Commentary

Now that the Senate, under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has approved the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, it awaits action from the House of Representatives.(Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock)

Desperate NBC Digs up Dirt on McConnell's Great-Great-Grandfather

By G.S. Hair July 9, 2019 at 10:34am

What is an “unbiased” and “objective” news organization supposed to do when a politician takes a position with which they disagree?

Wait. How can it even disagree with a position if it’s unbiased?

Maybe this will help: I’m talking about the notoriously leftist establishment outlet NBC. Now that we are clear, back to the original question.

What is NBC supposed to do when they don’t like Mitch McConnell‘s positions?

If you are a normal news outlet attempting to cloak yourself in the protection of unbiased reporting, you just report it. But not NBC.

The network is so desperate to smear anyone that dare deviate from leftist groupthink that they will turn to the classic source of smoking guns, Ancestry.com.

That’s not a misprint.

Corky Siemaszko, an NBC journalist, was so put out that McConnell opposed reparations that he searched the U.S. census records and Ancestry.com to accomplish the journalistic feat of reporting that McConnell’s great-great-grandfather owned slaves.

Thanks for your putting your professional curiosity on display, Corky, but that is an embarrassing reach.

Unless McConnell has ever claimed to come from a long line of people who have never owned slaves, this bit of “journalism” is absurd.

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said recently he opposes paying government reparations to the descendants of American slaves, has a family history deeply entwined in the issue: Two of his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners, U.S. census records show,” Siemaszko wrote.

To steal a line from Princess Bride, I don’t think “deeply intertwined” means what Corky thinks it means.

I couldn’t even tell you my great-great-grandfather’s name. And I’m pretty sure I don’t vote on issues because of anything he thinks. Even my dad and I often disagree about the direction of the country.

But leave it to Corky’s inquiring mind to go dig up the fact that my long-lost 14th cousin owned a store and underpaid his employees. My opposition to raising of the minimum wage is probably due to my “deeply intertwined” family history with bad employment policies.

Do you think digging up the family history of politicians is real journalism?

NBC’s absurd non-journalism did not go unnoticed.

Byron York, chief political correspondent at the Washington Examiner, astutely asked in a tweet, “Is NBC News going to research the great-great-grandparents, and their activities between 1850-1860, of all senators, or just Mitch McConnell? Is this the first in a series?”

Is NBC News going to research the great-great-grandparents, and their activities between 1850-1860, of all senators, or just Mitch McConnell? Is this the first in a series? https://t.co/VBNondjWIp

— Byron York (@ByronYork) July 9, 2019

And York wasn’t the only one.

“Even given the derangement gripping our current politics it’s still stunning to see a major news outlet write up something like this,” tweeted Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

Even given the derangement gripping our current politics it’s still stunning to see a major news outlet write up something like this. https://t.co/aWQvHu1qUC via @nbcnews

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2019

It’s one thing for an idiot to have a bad idea, but for this to see the light of day, NBC’s editorial staff and a supervisor had to sign off on Corky’s pitch and actually go through with this sorry excuse of an article.

Maybe NBC doesn’t mind being “deeply intertwined” with political pandering posing as professional reporting, but they should at at least lay all their cards on the table and admit what they’re doing.

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Tags:

Mitch McConnell, NBC

G.S. Hair

Former Executive Editor, The Western Journal

SummaryMore Biographical InformationRecent PostsContact

G.S. Hair is the former executive editor of The Western Journal.

G.S. Hair is the former executive editor of The Western Journal and vice president of digital content of Liftable Media.

After graduating law school from the Cecil C. Humphries School of Law, Mr. Hair spent a decade as an attorney practicing at the trial and appellate level in Arkansas and Tennessee. He represented clients in civil litigation, contractual disputes, criminal defense and domestic matters. He spent a significant amount of time representing indigent clients who could not afford private counsel in civil or criminal matters. A desire for justice and fairness was a driving force in Mr. Hair's philosophy of representation. Inspired by Christ’s role as an advocate on our behalf before God, he often represented clients who had no one else to fight on their behalf.

Mr. Hair has been a consultant for Republican political candidates and has crafted grassroots campaign strategies to help mobilize voters in staunchly Democrat regions of the Eastern United States.

In early 2015, he began writing for Conservative Tribune. After the site was acquired by Liftable Media, he shut down his law practice, moved to Arizona and transitioned into the position of site director. He then transitioned to vice president of content. In 2018, after Liftable Media folded all its brands into The Western Journal, he was named executive editor. His mission is to advance conservative principles and be a positive and truthful voice in the media.

He is married and has four children. He resides in Phoenix, Arizona.

Birthplace

South Carolina

Education

Homeschooled (and proud of it); B.A. Mississippi College; J.D. University Of Memphis

Location

Phoenix, Arizona

Languages Spoken

English

Topics of Expertise

Culture, Faith, Politics