On Wednesday night, Martha MacCallum invited Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Democratic pollster Jessica Tarlov to discuss whether or not Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) has been the victim of sexism at several recent Senate hearings.
Harris, who is seen as a rising star among Democrats, received lots of attention for not just her tough line of questioning, but for being interrupted by her male Republican colleagues, which her supporters see as sexist.
She tweeted earlier today, “The women of the United States Senate will not be silenced when seeking the truth. Fight back” with a link to a fundraising page.
The women of the United States Senate will not be silenced when seeking the truth. Fight back: https://t.co/5KpQ4wBykN
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) June 13, 2017
When opening the discussion to the panel, Blackburn wouldn’t call what happened “sexism” but “maybe disrespectful.”
MacCallum turned to Tarlov and asked her if it was “wrong” of GOP senators to interrupt Harris in order to allow the witnesses to answer their questions. When speaking specifically about the hearing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Tarlov said that the problem was that “Sessions was not prepared for that question.”
The Fox News host then chimed in with her thoughts.
“That’s exactly what bothers me about this whole argument,” she began. “Male, female- You know there’s so much in this country now about- we don’t want anything to be gender, but as soon as someone gets pushed back, their gut place to go often is ‘oh now I’m being punished because I’m a woman.’ Give me a break!”
Tarlov rebutted that Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) went after Sessions even more aggressively and he wasn’t interrupted.
MacCallum added that she’d “understand” if Harris said, “Don’t cut me off, I am a senator and I have the right to ask my question” but was bothered how she went right to the “Elizabeth Warren fundraising comparison.”
“As a woman, I find that argument offensive,” she concluded.