Conservative Media Watchdog Newsbusters Despicably Slams Jamie Raskin for Supposedly ‘Milking’ His Son’s Suicide

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A conservative media critic published a column on Friday despicably accusing Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) of “milking” his son’s suicide.

Raskin’s son, Tommy Raskin, took his own life on Dec. 31 following a battle with depression.

The congressman has been one of the Democratic leaders seeking answers following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as he was the lead impeachment manager in former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate and now sits on the House select committee investigating the riot.

In a column for Newsbusters, which is the Media Research Center’s blog documenting liberal media bias, Tim Graham acknowledged that the suicide of a child “sounds like a terrible blow for any parent,” he presented the piece with the headline “Column: Radical Raskin’s ‘Unthinkable’ Suicide Milking.”

Yes, that is a real headline that made it past editors and was actually published.

Graham quoted an interview Raskin told MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow on Jan. 4, “I fault myself for not talking about suicide to Tommy. And I liken not talking to a depressed person about suicide to not talking to a teenager about sex. You think somehow you are being clever, and you are suppressing a reality that you don’t want to materialize.”

“But in fact, you are making it worse because when you don’t speak these words, it endows them with more power,” added Raskin. “I likened not talking about suicide to not talking about fascism.”

Graham then cited other times Raskin compared not talking about suicide to not talking about democracy in peril.

With all due respect to Raskin and the immeasurable loss he suffered, the personal and political should be kept separate especially as it pertains to talking about a personal subject like suicide following a battle with depression to a political battle over fighting for democracy. Raskin’s comparison minimizes the subject of suicide. One can decry the challenges to democracy without invoking personal loss.

And, with all due respect to Graham, one can criticize Raskin’s analogy without using an extreme and despicable label such as “milking” when it comes to what is the worst thing for a parent to experience: the loss of his or her child. Tone matters.

Disclosure: The author of this article is a former intern of the Media Research Center.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.