Think Progress Lost When Fact-Checked for Pushing Roe Lie About Kavanaugh (and Then Lost It)

Pro-abortion rights supporters have a "die-in" outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, during the March for Life 2016, the annual rally held on the anniversary of 1973 'Roe v. Wade' U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Pro-abortion rights supporters have a “die-in” outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 22, 2016, during the March for Life 2016, the annual rally held on the anniversary of 1973 ‘Roe v. Wade’ U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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As we know, the Left will do anything when it comes to Roe v. Wade. They are willing to go to the greatest lengths to protect a woman’s “right” to kill her unborn child. As evidenced by the confirmation hearings, it’s their number one issue.

Last week, Senator Kamala Harris shared a deliberately misleading video about Judge Kavanaugh meant to sway people into believing he considers all contraceptives to be abortion-inducing drugs. The judge had said no such thing. Any surrounding context was removed in order to smear the judge and twist his actual statements. Of course, Senator Harris wouldn’t back down from her claims.

On Sunday, the always hysterical Ian Millhiser over at the always hysterical ThinkProgress wrote a piece entitled, Brett Kavanaugh said he would kill Roe v. Wade last week and almost no one noticed, with the subtitle of “Please pay attention, Susan Collins.”

Except, Kavanaugh never said he would kill Roe v. Wade. Not even close.

In response to the Millhiser piece, Holmes Lybrand, fact checker at The Weekly Standard, dug into the claim. The results published in his piece, Fact Check: Has Brett Kavanaugh ‘Stated He’d Overturn’ Roe v. Wade?, have made the pro-aborts at TP and beyond just a bit angry.

Here’s what Lybrand said, emphasis mine.

The liberal organization ThinkProgress also claimed that Kavanaugh said he would “kill” Roe v. Wade (ironic wording in the original): “Brett Kavanaugh said he would kill Roe v. Wade last week and almost no one noticed,” the headline asserts.

While ThinkProgress engages in an argument to suggest how Kavanaugh might vote in a Roe v. Wade redo, the article does not provide evidence that “Kavanaugh said he would kill Roe v. Wade.”

Has Brett Kavanaugh “stated he’d overturn #Roe”? No.

In a 2003 email—which was misrepresented in a headline from Time —Kavanaugh, providing thoughts on an op-ed, said, “I am not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent, and three current Justices on the Court would do so. The point there is in the inferior court point.”

When questioned by Senator Dianne Feinstein on this email, Kavanaugh clarified that “in that draft letter, it was referring to the views of legal scholars, and I think my comment in the email was that might be overstating the position of legal scholars. And so it wasn’t a technically accurate description in the letter of what legal scholars thought.”

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In summary…

TWS Fact Check could not find an instance where Kavanaugh “stated he’d overturn #Roe.”

Arguments surrounding whether Kavanaugh would overturn Roe aside, the Supreme Court nominee has not “stated he’d overturn” the decision.

So while Millhiser’s piece discusses what may happen, his title unambiguously offers up that the nominee said he would “kill Roe”, although nothing of the sort has been uttered by Judge Kavanaugh.

Convenient, eh?

The best part has been the fallout since being taken to task for their intentional lie. It involves much flailing about online.

On Facebook, the piece was given a false rating on content because of what Lybrand at TWS had revealed in his piece which directly contradicted the original article. Of course, Judd Legum, founder, and former editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress, could not abide this dismissal.

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Oh, YES. Because if there’s anything the big tech companies do, it’s that they show compassion to individuals on the Right, extreme or not. Legum is just mad that TWS pointed out that there is no evidence for a TP claim that was so brazenly shared as truth.

Ian Millhiser, the author of the original piece, even wrote a follow-up article where he rails on about the meanies at Facebook, The Weekly Standard, and all the unfairness in this cruel, cruel world. When someone points out the actual facts of the situation, what does it matter whether they’re from a place you like or not? Facts are black and white. Kavanaugh never said what Millhiser claimed. That’s a fact.

Elsewhere, others joined in ridiculing the deserving ThinkProgress.

https://twitter.com/HashtagGriswold/status/1039522409546698753

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https://twitter.com/HashtagGriswold/status/1039583606786727936

It really is a beautiful thing when liars are uncovered as such, especially when perceived allies agree that they’ve been untruthful.

Don’t expect any improvement in the content from ThinkProgress, though. This is their schtick. They have no qualms over what they claimed about Judge Kavanaugh, just annoyance at being pointed out for the deceivers that they’ve always been.

Kimberly Ross is a senior contributor at RedState and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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