Many journalists and political commentators have been leveling strong criticism at “60 Minutes,” CBS News, and Lesley Stahl over their decision to air a “softball” interview with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Sunday night, normalizing and mainstreaming the far-right Georgia Republican, but perhaps few have done so as expressively as retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Moe Davis.
During her conversation with Stahl, an Emmy-award winning journalist who has been at CBS News for more than 50 years, the conspiracy theorist Congresswoman baselessly defended calling Democrats the “party of pedophiles,” by saying, “they support grooming children.” When Stahl objected, Greene weaved a false, illogical comparison with gender-affirming treatment for transgender children – supported by every major medical organization – by saying, “sexualizing children is what pedophiles do.”
That was just one small part of their discussion, parts of which were filmed inside the U.S. Capitol, further serving to normalize the far-right wing Republican who even Stahl reminded has been called “Crazy, Q-clown, Looney Tune, unhinged, moron.”
But the “60 Minutes” decision to normalize and mainstream Greene, who infamously – before Georgia voters sent her to Washington – “indicated support for executing prominent Democrats,” including then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, began even before the interview aired.
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On Friday, in a promotional tweet for the upcoming interview, “60 Minutes” claimed, “Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, nicknamed MTG, isn’t afraid to share her opinions, no matter how intense and in-your-face they are. She sits down with Lesley Stahl this Sunday on 60 Minutes.”
As much as Greene would like to have a nickname like her top nemesis, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who the media for years have suggested she is “obsessed” with, “MTG” isn’t it.
In fact, typing MTG into a simple Google search before the “60 Minutes” interview served up no mentions of Marjorie Taylor Greene (it does now, thanks to her interview with Stahl). Instead, as far as Google is concerned, MTG stands for “Magic: The Gathering.”
But back to Colonel Moe Davis.
Col. Davis, for those unaware, was a top Guantanamo prosecutor who resigned after his superiors refused to support his policy that no evidence obtained via waterboarding would be used in prosecutions. In 2020 he ran against, and lost to, Madison Cawthorn in North Carolina.
On Monday, Davis slammed “60 Minutes” for using its platform to normalize Greene.
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“Little difference in @FoxNews knowingly promoting the Big Lie and @60Minutes knowingly promoting a seditious scumbag … it’s all about the $$$. And don’t buy any high minded journalism bullsh*t … that’s the same excuse I heard from @jaketapper when he normalized Trump in 2015,” Davis tweeted.
He was not finished.
In a series of tweets, Col. Davis related a story from when he was the top Guantanamo Bay prosecutor, calling “60 Minutes” “just as mercenary and ratings motivated as Fox.”
“I’m not surprised by the conduct of @60Minutes. When I resigned at GTMO Chief Prosecutor, they asked for an exclusive and I spent a day with Morley Safer in my house. The piece was set to air and then the Pentagon asked for a chance to respond. The response interview with a 1-star did not go well, so the Pentagon traded the video of Omar Khadr making bombs (which was classified) in return for 60 Minutes shelving the piece on my resignation. Back then, a 60 Minute piece could have made a difference. Instead, it’s 16 years later and GTMO is still a lingering stain on America’s reputation. In essence, 60 Minutes did a David Pecker style ‘catch and kill.’ Despite their desire to be perceived as high-minded journalists, they are just as mercenary and ratings motivated as Fox or anyone else.”