Buffoon of the Week Staff
Yesterday, C-Span’s Steve Scully proved us right when he admitted that his Twitter account had not been “hacked” as first claim. Scully has since been suspended indefinitely by C-Span.
Last week, Scully sent a tweet for former Trump communications director and current Trump hater Anthony Scaramucci before the scheduled second Presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. The tweet sought advice about how to respond to Trump. For this, we nominated Scully for Buffoon of the Week, even though Scully claimed that he did not send the tweet, and that he was the victim of “hacking.”
Here is what we said when Scully first said he was hacked:
Do they think we are really this stupid?
The Twitter hack story didn’t work for Anthony Weiner. It didn’t work for Joy Reid. Why do they think it will work now?
It was bad enough that the CPD picked Scully, who once interned for then-Senator Biden, to moderate a debate involving his old boss. Pile this controversy on top, and you might as well conclude that the fix is in. Again.
Well, it turns out that our instincts were right.
Scully issued a statement admitting to making up the hack after the media noticed that he sent the tweet to Scaramucci. According to Scully, he sent the tweet because he could not take the pressure of “relentless” attack on himself, “aimed directly at my family” from social media, with an attack by Trump being his breaking point.
So for now, Scully will be on the sidelines during the conclusion of the 2020 election cycle.
Our Take…
We take no pleasure in being right. This is a horrible situation for all involved.
This news is terrible for Scully, who threw his reputation away. This news is terrible for future Presidential debates, as Scully’s actions will forever raise a specter of doubt onto its neutrality. Scully has created a terrible situation for C-Span, who went out on a limb to support Scully’s lie. It’s also a terrible situation for media in general, as this is yet another reason why public confidence in media has eroded. And, it’s a terrible situaton for America, as this news will further divide our national political discourse.
The above notwithstanding, C-Span is rightfully punishing for his lie. In a way, Scully’s apology shirks some responsibility still. The “Trump made me do it” aspect of Scully’s apology passes blame onto the “boogey man” of liberal politics. Of course, all things bad stem from something Trump did or said, according to them. Scully’s failure to take personal responsibility is a sign that his apology may be less than heartfelt. It may be merely an obligatory apology offered once he got caught. But, we have no special insight into Scully’s heart and find, so, for now, we’ll take him at his word.
That said, we hope that Scully is, one day, forgiven.
Let the punishment fit the crime. This mark on his decades of past credibility should not be permanent. Besides, we love an underdog story here. It would be in the best interest of healing our national divide to root for a big comeback for Steve Scully. Let’s give him a chance to earn his way back to a perception of respect and honesty.
When the weekly video went up last Monday with Scully as a “Buffoon of the Week” nominee, I posted in the YouTube comments that “This story looks like it has all the elements of turning into another (Buffoon) Jussie Smollett hoax.”
Well, indeed the “Buffoon of the Week” team and I were both right. The fact that C-Span did the right thing by benching him makes things feel that justice will be served. Granted, his reputation is in the dumpster (which is already on fire), but he can mount a comeback by doing the right thing, speaking the truth and being honest with people. An outlet like C-Span is supposed to be unbiased as they are to serve as the general public’s view on the goings on “inside the Beltway” without a filter. If he returns to C-Span, he should carry forth with that principle, and keep his opinions and bias on the sidelines.
The great Walter Cronkite was an outstanding newsman. And the way he reported the news was without bias or opinion (although sometimes you could feel a bit of slant in his reporting). In the two generations of journalists since, that sense of unbiased reporting is long gone as well. Some journalists feel that then need to be the story instead of just reporting the story, others want to opine on their politics instead of just reporting the story. This bias has unfortunately worked its way into all parts of the media – from the writers, reporters to the editors and even publishers.
In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s I worked for a newspaper in my small-town “fly over state” hometown and then in a second paper (owned by the same company) on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area . I worked for a great editor/publisher at the hometown paper, who moved to signing editorials instead of being just a generic editorial. He also wrote a column on the editorial page several times a week that many times was about his own trials and tribulations as a human being. I got mentioned more than once in these columns, being a “tech guru” he could call on for help (I was a high school/college student at the time working in customer service, and was not a reporter/writer for the papers). I doubt that many in the mainstream press would ever even think of writing about themselves in such a humble manner nowadays.
WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US YOU HAVE A BLOG?!? We’ll add you to our “Links We Like” Page (which is here – https://buffoonoftheweek.com/friends/
As always, great insights – glad to see you found the website!
– Gene