated pro-life supporters.
CNN host Jake Tapper asked Scott Jennings, a special assistant to Bush, whether Republicans should remain on the sidelines of the debate over race.
Jennings said that people all of “Americans of varying political stripes” have “race problems.”
But he then sought to discuss comments made earlier by Bakari Sellers of CNN that connected the idea of blackface and Klan robes to an unwillingness to recognize the human dignity of black Americans.
“But I want to touch on a comment you made in the phrase ‘human dignity’ because this was the second moment where Ralph Northam this week failed to respect human dignity,” Jennings said.
“The first moment, of course, was when he made his absolutely ghoulish, horrific statements about abortion. This was his second PR debacle this week,” he said.
Jennings then continued talking despite efforts by Tapper to interrupt him.
“Previous to this blackface-KKK robe-moonwalking press conference he was on a radio show. He’s a pediatrician … don’t interrupt me … talking about — talking about aborting children at the moment of birth and then even after they had been delivered,” he said.
Jennings than quickly delivered his closing comment.
“I agree with you, Bakari. Human dignity matters and we ought to respect every human life of every race, especially these poor babies who are laying in delivery rooms when you have governors of states that think we should have a discussion about murdering them after they were born.”
Jennings infuriated Democratic commentator Karen Finney who claimed that what he said was “a lie that the right wing has perpetuated.”
It’s tough to call something a lie when video of Northam’s remarks is all over the internet.
This is horrific.
Dem Gov. Ralph Northam, a pediatrician himself, is defending born-alive abortions:
“The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired.”pic.twitter.com/3AxXlBhImQ
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) January 30, 2019
“Listen to his radio show,” Jennings said.
“I heard what he said,” Finney said. “I don’t agree with what he said and the way he said it. But what we’re talking about is making sure that, in those instances, it is a woman and a doctor — not anyone at this table or anyone in Congress — making the decision.”
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