A nation divided over the sexual assault allegations brought forth against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. are no less split after an emotional day of testimony yesterday by both Kavanaugh and his accuser Dr. Christine Ford. Some Americans tune into to cable news programming as a moral “lodestar” for these troubled times, and Morning Joe opened their program trying to make sense of it all.

Both Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough flouted any preconceived political prejudices that viewers might be looking for and expressed empathy to both Ford and Kavanaugh’s emotional and distraught testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. But people tune in for declarative statements from their cable news opinion stars and squishiness on conflict issues never gets a headline.

So where did Morning Joe initially land on yesterday’s hearing? It was Kavanaugh’s refusal to answer Senator Dick Durbin’s questioning of whether he would be okay with an FBI investigation into multiple allegations of sexual misconduct from over three decades ago.

In Mr. Scarborough’s esteem, it was “as close to a Perry Mason moment” as we saw yesterday, before leading a panel that agreed that the Judge’s refusal to accept an investigation to clear his name was, at best, an odd position to take.

For people of a certain age, “Perry Mason Moment” makes perfect sense, but for the younger readers here’s how it is (fairly) defined by Wikipedia:

In court proceedings in the United States, a Perry Mason moment is said to have occurred whenever information is unexpectedly (to most present), and often dramatically, introduced into the record that changes the perception of the proceedings greatly and often influences the outcome.

So for viewers looking for cable news cues on how to make sense of a confusing and uncomfortable day of testimony yesterday? Here’s one take that appears to make sense. And here we are to amplify that position ourselves.

Watch the clip above courtesy of MSNBC.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/2xTuA5r