The View Hosts: Democrats Must 'Counter' GOP Attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson

The women of The View are tired of watching Democrats sit by as Republicans attack Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. On Thursday morning, the co-hosts implored Senate Democrats to leave "decency" by the wayside and "counter" Republican misinformation about Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court. "When they go low, we need to go to the Earth's crust," said Sunny Hostin, invoking Michelle Obama's old adage. "We need to get small like an ant, and I think we need to use the facts to our advantage."

After three days of harsh (and largely irrelevant) questioning from Republicans, Jackson's confirmation hearing reached an emotional climax on Wednesday when Sen. Cory Booker reflected on the historic nature of Jackson's nomination, bringing her to tears. "Booker had her back, and she certainly held her own," said Whoopi Goldberg, after playing a clip of Booker's speech. "But did it strike anybody as odd that you didn't hear more Democrats with something to say?"

"I felt they could've done more to counter the misinformation," said Sara Haines, who was first to speak up. "The one thing we always say about Republicans here when we watch them is they fall in line. They're good at soundbites and the broken record approach of gaslighting ... They literally just keep saying it until someone believes them."

Haines specifically pointed to "the misinformation of her defense of child pornography," which Republicans spent much of the past three days focused on. "It's not true. There's just no way around it — they've proven it, over and over. She's explained this to people," she said. "She falls within the guidelines. There's nothing about her that falls light on that crime, and I can't say that enough. What they're doing is it's a kind of dogwhistle to QAnon, the extreme QAnon, because anything pedophilia, child pornography, it perks their ears up. And they know, they expect these people not to read up."

DEMOCRATS FAIL TO DEFEND JUDGE JACKSON? Three days of hearings came to an emotional end with Sen. Booker bringing Judge Jackson to tears by honoring the historic moment — #TheView discusses if Democrats could have defended her more against GOP criticism. https://t.co/JjRHZuybOf pic.twitter.com/8t5540jYT9

— The View (@TheView) March 24, 2022

After Whoopi called out Republicans for their sudden interest in sexual misconduct — "If they were so concerned about pedophilia and sex crimes, why didn't they want to hear the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh?" she said — the co-hosts returned to the topic of Democrats' response to GOP attacks. "Democrats always fall back on decency," said Hostin. "You know the old Michelle Obama [saying], 'When they go low, we go high.'"

Instead, said Hostin, Democrats should fight fire with fire and "use the facts to our advantage" against misinformation. The former prosecutor then brought up the Wesley Hawkins case, the same case referenced by Haines, to elucidate her point. "[Judge Jackson] sentenced this person to I think three months in prison, plus a six-year supervised release," said Hostin. "The facts of that case are very distinct. Because he was an 18-year-old, he was a teen, and he is gay, and he comes from a religious family who abhors homosexuality. He went online to look at gay porn, and yes, some of the images were of children his age and younger. Those are the facts."

"This was not someone who participated in creating pornographic images. This is not someone that met with an undercover detective to trade information and possibly exchange sex acts," she continued. "And so it was so disingenuous to try to take that one case and smear her record."

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.