Lies and failed “gotcha” moments: Facts are stubborn things, and Republicans will do well to remember it

Senator Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican, has drawn ridicule after a hearing exchange with Senator Amy Klobuchar. He branded former special counsel Jack Smith a "dirtbag" but got his sports teams wrong, confusing Atlanta's pro basketball club with an Iowa college team. Klobuchar's reply was that people ought to check their facts before hurling that kind of insult. MS NOW commentator's column uses the gaffe as a jumping-off point to argue that Republicans keep trying to dodge inconvenient realities.

The column cites John Adams, who told a jury after the Boston Massacre that facts are stubborn things and do not yield to wishes or passions. It notes that Schmitt once said of the assault on the Capitol that the nation should move Groundhog Day to Jan. 6, a remark the writer takes as evidence of how weary he is of the topic. The writer contends the facts that count most have nothing to do with sports: police officers were brutally beaten that day, the Capitol was defiled, and then-President Donald Trump sought to overturn a national election. In the writer's view, history will ultimately judge Schmitt harshly for denying this.

Separate items on the page include a Quinnipiac University poll of 1,032 registered voters, taken Sept. 24-26 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3. 8 percent.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →