CNN Jumps the Shark

Today on "The Situation Room" CNN moved out of the realm of simple bias and into the realm of Rush Limbaugh.  

Commentators were three men and one woman:   Wolf Blitzer, Jack Cafferty, some third guy I don't know, and a woman whose name escapes me.    The topic was the MI revote and the fact that Hillary supports it, has claimed that not doing it would be an affront to the rights of MI voters, and has called on Obama to "do the right thing."

So ... what was the content of the ensuing discussion by CNN commentators?  

Hillary will do anything to win.
Hillary is disingenuous (parroting a talking point Obama had given in his interview with Anderson Cooper earlier today).
Hillary is engaging in "unseemly whining".

A laundry list of misogynist ad hominem attacks.     The lone woman (who I suspect is actually an Obama supporter based on things she's said on CNN before) tried to jump in with an objective view, that both campaigns will of course argue for whatever is best for their candidate.   She was dismissed by the men, who went back to savaging Hillary.

It was truly a Rush Limbaugh moment.   So ... I have two questions for the mydd crowd:

1) Does anyone know where I can quickly get the video of that segment?   It played at 3:40 pm Pacific Time here on the West Coast.    Frankly I'm concerned that if I order the official one it will have been redacted.  

2) Anyone up for a "viewers' strike"?  



Display:


Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (2.00 / 1)

Did Wolf Blitzer say anything offensive? Cause if not, this isn't really news ... Jack Cafferty is a cantankerous old geezer who is cranky and probably forgot his 'rhoid donut to sit on.

And the other two are not objective news reporters like Blitzer is supposed to be.

As for the media in general having an anti-Clinton bias? What else is new? Want to see some bias, watch MSNBC between the hours of 5pm and 10pm.


"If we can't live together... we're going to die alone."
by VAAlex on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:07:59 PM EST

I think it's offensive... (2.00 / 1)

For supposed "journalists" and "nonpartisan analysts" to take sides and bash Hillary. Hillary wants the MI & FL votes to count... When did that become some "evil, desperate" move? I'm sick of this media bias. Sorry, but I won't accept it.


No way, no how, no McCain! :-)
by atdleft on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:34:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

Or watch "Countdown".  Olbermann beat CNN over the shark by several days.


by creeper1014 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:49:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Great source for video...another for transcripts.. (none / 0)

...transcripts should be available right on CNN.com.

I use VMS, Video Monitoring Services, out of NYC, but with offices around the country (if memory serves me correctly).

It'll cost you about $30 for the video download. I think they'll also/alternatively supply it as an email attachment.

When you call them, they'll hook you up with one of their account executives/researchers.


by bobswern on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 10:22:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (2.00 / 1)

it would be just like those mysongonist pigs to point out that clinton changed her position on this only becuase of politics. SHAME ON YOU CNN meet me in my entertainment center so we can talk about your use of facts to make hillary look bad!


by wil5013 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:08:05 PM EST

Clinton changed her position? (2.00 / 1)

So you know something that's not in the public record?  Do tell.

Oh, and evidence.  Evidence would be good.


by Trickster on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:22:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Clinton changed her position? (2.00 / 0)

"It's clear, this election they're having is not going to count for anything," Clinton said Thursday during an interview on New Hampshire Public Radio's call-in program, "The Exchange."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con tent/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101100859_ pf.html


by wil5013 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:24:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Clinton changed her position? (2.00 / 1)

That's not a "position," it's a statement of then-existing fact.  You might make a lawyerish argument that it implied she wasn't going to fight in the future to overturn that fact, but that's going kind of far in implying unstated things into an answer to an interview question.

This is especially true since it would've been absolutely stark raving insane for Clinton to have taken the position at that time that there was no way Michigan was ever going to be seated.  She had huge leads over Obama and Edwards in the MI polls at that time, but EVEN OBAMA AND EDWARDS weren't saying anything so foolish as "Michigan's delegates will never be seated."

You're really ssttrreeeeeeettcchhiiiiinngg with that one.  A child would understand that's not a "position."  The words "it's clear" unambiguously signal lthat she is interpreting outside events, not issuing an opinion or taking a stand.


by Trickster on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:57:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Clinton changed her position? (none / 0)

Clinton Campaign Said She Was "Not Participating in the Michigan Primary." Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said, "Clinton signed a pledge saying she will not campaign. She is not participating in the Michigan primary because she is not campaigning there. She is honoring the pledge." [New Hampshire Union Leader, 10/11/07 ]

sorry about the break i was busy coloring and being such a child ( or is it a baby cuz even a child could see the validity of your position!)
 but that is a pretty clear position to me, - she will not participate- Now the only thing that has changed is her political position, NOT the arguments she is trying to make about voter disenfranchisement etc. im gonna go to bed now cuz i need to get up for elementary school and i dont wanna miss the big yellow school bus.


by wil5013 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 11:24:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]

If you don't want to be ridiculed (none / 0)

Don't make up outlandish crap about a Democrat.  Those are fighting words to me.

The pledge was not to "campaign or participate."  "Campaign" is extensively defined in the DNC rules, and all campaigns acted on the assumption that the definition of "Campaign" covered the phrase "campaign or participate."  The easiest example of that is that, of course, none of the candidates withdrew from Florida and none of the candidates withdrew from Michigan until a hasty last-minute move, apparently concerted, by several campaigns.

By the way, you can google til your heart's desire--I know, because I've already done so--and you won't find a single campaign who said at the time the candidates withdrew from Michigan that they were compelled to do so by the language of the pledge.  What you will find is several analysts who made contemporaneous suggestions like this one:

CNN's Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider suggested the Democrats who withdrew may have calculated that it was simply in their best political interest to do so.

"If there's no campaign, the candidate most likely to win Michigan is Hillary Clinton," Schneider said. "Her Democratic rivals don't want a Clinton victory in Michigan to count. They want Iowa and New Hampshire, where they have a better chance of stopping Clinton, to count more."


by Trickster on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 11:54:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: If you don't want to be ridiculed (none / 0)

Uh-Oh Fighting words!
Your response changes nothing, her spokesman says she won't particpate, if she honestly was concerned about the votes counting and voter disenfranchisment etc. she never should have gone along with the DNC ruling hell i dont know why she did the Clintons dont like Dean or his 50 state stradegy, she only did because she was so conviced of her own enevitablity,( i mean its her turn right?)

And its good they withdrew, they should have done in Florida too, the campaigns didnt count so HRC's name recognition won the day even though eveyone agreed they were meaningless


by wil5013 on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 12:05:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)


by wil5013 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:08:10 PM EST

Huh! I've been striking CNN for a long time. (2.00 / 1)

I don't watch CNN or NBC.  I listen to NPR, the
BBC, my local public radio station and that's it.
by dbrown04 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:09:23 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

how do u delete your own comment? i didnt mean to post an empty message


by wil5013 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:09:42 PM EST

The Barack Obama Hour (2.00 / 2)

See the Election Center (After Lou Dobbs) and the AC 360 show for All the Barack Obama praising you would ever like to hear. Economic collapse, what economic collapse


by Wiseprince on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:12:45 PM EST

Cafferty is going for ratings (2.00 / 2)

He's a snotty talking person who wants a job and the higher the ratings, the more job security, maybe more money.

Wolf can be a very good commentator at times.

They should report facts and THIS IS NOT A FACT:  Hillary will do anything to win.

THAT is a talking point from opponents.  And it's ridiculous.

CAN YOU BEGIN  to imagine the outrage if the Clinton campaign or pundits said, "Obama will do anything to win"???  What are they insinuating?  

But no, the pundits have taken up the Republican smear machine that Hillary is a vile, evil (yes evil) person.  

I am happy to say that I've known people to do evil things, but I cannot say I've ever known an evil person.  Charles Manson - nuts or something.  

Christ said, "Why do you call me good?"  

For me, it's like this.  If a person does so much good, it is hard to see anything BUT good.  If a person does so much evil, it is hard to see anything BUT evil.  But for my religion, Christ gave his life and his life's blood for that person.  If God wants to call a person evil, that's different.  I ain't heard God on the TV.


by Southern Mouth on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:19:36 PM EST

It's just so sickening... (2.00 / 2)

That the media can't do its job and feels it must take sides in this primary. "Hillary will do anything to win"?? That's NOT a fact... And supposedly "objective" journalists shouldn't be mouthing crap like this. Simple as that.


No way, no how, no McCain! :-)
by atdleft on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:38:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (2.00 / 1)

It's just a preview of what they will be doing to Obama in the fall. Except he has not been fending off their attacks for the last fifteen years.


by MediaFreeze on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:25:17 PM EST

Yep, yep, yep... (none / 0)

If anything, this affair over Jeremiah Wright has proven to us that Obama isn't prepared for what happens when he's no longer the "media darling". That's why Democrats need to figure out how to fight back against media bias instead of just trying to suck up the corporate media for temporary "favor".


No way, no how, no McCain! :-)
by atdleft on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:36:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Yep, yep, yep... (none / 0)

If anything, his handling of the Wright-controversy left me lukewarm or warm towards his abilities to fight back.  It's incredible that he was able to make that speech.  It WAS one heck of a speech, and it displayed his intelligence in terms that everyone could understand and relate to.   Will it be enough?  I don't know, but what I do know is that he just faced the biggest political challenge that I could imagine seeing him forced to face.   That video was utterly dramatic  The challenge he faced on Tuesday was one that few politicians could survive, let alone dominate as he did.

Less than 48 hours after the speech was given, it's coming close to having nearly 2 million views on YouTube.  That's more than Wright's videos on YouTube.

And I know, Wright was also on the cable networks and all over the media.  So has been Obama's speech and the amazing content of it.  I don't mean to sound starry-eyed or anything, but that WAS an incredible speech.


"Behold, I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves! Therefore, be as wise as a serpent, And as harmless as a dove."
by Setrak on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:45:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I found it derivative ... (2.00 / 2)

of Bill Clinton's speech to the Million Man March in 1995.   Plus Clinton's came from the heart, not from a desperate need to squirm out of a tight spot and win an election:

.. .. Abraham Lincoln reminded us that a house divided against itself cannot stand. When divisions have threatened to bring our house down, somehow we have always moved together to shore it up. My fellow Americans, our house is the greatest democracy in all human history. And with all its racial and ethnic diversity, it has beaten the odds of human history. But we know that divisions remain, and we still have work to do. (Applause.)

The two worlds we see now each contain both truth and distortion. Both black and white Americans must face this, for honesty is the only gateway to the many acts of reconciliation that will unite our worlds at last into one America.

White America must understand and acknowledge the roots of black pain. It began with unequal treatment first in law and later in fact. African Americans indeed have lived too long with a justice system that in too many cases has been and continues to be less than just. (Applause.) The record of abuses extends from lynchings and trumped up charges to false arrests and police brutality. The tragedies of Emmett Till and Rodney King are bloody markers on the very same road.

Still today too many of our police officers play by the rules of the bad old days. It is beyond wrong when law-abiding black parents have to tell their law-abiding children to fear the police whose salaries are paid by their own taxes. (Applause.)

And blacks are right to think something is terribly wrong when African American men are many times more likely to be victims of homicide than any other group in this country; when there are more African American men in our corrections system than in our colleges; when almost one in three African American men in their 20s are either in jail, on parole or otherwise under the supervision of the criminal justice system -- nearly one in three. And that is a disproportionate percentage in comparison to the percentage of blacks who use drugs in our society. Now, I would like every white person here and in America to take a moment to think how he or she would feel if one in three white men were in similar circumstances.

And there is still unacceptable economic disparity between blacks and whites. It is so fashionable to talk today about African Americans as if they have been some sort of protected class. Many whites think blacks are getting more than their fair share in terms of jobs and promotions. That is not true. That is not true. (Applause.)

The truth is that African Americans still make on average about 60 percent of what white people do; that more than half of African American children live in poverty. And at the very time our young Americans need access to college more than ever before, black college enrollment is dropping in America.

On the other hand, blacks must understand and acknowledge the roots of white fear in America. There is a legitimate fear of the violence that is too prevalent in our urban areas; and often by experience or at least what people see on the news at night, violence for those white people too often has a black face.

It isn't racist for a parent to pull his or her child close when walking through a high-crime neighborhood, or to wish to stay away from neighborhoods where innocent children can be shot in school or standing at bus stops by thugs driving by with assault weapons or toting handguns like old west desperados. (Applause.)

It isn't racist for parents to recoil in disgust when they read about a national survey of gang members saying that two-thirds of them feel justified in shooting someone simply for showing them disrespect. It isn't racist for whites to say they don't understand why people put up with gangs on the corner or in the projects, or with drugs being sold in the schools or in the open. It's not racist for whites to assert that the culture of welfare dependency, out-of-wedlock pregnancy and absent fatherhood cannot be broken by social programs unless there is first more personal responsibility. (Applause.)

The great potential for this march today, beyond the black community, is that whites will come to see a larger truth -- that blacks share their fears and embrace their convictions; openly assert that without changes in the black community and within individuals, real change for our society will not come. ... ..


Reasonable people can disagree.
by mnicholson0220 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:48:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Yep, yep, yep... (none / 0)

Setrak, the only reason that it is being heralded as "one heck of a speech," is because the Greek chorus has been singing the "heck of a speech" anthem for the last 24 hours. It was an empty contentless speech, that left all the major questions unanswered. It was the same sort of feel-good nonsense he dishes out everyday. But, anyway, it doesn't matter how good a speech he gives, once he gets the nomination the corporate media will tear apart everything he says. He will be wondering where his BFF Chris (Tingles) Matthews disappeared to. Gloria Borger will be mavelling at John McCains courage and stature while wondering about Obama's ability to tie his shoes in the morning. It will be a bloodbath.


by MediaFreeze on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:54:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Yep, yep, yep... (none / 0)

Correction, you hope it will be a blood bath.  Just like you hoped his speech wouldn't be enough, wouldn't inspire, wouldn't save his political career, wouldn't elevate our discussion of race.  I think you have to have not seen the speech to say it had no content, or worse you saw the speech and didn't care about what was being said but instead cared about the future of your preferred candidate in a Democratic nomination.


"Behold, I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves! Therefore, be as wise as a serpent, And as harmless as a dove."
by Setrak on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 09:00:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Yep, yep, yep... (none / 0)

No. I do not hope for a bloodbath. I predict one. Those are two entirely different things.

I did not hope Obama would obstruct revotes in FL and MI, but I predicted it.

All I care about is that a Democrat gets the White House and John McCain does not install three more "conservative" Supreme Court Justices. If the hypocritical vapid Obama gets the nomination I will do all I can to see he gets elected. Until then, I will do all I can to see that the best candidate gets nominated.


by MediaFreeze on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 11:39:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (2.00 / 1)

I changed the channel. Until recently I didn't even know what channel Fox News was on Direct TV. Now I find myself switching to it just to get away from the Obama love fests on CNN and MSNBC.


by JimR on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:48:54 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

CNN will do and say anything for Obama to win.  They sold their reputation long time ago, but for what.!  I don't know.


by JoeySky18 on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:54:24 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

It's a vast left-wing conspiracy.


"Behold, I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves! Therefore, be as wise as a serpent, And as harmless as a dove."
by Setrak on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 09:00:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

No, that's dKos ;)


by grlpatriot on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 09:44:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

In a way I agree most with the first poster, so what is new? When we have to go to Fox to get away from HIllary hate and catch something with pictures, it's really creepy. Isn't there any protest we can get up to let them know? I think the main problem is their demographic and the fact that their main sponsors seem to be gong after guys with erectile dysfunction or need male enhancement, whatever that means. Anyway, it's damn creepy.  


Hillary - alternative energy
by anna shane on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 08:57:50 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

I stopped watching CNN long long ago.


by LindaSFNM on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 09:25:06 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

So embarrassing what Cnn has become.  What, a bunch of old has been Conservatives, huh?

I remember how Cafferty was putting down Al Gore on prospects of running.  This loser that has been down graded to answer emails and ask a question to keep a job, is putting down Al Gore, Nobel Laureate, World Leader, Environmental Champion and Millionare.  Yeah, right Jack.

Hillary wants to win? OH NO, we should hold an election...oh wait, that what it is.  So if that's bad, does this mean it's good that Obama is going to lose?

They actually are repeating talking points that it's a bad thing that Hillary want Michigan and Florida to get their delegates?  Well, if Obama and them feel that way, why doesn't Obama just turn over Two Large States worth of delegates if that's not what he's in this for.  Oh wait, he doesn't have 2 large states to give.  That's OK, we'll take the two largest he can offer.  Then we really won't have to worry about him wanting to win this thing.


by environmentally blue on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 09:34:21 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

I've stopped watching CNN. It has turned into a 24/7 sitcom. The only MSNBC show I watch is Morning Joe.


by grlpatriot on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 09:43:51 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

I'm an Obama guy and I stopped watching CNN a few weeks ago.  They exist only, ONLY to get ratings.  When Obama is up, they'll prop up Hillary to keep the game going; when Obama is down, they'll prop up Obama to keep the game going.  

Networks like CNN, MSNBC, Faux News and the biggies desperately want to have a brokered convention in Denver.  They want this as much as Gollum wanted the ring in the Lord of the Rings; they can see ratings and revenue and a chance to be another Walter Kronkite.  

So yes, definitely, let's boycott all television news outlets.  I'm sick of the spin they give to suit their own purposes.  I'm sick of Buchanan, Blitzer, Matthews, O'Reilly (sorry, I still like but don't watch Olbermann, not until the nomination is set) and all the rest.


by PittsburghPete on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 09:58:20 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

I look in on CNN once in a while to see if they have changed.  Lou Dobbs is really the only one I spend anytime on this season, just because he seems not to be so partisan and is actually giving Clinton a good shake.  But Cafferty is the ugliest hater of them all.  He is just downright nasty and an obvious Hillary Hater.  The media has really turned completely away from being the beacon of Democracy that they were once so much a symbol of.  It is sad what a mockery of journalism and the press, CNN and MSNBC have made themselves.


by Scotch on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 09:58:36 PM EST

I'll strike--- Whoever gets a petition or whatever (none / 0)

and that goes a million times more for MSNBC.

The coverage of this election has been disgraceful and embarrassing.  


by chieflytrue on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 11:34:29 PM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

Whaaaat?

Your still WATCHING CNN and Jack Caff's mentally ill HillaryHating twisted manipulative "comments"
 and "questions of the day". Been on stike for months


by IndyRobin on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 06:57:40 AM EST

Re: CNN Jumps the Shark (none / 0)

Strike? absolutely. Could we please include NBC? It think getting and distributing the video is an excellent idea. So much misinformation gets spewed out there, and no one challenges it! Thanks for the diary!!!


by susanclare on Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 04:58:37 PM EST


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