I was at CNN the night of the firing of James Comey. Frankly, it was utter chaos as Washington exploded with the news. (The green room was packed with folks waiting to go on. I left rather than wait all night for an uncertain hit. I was far more interested at that point in the Cubs-Rockies game). I was in other words an “eyewitness” in the crowded green room when White House counselor Kellyanne Conway was interviewed by Anderson Cooper who noticeably rolled his eyes. Some in the green room were thrilled by the demonstration. One person who was not thrilled was Conway herself who leveled a charge of sexism the next morning on Fox News. (For the record, Conway is my former student at GW Law School). For the record, having worked with Anderson for years, I do not believe that he has a sexist bone in his body. That does not excuse the lapse of professionalism and it will magnify criticism of the network as openly anti-Trump.
I was surprised by the eye roll from Anderson who I have long admired for his professionalism in interviews. However, Conway viewed it as more than a lapse of judgment displaying his disagreement with the Administration. She told Fox and Friends that it was sexism and it would have been called out as such if were not her or a Trump supporter:
“Let me tell you something: Hillary Clinton is in search of sexism as a lame excuse for why her disastrous candidacy and campaign lost six months ago . . . I face sexism a lot of times when I show up for interviews like that. Could you imagine rolling your eyes, having a male anchor on a network roll eyes at Hillary Clinton . . . a female representative/spokesperson for President Obama or President Bill Clinton?”
There is no question that the eye roll was not appropriate. Moreover, I have been critical of news coverage of the Trump Administration as overtly hostile and often misleading in the spin of news events. However, I do not view Cooper as sexist or this lapse as reflecting his view of women. It certainly reflected his view of the position of the White House in the controversy.
What do you think?
Don’t you whip your children too for rolling their eyes?
Anderson is a low life form and if anyone thinks of him as anything else is just clueless about psychological makeups
Amen
Cooper wasn’t being sexist. He was just displaying the flaming queen, that he is, in front of millions of viewers. It’s what raging queens usually do–show utter and complete disgust for a straight, female, since they usually consider straight, heterosexual women nothing more than useless, breeding machines. Now, if she would have had a d#$k, that eye roll would have, instead, been a wink.
Imagine a Fox News host doing that when Valerie Jarrett lied about the Iran deal. There would be riots and looting.
Bedlam within the Beltway doesn’t have little men in white jackets…
I’m sure Ms. Conoway was a good student of Professor Turley–one does not get to George Washington unless one is smart–Ms. Conoway is quite smart and savvy–but I frankly don’t listen to her–lAnyone who lives up to this notion of “alternative facts” can live in their alternative World. She works for the President–I am sure she’s given up a lot of money for it..but she’s set for life because she has the title, “Counselor to the President”…while many of us Ordinary Faces have to face the conequences of the comical show that is the Trump Adminstration right now.
As I finish off these thoughts, I wanted to wish Ms. Conoway and all a Happy and Joyous Mothers’ Day W-End….
Who cares what a Fox (fake) talking head thinks?
Well, I only trust Fox News for the truth. That’s after years of watching an event and listening to it being portrayed as something completely differently. Now I watched C-Span (had to be home for sick mother) which shows the entire thing. Here’s one specific (my first introduction to “filtered” news). I watched a rally for Bush 41 on C-Span, no commercials so I missed nothing. Later that evening I saw Peter Jennings on ABC creating a completely different narrative to what I saw. So I started comparing other things to “mainstream news” and often heard a distortion. Then came Fox, usually having someone from each side discussing a subject. With the addition of MSNBC I saw more distortion.
Anderson Cooper identifies as a non-sexist.