The Kelly File: Duggar Interview 2015.06.03

[cheatincheetos]

A surprisingly easy-to-read and compact play-by-play here: http://perezhilton.com/2015-06-03-jim-bob-duggar-michelle-duggar-megyn-kelly-interview-josh-duggar-molestation#.VW-ypt5FN_J

"9:10pm ET: "This was not rape," Jim Bob says. He clarifies that there was both over-the-clothes AND under-the-clothes touching."

 

*skin crawling*

 

"9:39pm ET: Megyn asked why they would launch a reality TV show knowing Josh's past. Jim Bob says they had "nothing to hide. We had taken care of that years before. We had no fear. That was actually a sealed juvenile record. This was stuff under law that this would never come out."

 

We had nothing to hide, because we knew that it would stay hidden...?

Edited June 4, 2015 by cheatincheetos

[Mya Stone]

What. A. Crock. Of. Shit.

Your username, plus this post? Perfection. 

[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.

[mynextmistake]

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

They aren't going to sue anybody. All of the legal issues aside, they need for this to go away. A lawsuit will just keep it in the public eye for a longer time. Besides, Jim Bob and Michelle don't have standing to sue.

I think this whole thing was a huge, tone-deaf miscalculation on the part of Jim Bob, Michelle, and FOX. Jim Bob and Michelle aren't going to persuade anybody that Josh didn't do anything wrong or that they handled it well, and FOX is going to get a lot of backlash for their kid-gloves treatment. All they've succeeded in doing is adding flames to a fire that was showing some signs of dying down. I'm really surprised that they aren't getting better advice.

[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.

[mynextmistake]

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.

It certainly should have been redacted better to protect the identity of the survivors. But unless I've missed something in the extensive discussion of the release of the report, I'm not sure what makes its release "unethical." It's either a public record under the law or it isn't -- I don't think the police chief has a lot of discretion in determining that.

[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?