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   Senate Republicans’ unhealthy fixation on child porn, by the numbers   
   By Dana Milbank   
      
      
      
      
   Judging by the numbers, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are   
   obsessed with child pornography.   
      
   In four days of Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown   
   Jackson, the phrase “child porn” (or “pornography” or “pornographer”) was   
   mentioned 165 times. There were also, according to transcripts, 142 uses of   
   “sex” (“sexual abuse,” “sexual assault,” “sexual intercourse,” “sex   
   crimes”), 15 of “pedophile,” 13 of “predators,” 18 of “prepubescent” and   
   nine of general pornography.   
      
   There were only 30 mentions of the First Amendment and 12 of the Bill of   
   Rights.   
      
   The Republican fixation on pornography continued during Monday’s round of   
   statements by senators before the committee advanced Jackson’s nomination   
   to the Senate floor. A preliminary transcript showed 41 mentions of “porn”   
   or “pornography” and 32 mentions of “sex offenders,” “sexual assault” and   
   the like.   
      
   Some of the references to sex and child pornography were made by Democrats   
   defending Jackson. But the bulk came from the likes of Sens. Josh Hawley   
   (Mo.), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) Marsha   
   Blackburn (Tenn.) and Mike Lee (Utah). They winked at the QAnon conspiracy   
   theorists who believe pedophiles control government by portraying Jackson   
   as an ally of monsters who sexually exploit children — even though her   
   sentencing record is typical and even though these same Republicans   
   elevated half a dozen Trump judicial nominees with similar records in child   
   pornography cases.   
      
   “I’m not suggesting she likes what’s happening in child pornography,”   
   Graham allowed. (Gee, thanks.) But “she has a chance to impose a sentence   
   that would deter [child pornography], and she chose not to.”   
      
   Lee accused Jackson of “minimizing” punishment for “commercialized efforts   
   to profit off child sex torture” and “sadomasochistic conduct.” Cotton   
   said, “the child pornography cases are just the most sensational examples   
   of her soft-on-crime attitude.”   
      
   The ever-mendacious Cruz claimed that “we just last week, after the   
   hearing, got information on another case, United States v. Weekes, of an   
   individual who raped his 13-year-old niece. Judge Jackson sentenced him to   
   half what the prosecutors wanted because he failed to register on a sex   
   registry.”   
      
   Actually, that case was mentioned during the hearings, on March 22 — in a   
   news release issued by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans.   
      
   And Hawley stuffed a straw man. “Judge Jackson’s view is that we should   
   treat everyone more leniently because more and more people are committing   
   worse and worse child sex offenses,” he claimed, also alleging that “we’ve   
   been told things like child pornography is actually all a conspiracy, it’s   
   not real.”   
      
   Of course, nobody said child pornography is a conspiracy, or not real; the   
   supporting examples provided to me by Hawley’s office refer to the QAnon   
   conspiracy about pedophiles running the country.   
      
   In fairness, child pornography wasn’t Republicans’ only obsession. The   
   phrases “critical race theory” or “CRT” came up 66 times during the   
   hearing. Cotton claimed that Jackson “seems to have a real interest in   
   helping terrorists.” Cruz even argued that “the odds are over 100 percent   
   she will vote to give away U.S. sovereignty to international bodies.”   
      
   If it’s possible for the odds on anything to be over 100 percent, it’s that   
   Republicans will continue their peculiar preoccupation with child   
   pornography as the Jackson nomination goes to the Senate floor. “She has a   
   particularly curious view about certain kinds of criminal behavior. In this   
   particular case, people who would distribute child pornography, of all   
   things,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) told Fox News on   
   Friday.   
      
   Republicans on the committee congratulated themselves for avoiding   
   “personal slanders” of the sort they said Democrats inflicted on Brett M.   
   Kavanaugh after women accused the Donald Trump nominee of sexual   
   misconduct. Yet, they opposed Jackson with the most grievous of personal   
   slanders: accusing the Black nominee of secretly promoting racially   
   divisive teaching, portraying her as a pal of terrorists and repeatedly   
   suggesting she endangers children by having a soft spot for perpetrators of   
   heinous sex crimes.   
      
   Graham: “Every judge who does what you’re doing is making it easier for the   
   children to be exploited.”   
      
   Cruz: “I also see a record of … advocacy as it concerns sexual predators.”   
      
   Blackburn: “What’s your hidden agenda? Is it to let … child predators back   
   to the streets?”   
      
   And, of course, there was Hawley, who previewed the hearings by saying   
   Jackson’s record “endangers our children.” Three weeks — and eight mentions   
   of “prepubescent” — later, Hawley ended Monday where he began. He asserted   
   that a “core point” of his disagreement with Jackson is that she believes   
   the real victims of child pornography are the perpetrators, not the   
   children.   
      
   As “personal slander” goes, it doesn’t get much lower.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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