After anti-masker Rep. Louie Gohmert tested positive for coronavirus today, Fox’s “straight news” correspondent John Roberts tried to equate Gohmert’s mask antipathy with Rep. Jerry Nadler temporarily removing his mask to make a comment during yesterday’s Judiciary Committee hearing.
As The Washington Post reported, Gohmert typically follows the rules and wears a face covering during House hearings. “But he has not always worn one or maintained social distance while walking around the Capitol,” the Post noted. “As they arrived at Tuesday’s hearing, Gohmert and [Attorney General] Barr were walking near each other at one point, according to the Hill. Neither man was wearing a mask.”
At the beginning of yesterday's hearing, Nadler said, “I expect all members on both sides of the aisle to wear a mask except when you are speaking.”
On Fox’s America’s Newsroom show this morning, which is supposed to be part of Fox’s “straight news” programming, Chief White House Correspondent Roberts followed a brief report by correspondent Trace Gallagher. Both ignored Gohmert’s peril to maskless Barr.
Fortunately, the risk from Gohmert to Democrats appears to be low. According to The Post, yesterday’s hearing, “was held in a massive auditorium with lawmakers spaced out.”
Roberts ran through the news that Gohmert was tested before flying to Texas with his favorite p***y grabber and also that we should not expect “particularly deleterious effects” of the virus on the 66-year-old Gohmert.
Then Roberts began his bothesidesism BS:
ROBERTS: There was a moment during yesterday’s hearing, where the chairman, Jerry Nadler, admonished a couple of the Republican members – Andy Biggs as well as Jim Jordan – to please wear masks in the hearing. But what’s ironic is that [Roberts paused for a theatrical chuckle] when Nadler issued his very strident admonition, he pulled down his mask in order to do it – which is like not wearing a mask at all. If you’ve got a mask around your chin, it’s the same thing as not wearing a mask.
However, Roberts did point out that Gohmert’s promise to wear a mask after being diagnosed “is also kind of ironic” given that he would presumably no longer be contagious after his convalescence. “The time to wear a mask is before you get it, not after," Roberts said.
But that was the end of the segment.
You can watch Roberts try to equate Nadler's behavior with Gohmert's recklessness below, from the July 29, 2020 America's Newsroom.
This bit of news has deleted every shred of feeling I usually have for anybody who gets this virus. I’m not (yet) at the point of wishing him dead but a couple of days on oxygen might stimulate his little grey cells.
If he has any, that is.
Like the current president, Gohmert is grasping at straws to avoid admitting that he’d been a fool. Blaming his contagion on wearing a mask but lacking the discipline to do so properly. (giggles galore). Hell, a 3-year old toddler can be taught to keep its fingers away from its face.
