Hypocrite: MSNBC's Hayes Says House Hearing on Planned Parenthood Wasn't Fair and Balanced

September 10th, 2015 5:39 PM

On Wednesday night’s All In, MSNBC host Chris Hayes attacked the House hearing into Planned Parenthood with the strangest attack you can imagine from the Lean Forward Network: Hayes complained it wasn’t fair and balanced. As if MSNBC is fair and balanced?

He cited an article by ex-Washington Post reporter Sarah Kliff at Vox that Planned Parenthood wasn’t given the “opportunity” to speak, and compared it to the Democrats' fuss over "damage" done to Republicans by their failure to hear Sandra Fluke's partisan testimony. "House committees have previously run into trouble with reproductive health hearings that leave out crucial parties as witnesses."

Does anyone believe the Democrats wouldn’t have invited the abortion giant if they wanted to testify? But the weirdness unfolded (briefly), and Hayes wasn’t the least bit balanced, either:

HAYES: Today, Congress held a hearing on Planned Parenthood. Four witnesses were invited to that hearing, three of them invited by Republicans, one of them invited by Democrats. Here's how many witnesses represented Planned Parenthood -- zero.

According to Vox, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats on the committee invited the group to testify. Planned Parenthood spokesperson Erica Sackin confirmed. The witness invited by the Democrats, the director of the Yale Law School Program for the Study of Reproductive Justice, did strongly defend Planned Parenthood. The hearing often came off something far less than a fair attempt to assess Planned Parenthood’s value to women's health in the wake of the release of videos from anti-abortion activists.

REP. JUDY CHU (D-Calif.): Mr. Chair, I’m outraged by the sensational name of the hearing that makes no pretense of being fair or impartial. And I’m outraged by the accusations made against an organization that serves millions of women in our country.

The only soundbite Hayes offered was the typical MSNBC Democrat railing against the sting videos that somehow unfairly disparage the heroes at Planned Parenthood. So how can he lament a “far less than fair attempt” to balance the abortion/baby-parts-for-sale discussion? This is the same network that routinely rolls out the red carpet for Planned Parenthood boss Cecile Richards with absolutely no debate opponent.

Hayes didn’t add the Vox detail that “Planned Parenthood supporters were out in force in the hearing’s audience, wearing bright pink T-shirts reading ‘Stand with Planned Parenthood.’” Perhaps the Republicans should have just summoned one of those pink-tinted advocates for some questioning about the content of those shocking videos.