CBS’s Face the Nation, anchor Margaret Brennan tried to loop GOP Rep Tom Emmer into what happened to Paul Pelosi and he wasn’t having any of it!
“On your Twitter feed, you posted this video we’re going to show just a few days ago where you’re firing a gun and it says, enjoyed exercising my second amendment rights, hashtag fire Pelosi. Why is there a gun in a political ad at all?” Brennan began shortly after losing ground on a previous argument.
Emmer turned the tables on Brennan by asking her why she never posed these questions to Democrats like Bernie Sanders after one of his supporters shot and almost killed then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
“It’s interesting Margaret that we’re talking about this morning when a couple of years back when a Bernie Sanders supporter shot Steve Scalise,” Emmer asked.
“We did extensive coverage of what happened to Steve Scalise,” Brennan shot back. Yet coverage and tying a mass shooter to a prominent Democrat politician who reportedly inspired him with toxic political rhetoric are two very different things.
“Nobody tried to equate Democrats’ rhetoric,” Emmer pointed out. Of course, Brennan tried to turn the argument around, but again, Emmers was having none of it.
Emmers continued, “I never saw anyone after Steve Scalise was shot by a Bernie Sanders supporter,” Emmer pointed out one last time before Brennan switched gears completely.
Brennan never addressed the fact that she, nor none of the other talking heads, ever questioned Dems like Sanders about their rhetoric in past attacks.
Watch
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about this when it comes to political violence. On your Twitter feed you posted this video we’re going to show just a few days ago where you’re firing a gun and it says, enjoyed exercising my second amendment rights, hashtag fire Pelosi. Why is there a gun in a political ad at all?
REP. TOM EMMER: It wasn’t an ad. I was —
[crosstalk]
BRENNAN: Hashtag fire Pelosi with a weapon.
EMMER: Well, now —
BRENNAN: Wouldn’t a pink slip be more fitting if it’s about firing her?
EMMER: It’s interesting, Margaret.
BRENNAN: Why a gun?
EMMER: It’s interesting Margaret that we’re talking about this this morning when a couple years back when a Bernie Sanders supporter shot Steve Scalise–
BRENNAN: Which was horrendous, which was horrific, which is why we should be not putting weapons—
EMMER: I never heard you or anyone else in the media trying to blame Democrats for what happened. We need to stay focused on—
[crosstalk]
BRENNAN: We did extensive coverage of what happened to Steve Scalise.
EMMER: Excuse me?
BRENNAN: There was extensive news coverage—
EMMER: Nobody tried to equate Democrats’ rhetoric—
BRENNAN: I’m not talking about rhetoric. I’m talking about what you posted. You’re shooting a gun. Our viewers just saw it. Hashtag fire Pelosi.
EMMER: Exercising our Second Amendment rights–
BRENNAN: That’s not a debate about the Second Amendment! That’s not a debate about the Second Amendment. Hashtag fire Pelosi. Do you understand not that that is suggestive to people who are in a bad state and in this current environment how risky it is?
EMMER: I disagree.
BRENNAN: As you’re talking about the importance of lowering the rhetoric why leave that up?
EMMER: Again, I never saw anyone after Steve Scalise was shot by a Bernie Sanders supporter—
BRENNAN: I’m talking about right now.
[crosstalk]
BRENNAN: What’s happening now.
EMMER: Equate the Democratic rhetoric with those actions. Please don’t do that.