The Kelly File: Duggar Interview 2015.06.03

[Fallacy]

I feel like the Duggars are reading our threads. Jim Bob said "every victim should have the right to tell their own story" which is almost word for word what I posted several days ago. They also talked about the girls being "re-victimized" which again is the exact word I used to describe my disgust with In Touch in that post. Okay, Jim Bob probably wasn't quoting me, but that was so weird.

[Avaleigh]

Honestly I don't think Boob and Michelle handled the situation any differently than thousands of other families who experience something similar. They made a huge mistake by not putting Josh in a credentialed rehab program but most parents don't immediately involve the cops and the courts when something like this happens.

Either way they can't win. If the Duggar girls publicly say they've forgiven their brother it's because they're brainwashed or being used to save the show. If the family tries to move on and act normally, they're insensitive to the victims and letting Josh off the hook.

It's fair enough that they can't win. They shouldn't have done an interview at all but they're desperate to save the gravy train of the show and were willing to take the risk. 

 

I think their gamble failed. 

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

What I learned from the Duggars tonight about their beliefs and the super fundie patriarchy:

1 son (& his future) is way more important than 4 daughters
 

[quarks]

Michelle, I agree with you in general that U.S. media is pretty awful, but in this case, it's possible - just barely possible - that your daughters wouldn't have been victimized by the media right now if you hadn't chosen to put your entire family on a television show.  

Edited June 4, 2015 by quarks

[CofCinci]

I feel like the Duggars are reading our threads. Jim Bob said "every victim should have the right to tell their own story" which is almost word for word what I posted several days ago. They also talked about the girls being "re-victimized" which again is the exact word I used to describe my disgust with In Touch in that post. Okay, Jim Bob probably wasn't quoting me, but that was so weird.

He's not reading the posts --- but I'm sure their (Christian) crisis PR team have done some light reading around here.

[Brooklynista]

Where's Josh?

[anneofcleves]

I despise these people. I was basically hissing at my television. 

 

How many times did JB remind us that Josh cried? 

 

How many times did Michelle point out that the girls supposedly didn't feel as though they'd been victimized? 

Yes, interesting juxtaposition.  They must have been practicing for days to be sure that they delivered the message so clearly. We all know that Godly men do not cry (it affects their sperm count), so the fact that Josh did means that he was really, really sorry, which was really the Holy Spirit at work in him massaging that heart of his until it was one big, non-molesting marshmallow.  On the flip side, we know that girls are weak and cry a lot and the fact that they didn't cry means it's just one of those things that happens.

 

I dislike them very much and continue to hope for a heavenly intervention where God smites the TLC network and prevents them from keeping any of these people on tv.

Edited June 4, 2015 by anneofcleves

[Wellfleet]

So do the Duggars think that no one has read the police report?

Did Megyn Kelly read the police report before interviewing them? Because there were quiet a few things she could have caught them lying about. I wish she would have had the report in her hands during the interview and pointed to parts and called them out.

(She still came at them way more aggressively than I expected. Maybe she's given them just enough rope.....)

 

I do not think Megyn read the report. And I didn't either - I didn't need to know all the details. But I did read the timeline in the Washington Post and agree that Ma & Pa changed a number of details tonight. Megyn didn't call them out, but there are certainly others that will. I think there will be serious backlash from the tabloids and maybe others. The gravy train, I think, has finally gone off the tracks. Time for real school and real jobs again...

[Potato511]

And don't forget the "It happened over their clothes" part.

except when it didn't. yes, JB did admit that it also happened under their clothes in the interview. still he repeated the above.

[awaken]

I only got to see the end, and the teaser for the girl's interview, but it was enough that I'm going to bed angry tonight. I can't believe how angry and betrayed I feel by this whole situation.

[wanderwoman]

What a crock! Not that I expected more from them. But, hauling out two victims to speak on behalf of their molester, while simultaneously bemoaning the fact that the media and "the left" violated the privacy of the victims, is potentially more ironic than a member of America's favorite Christian family molesting multiple girls. Someone seriously needs to replace their "family", faith" and "love" woodcutting decorations with one that says "irony" or "karma".

This wasn't an interview. MK should be ashamed of herself. Glowzell asked harder questions asked of Obama, fer' cryin' out loud. How can you call yourself a reporter? The Duggars obviously approved every question and had control over the editing- that's not hard hitting, professional journalism. I don't get what this was supposed to accomplish since I'm more infuriated now than I was two weeks ago.

Edited June 4, 2015 by wanderwoman

[SometimesBites]

And now they are going to be crusaders for locking up juvenile records. Yup. That is the important part of all of this.

Exactly. Let's red herring the shit out of this. Look, a bird!

 

 

Anyone else feel a weird hot ball of rage in their stomach?

Every time I see their smug, deflecting, hyuck-hyuck faces. I cannot tell you how thankful I am to get a synthesis of the interview here; if I had to watch it myself, I think I'd stroke out.

[Black Knight]

To be fair, I was rather glad the outside victim hasn't been forced into the sideshow

Oh, I'm not saying that I think her identity should be outed. I have no idea who she is, and I'm glad for that. But I also have a problem with her existence being erased completely. The Duggars are doing that because, as I was trying to point out in my post, it allows them to push this narrative where this was strictly an internal family matter. As much heat as they're getting for their terrible parenting decisions, it's still better for them to have the discussion focusing exclusively on their own daughters, and I think they realize that. It's what's helping them keep support from their fans, because a lot of those do think that the Duggars have every right to handle their own children however they want and make all the decisions for their kids. But they have no right to make decisions for people outside their family, and Josh preying on girls outside their family shows the breadth of his predatory behavior.

[Lemons]

Check out the backlash on Twitter. It'll make you feel better.

Edited to add: I meant the HUGE backlash and disgust people on Twitter were saying. Stick a fork in them, they are DONE. People will boycott TLC and whoever advertises during the show.

 

Do you have a Twitter link?  I don't use Twitter.

[NikSac]

Didn't JB say over and under?

 

Yeah I noticed both he and Michelle (I think?) sort of quietly mumbled the "and under" at least once, maybe twice, just in the 20 minutes or so I watched.

Edited June 4, 2015 by NikSac

[BulldogAreGreat]

There may be an agenda against them but I don't care for their crying about it one bit. What about their agenda against transgender people? Religions that are not their own? Stop your whining and crying and look within for once.

[ladle]

My wife and I heard "lesbian agenda" and wondered when we added "take down the Duggars" to the to do list. Must have been between "mow the lawn" and "grocery shopping".

 

 

Just as long as you weren't doing the former in your bikini!

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Honestly I don't think Boob and Michelle handled the situation any differently than thousands of other families who experience something similar. They made a huge mistake by not putting Josh in a credentialed rehab program but most parents don't immediately involve the cops and the courts when something like this happens.

Either way they can't win. If the Duggar girls publicly say they've forgiven their brother it's because they're brainwashed or being used to save the show. If the family tries to move on and act normally, they're insensitive to the victims and letting Josh off the hook.

I absolutely agree with you and the other posters who say many families would have handled this in a similar way.

However, most families aren't making their living by "sharing their ministry" on a reality TV show and spreading hate speech about LGBT people & others who don't fit into their traditional, so-called Christian values. Most families don't see the child involved go to work for a hate group and make his living as the face of the young conservative family.

Glass houses and all....

[tabloidlover]

Exactly. Let's red herring the shit out of this. Look, a bird!

 

Every time I see their smug, deflecting, hyuck-hyuck faces. I cannot tell you how thankful I am to get a synthesis of the interview here; if I had to watch it myself, I think I'd stroke out.

And I'm thinking that's what happened to me - I must've had a stroke.  No way these two adults are this delusional, right?  And  "Christians" wouldn't lie to us, would they?

[Mya Stone]

Do you have a Twitter link?  I don't use Twitter.

 

Hopefully this works. 

[ZoloftBlob]

It works for me,and boy howdy!

[farmgal4]

Didn't JB say over and under?

I don't think so, CofCinci. Did JB say that the perv touched them "under" their clothes? If he did, I must have zoned out during that part.

I'm just going to say that this interview turned out EXACTLY like I thought it would. I think the Duggars are toast.

[Pete Martell]

This wasn't an interview. MK should be ashamed of herself. Glowzell asked harder questions asked of Obama, fer' cryin' out loud. How can you call yourself a reporter? The Duggars obviously approved every question and had control over the editing- that's not hard hitting, professional journalism. I don't get what this was supposed to accomplish since I'm more infuriated now than I was two weeks ago.

 

It's a win-win. Fox News has an audience that generally loves the Duggars, they make a lot of money off the family, and this caters to the Fox News idea that liberals and Big Hollywood are out to get good people of faith and American hope, like the Duggars. 

 

In return for the sugar candy interview, with a "tough" interviewer, the Duggars give them publicity and ad revenue. And the Duggars get glowing, free publicity that will lead to glowing publicity in various media outlets that make money off of them. 

 

A lot of people get a lot of cash for exploiting sexually abused children.

[jschoolgirl]

Do you have a Twitter link?  I don't use Twitter.

GO to www.twitter.com. In the search box, type #duggarinterview or #duggars.

[Straycat80]

I figured this would be a softball interview, but softball doesn't even begin to describe this. That's an hour of my life I'll never get back.   

 

I would have loved to have seen Anderson Cooper or Diane Sawyer take a crack at this.  Talk about a whole different interview.

Or how about Nancy Grace?

[cheatincheetos]

Now that it has been they have prayed that people will see that if God can forgive Josh, God forgives everyone.

They are talking with lawyers about suing the city over the release of the report.

   We forgive everyone. And we're suing the crap out of you.

[tabloidlover]

I don't think so, CofCinci. Did JB say that the perv touched them "under" their clothes? If he did, I must have zoned out during that part.

I'm just going to say that this interview turned out EXACTLY like I thought it would. I think the Duggars are toast.

He actually did say that.  It was so briefly, I had to rewind to be certain.  The topic was changed at that point.

[CherryAmes]

What I want to know is why is touching sleeping children over their clothes considered not such a bad thing?  I'm not saying under clothes and awake is good but somehow touching someone when they're asleep adds an extra level of creepiness to me.  Not only did he violate them he made sure to do it when they were at their most defenseless.

[tabloidlover]

Upping the creepy factor was their insistence that the girls didn't know/understand what was happening to them.  seriously?  It's ok cuz they weren't aware?  I just can't with these idiots....

[Lemons]

Most infuriating is probably how they kept repeating how the girls barely even knew what happened to them.

 

That's kind of like saying, well I sexually abused a baby and they won't remember when they grow up so nobody was hurt.  They are shameless.

[sara416]

I had blocked Fox news with parental controls for when my father came into town because he doesn't just watch it, he obsesses over it and I refused to let him do that in my house last time he came to visit. However, I unblocked the channel for this event.

 

I am with them on juvenile records being sealed to a point. I work with at risk children and adolescents and man do they make some stupid choices that they do not need to be punished for later in life. Do I think leaking juvenile records is a bigger issue than Josh inappropriately touching his sisters? NO. No matter with the Duggars say, the inappropriate touching actually is a big deal. 

 

Every once in a while I felt like they were in the area of saying something logical and/or rational, but then all of a sudden they weren't. It's like they dipped their toe in the pool of normal and then ran away screaming. 

 

And I rewound this part several times but couldn't get what it said. Did Michelle say that the police chief exposed this because of the lesbian agenda? What?

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Lawrence O'Donnell just had a great segment with a licensed therapist about the Duggar interview on his show "The Last Word." He's going to have a guy on who wrote an open letter to Michelle next. It's on now and I'm sure it repeats at least once tonight.

Edited June 4, 2015 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[BitterApple]

As much as I hate to agree with Michelle, I do think there was an agenda with the police chief. The report should never have been released and for her to do so was unethical. It shouldn't be used as a smokescreen to deflect blame from Josh, but I don't think this component of the scandal should be ignored either.

Edited June 4, 2015 by BitterApple

[frenchtoast]

Just a quick PSA, as it were,  RAINN is a good place to go for help for anyone who has been a victim of abuse. This has undoubtedly been a very difficult two weeks for many people. 

[CofCinci]

And I rewound this part several times but couldn't get what it said. Did Michelle say that the police chief exposed this because of the lesbian agenda? What?

Yes. Since the female judge has short hair and a career, it's clear to Michelle that she's a lesbian who is part of the "gay agenda".

[Frost]

 

What I want to know is why is touching sleeping children over their clothes considered not such a bad thing?

Someone on Twitter asked, with that logic, does that make it OK to drug children before molesting them because they won't know anything happened?

 

Absolutely sickening

Edited June 4, 2015 by Frost

[IndianPaintbrush]

For what it's worth, I did not hear Michelle say "lesbian agenda."  I heard "it must be."

 

Megyn Kelly disappointed me.  I'm glad she went after them about their lack of concern for the girls, but by the end it was pretty clear she was towing the Fox News line that it's all cool because they're Republican Christians.  Sadly, it was not shocking when Jim Bob said they knew other families in their church who had dealt with this.  Of COURSE they do.

Edited June 4, 2015 by IndianPaintbrush

[Joe Jitsu913]

I would love to have a body language expert analysis done on this interview. The bullshit factor was strong .

[sara416]

Sorry, more to say they more I think about it. 

 

Michelle made it a point to say that this "wasn't rape or anything", so basically it wasn't that bad. Way to discredit the experiences of anyone who has struggled to come to terms with a sexual assault that wasn't rape. It happens all the time, and people everywhere don't feel justified in even having feelings about their assault or abuse because "it wasn't rape so it wasn't a big deal". I'm so angered by this statement I can't even speak coherently. 

 

And why did it take Josh coming to them three times for him to get help? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...

[riverblue22]

I had to turn it off twice, so yeah, I went back for more at one point.  Wasn't that surreal?  

 

Did y'all notice that when they talked about the wicked media jumping on this story they started with Chris Hayes from MSNBC?  They didn't show ET or Access Hollywood or the other gossip shows.  It was the LIBERAL MEDIA persecuting them!

 

I just can't get over how it is not possible for them to feel any empathy for the victims of their extreme agenda.  The liberals and the homosexuals are out to get them!  And they are so righteous!

 

And did Michelle grow about six extra inches of hair recently?  She had more hair than Jill, Jessa, and Jana combined!

Edited June 4, 2015 by riverblue22

[CofCinci]

I would love to have a body language expert analysis done on this interview. The bullshit factor was strong .

You'll have to pay for that on your own --- just like how they made Joshua pay for his own therapy.

[Panders]

Watching CNN after the interview they had a bunch of experts, child psychologists and Erin Merryn talk -they said that molestors usually start while victim is sleeping and escalate from there to see how far they can go without being caught. I guess that explains how it could have started without the girls knowledge if it was very light touching to begin with. But it obviously escalated to the point he felt he could do it in front of others and get away with it. The Duggars failed as parents and they can't seem to acknowledge that. Also cnn and Twitter want to know why josh couldn't speak for himself. From what I've seen Megyn Kelly asked some tough questions but did not call them out on their bs or non answers. I'm hoping she was just letting them dig their own grave when they said the public knowledge of this was worse than the the molestation and that so many other families have gone through the same thing and it isn't a big deal. She should have laid into them on that.

[RazzleberryPie]

So............my summary: JimBob came off to me as a skilled public speaker/politician, who spoke calmly and kept emphasizing what would appease the situation, but was still insincere. He softpeddaled and minimized what Josh did, and clearly focused more on Josh's public perception than the actual acts or his daughters.

 

Michelle came off to me as the very fake baby of the family who gave wide-eyed blinks, a baby voice and tried to 'innnocent' her way out of the whole ordeal. My dog gives similar looks when he's caught stealing food off a plate or humping the bed pillows. He's sorry he got caught, not sorry that he stole food or molested a pillow. 

 

My biggest question is for Michelle to directly and succinctly answer who are these Big Bad Wolves with an agenda against the Duggars, and why do they have an agenda? Come on out and say the Gays are after you because they are Evil and you are Righteous. 

 

My biggest surprise is that Jessa and Jill will be interviewed Friday. Jill has always been the Kool-aid drinking spokesperson (besides Josh), and she is a complete idiot, for various reasons. However, I was surprised that she wasn't the one who told on Josh originally. Jessa is so full of anger and hate, plus she's really benefiting from Duggar famedom, so okay.

 

I guess the two married girls have already been married off, so there's no reason to maintain any more purity, so they get to speak. (Besides I can't imagine Jana wanting to, Jinger would just stare at Jessa, and Joy was very young when it all happened).

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

The Duggars can miss me with their outrage over the victims identities being outed, as they were the first people to out the victims if the stories that have been floating around NW Arkansas are true (and so far they seem to be pretty correct).

Josh confessed in church and the girls forgave him & hugged him at church. This was what the parents had them do. If they thought those confessions and who the victims were would stay in Church of JimBob, they were wrong. Nearly all of NW Arkansas found out through the grapevine; it was pretty much an open secret and people were even posting about it on the Internet years ago.

They had the daughters publicly forgive him in church. Then they went on a reality show. They were the first to out their daughters as survivors and neglected to consider that putting them on a national reality show would mean that the whole world would possibly come to know what everyone in their area already had heard in the rumor mill.

[HumblePi]

As suspected, Jim Bob and Michelle downplayed everything. "Josh did this a couple of times for a few seconds and it was over clothes. Then a year or so later under clothing."  They continually attempted to minimize the effect it had on the girls. "Some of them didn't even know what happened."

 

CNN, Don Lemon followed up with a panel of people, there was a therapist on the panel. One said "Josh Duggar is an adult, why isn't he doing this interview, not his parents?!"  The therapist had misgivings about Jill and Jessa doing their own interview since the clips of the interview showed that Jill was clearly distressed and crying. Jessa wasn't crying but she spoke with a shaking voice. The expert said that putting them out on display right now could re-traumatize them and cause even deeper damage. The expert on child molestation also said that even young boys that commit this type of crime is very often removed from the home and placed in a facility where they are staffed by licensed professionals skilled in treating children that show pedophile traits. And, that child is usually held there for up to a year and a half. A couple of them also said that children that are the victims usually do NOT report the abuse out of fear or shame.

 

One woman on the panel was angry at how Michelle downplayed the seriousness of sexual abuse, she said 'Obviously the Duggar's have absolutely no knowledge of the seriousness of sexual molestation in the home."

 

Oh yeah, my last comment is nothing more than a snark. Michelle had way too much rouge on her face and her hair was so out of control that I wished I was invisible and standing in back of her with a big pair of scissors to cut that crap off.

Edited June 4, 2015 by HumblePi

[Straycat80]

As far as the under the clothes touching, JB said it happened but 'just for a few seconds '. So that makes that act not matter so much?

[NJRach]

But Joshie was a child. C'mon people. He is excused! What BS. So, in the Duggar World, at age 15 you are still a child and not accountable for any actions.

 

So how is it ok to be married at age 17, in Michelle's case, or age 20 as for Josh and Jessa? I guess they rocket right from childhood, past puberty and into adulthood in a few short years.

 

What a crock. As was the entire interview.

 

My favorite statement was that the girls have been victimized MORE by the bad publicity than by Joshie. That made me want to put my fist through the TV> 

[natyxg]

Here are my notes:

Begins with MK suggesting that police report was obtained illegally. Interview begins with an immediate reminder that Josh confessed on his own in each case. The girls had no memory of the first two instances as they were sleeping. The first instances occurred right after Josh turned 14. He was “curious” about girls and touched them “over their clothes” they were sleeping. They talked to the two girls immediately, but neither girl remembered those instances. They decided to handle these first two cases “in house” by punishing Josh and watching him all the time. They did the “best they could under the circumstances. “ Then there were two more instances where Josh “touched their breasts over their clothes.” It wasn’t rape; it was fondling. They then discuss how they worked to protect their daughters while still working to save Josh. When the youngest daughter was touched, Josh was removed from the home that same day. Again, Josh confessed. Here, Michelle begins to cry and says that they tried so hard to raise them to know the difference between right and wrong. They talked with other families who had similar problems and learned from their stories that things could have been much worse. Josh had “fondled” the girls while they were sleep.

After Josh went to Little Rock for “Christian counseling,” they decided to take the next “important step” in his recovery, which was to go to the law. They went directly to the closest police station with no plans to report Josh to any particular officer. One that they happened to know was on duty and Josh confessed everything to that officer. They brought along a family friend as a witness. Duggars believe this officer lied when he said Josh only confessed to one incident. They say Josh confessed to all and that this officer is worried because he broke the law by not beginning an official investigation as a mandatory reporter.

Jim Bob claims that Josh and all the children went to “accredited professional counseling” and Josh paid for his own counseling. They also put many, many safeguards in place to separate the boys and girls and set strict boundaries (no girls on boys laps, no boy babysitters, etc). They did not feel Josh was a threat at that point. Josh had been born a “new creature” through God.

MK suggests again and again that report was obtained illegally and that juvenile records were sealed. At this point the interview turns to how the report should never have been released and that the police chief may have had a personal vendetta against Josh, that she refused to shake his hand once, that she mentioned having a few things to take care of before she retired. Michelle cries that her daughters have been re-victimized by the tabloids.

Why haven’t they been honest this whole time about this “secret.” They claim that they don’t go around telling strangers all about their private lives. They claim that they received a “clean bill of health” from family services and that they were assured that the record was sealed and that the girls’ trust in law enforcement has been shattered.

They claim that they did not live in fear that they would be found out because the records were sealed. Now that it has been they have prayed that people will see that if God can forgive Josh, God forgives everyone.

They are talking with lawyers about suing the city over the release of the report. They don’t know if the show will continue but they asked “why should the entire family be punished for the mistakes of the one?” They repeat again that the girls didn’t even know they had been victimized really until the report was released to the backpack. They say that they are fine either way and that they will continue their ministry and continue to love each other. The family is trying to “regroup” after this “unprecedented” attack against them.

 

Thanks for the summary. I will try to catch it later, but I am surprised they admitted to all those things. I guess I expected way more vagueness.

[Vermicious Knid]

More on Laurence O'Donnell; had on a reporter from the Daily Beast and a clinical psychologist who works with abuse survivors. The psychologist made the point the girls weren't safe in the home, the parents only knew what they were told. She totally hammered them on being arrogant and minimizing the whole thing, along with framing themselves as victims. She described them as an incestuous family and said this behavior is classic.  Lawrence was outraged over their outrage about juvenile records being released. He played Michelle's robocall and Megyn asking about it, then had a gay father respond. He failed them as parents and said there was no humanity to her. If anyone wants to catch the rerun it will be at 10:44 PST, 1:44 EST.

[Spencer Hastings]

I guess the two married girls have already been married off, so there's no reason to maintain any more purity, so they get to speak. (Besides I can't imagine Jana wanting to, Jinger would just stare at Jessa, and Joy was very young when it all happened).

Jesse and Jill's headships probably approved the interview. Jana wouldn't touch that interview chair if you paid her a million dollars. Jinger would just break my heart. I would under no circumstances want Joy to speak out. She's just too young for all of this. So young.