ABC News Gives Giuliani a Misogyny Makeover

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has made some pretty wild (and self-damaging) statements in defense of Donald Trump over the past few months, but one that was reported yesterday seemed almost unconscionable.

"Giuliani Says Trump Better For US 'Than a Woman'," read a headline on the ABC News website, referencing an interview America's Mayor had with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.

A tweet from the news organization's official Twitter account included the quote itself: "Top Trump adviser Giuliani: 'Don’t you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman?'"

Wow. That sounds pretty terrible, doesn't it? It sure seems to be an example of blatant misogyny.

Only...that's not quite what Rudy said. In the case of both the headline and the associated tweet, his remark was cut short. It didn't end with the word "woman."

The full quote was provided later in the article: "Don’t you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman, and the only thing she’s ever produced is a lot of work for the FBI checking out her emails?"

Even that portion of the transcript doesn't read particularly great for Giuliani...until you actually watch the video itself, and absorb its full context.

Despite the video appearing on ABC News's website above the caption: "WATCH: Rudy Giuliani defines Donald Trump as an 'economic genius' and Hillary Clinton as a 'Woman'", that's not at all what Giuliani did.

It's painfully obvious that the remark — when listened to — came from a broken sentence. Giuliani paused and rethought how he was going to end it. He was by no means contrasting the nominees' genders. Instead, he was contrasting what Trump and Clinton have produced throughout their careers. The emphasis wasn't on the words "man" and "woman" (simple references to the candidates). The emphasis was clearly on their records.

This is a completely fabricated controversy. It's purposely misleading and defamatory, and it's an undeniable case of media bias.

The most controversial thing about Giuliani's comment was that he got garbled up mid-sentence. Yet, someone at ABC News apparently recognized an opportunity to portray a top Trump surrogate as a misogynist...and they took it.

Donald Trump certainly does a fair amount of crying wolf when it comes to media bias. But just like the Republican nominee regularly throws the news-media ammunition for which to attack him with, they tend to do the same for him and his supporters.

This is just a particularly glaring example of it.