CNN adding to its zoo, ERICKSON. Subtracting from credibility: CROWLEY, Rick SANCHEZ, NAVARRETTE,etc

[UTUSN]

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http://gawker.com/5494583/disingenuous-hack-to-contribute-to-cnn

Disingenuous Hack to Contribute to CNN

CNN, America's Favorite Source of Dumb Guys Reading Twitter Out Loud, has signed conservative blogger Erick Erickson to their "Best Political Team." This is a wonderful hire, as it provides yet another excuse to avoid CNN entirely.

Erickson is the editor of RedState.com, a popular conservative blog. Here are some things he's done, in the last year or so:

Called on protesters to "tell Nancy Pelosi to send Obama to a death panel."
Tweeted that retiring Supreme Court justice David Souter is a "goat fucking child molester," then deleted that Tweet, and then Tweeted it again.

Became so enraged about proposed regulations on dishwasher detergent that he wondered when the people would "march down to their state legislator's house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp." Over, once again, regulations on dishwasher detergent.

Constantly makes incredibly dumb and historically challenged Hitler analogies.
Of course, those are all "crimes" against decency and honesty that almost any conservative blogger is guilty of. What is particularly galling is Erickson will never, ever say anything vaguely unexpected or interesting on TV. Ever. He will mislead and lie and dissemble and repeat talking points. He is a cog in the organized Republican message machine.

If you want to know what Erick Erickson will add to the debate on your cable news program, just copy and paste memos from Ed Meese's Conservative Action Project into a text-to-speech program.


Send an email to Alex Pareene, the author of this post, at [e-mail].

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[Cha]

1. Yeah, I just read about that on Steve Benen's blog..

"THIS IS CNN?.... If I didn't get independent confirmation of this, I honestly would have assumed the announcement was some elaborate practical joke. Alas, it's true.

Prominent conservative commentator and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson will join CNN as a political contributor, appearing primarily on CNN's new show John King, USA¸ the network announced Tuesday.

Erickson, a self described "obsessive news junkie" who grew up in Dubai and rural Louisiana, will also provide perspective and commentary on other programs across the network. <...>

"Erick's a perfect fit for John King, USA, because not only is he an agenda-setter whose words are closely watched in Washington, but as a person who still lives in small-town America, Erick is in touch with the very people John hopes to reach," said Sam Feist, CNN political director and vice president of Washington-based programming. "With Erick's exceptional knowledge of politics, as well as his role as a conservative opinion leader, he will add an important voice to CNN's ideologically diverse group of political contributors."

This is easily the worst decision CNN has ever made. That the network probably reviewed Erickson's work before hiring him, and offered him a job anyway, suggests CNN's professional standards for what constitutes "an important voice" have all but disappeared.

The point here isn't that it's disappointing to see CNN hire yet another conservative voice, adding to its already-large stable of conservative voices. To be sure, it's frustrating, but it's nothing new.

The problem here is with Erickson himself.

For example, it wasn't long ago when Erickson explained his belief on why the left has a stronger online presence than the right. He attributed it to an asymmetry in free time, since conservatives "have families because we don't abort our kids, and we have jobs because we believe in capitalism."

This is the same Erickson who recently called retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter a "goat f--king child molester," referred to two sitting U.S. senators as "healthcare suicide bombers," praised protesters for "tell Nancy Pelosi and the Congress to send Obama to a death panel" (he later backpedaled on that one), and described President Obama's Nobel Prize as "an affirmative action quota."

And perhaps my personal favorite was the time, just last year, when Erickson was angry about new environmental regulations relating to dishwasher detergent. He told his readers, "At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator's house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?"

There was a point when major professional outlets would look at a voice like this as an "extremist," to be shut out of the mainstream of America's civil discourse. CNN, however, considers

CNN will no doubt hear about blog posts like this one, and assume that liberals are angry because the network hired a right-wing blogger. But that's not it -- there are thoughtful, intelligent conservative bloggers in the country, who occasionally have insightful things to say. The problem here is that Erick Erickson isn't one of them.

This is a genuinely sad day for American journalism. CNN ought to be ashamed of itself."

—Steve Benen 12:25 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (32)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

[Jennicut]

2. So where is CNN's extreme lefty? Rick Sanchez is about as liberal as they get.

Carville, Begalla, Brazille? Middle of the road to DLC types. F*ck CNN. I only swear a lot when I get angry. The stuff this guy has said is reprehensible.

[rcrush]

3. Rick Sanchez is also the biggest male ditz on the planet.

Quite possibly.

[Oregone]

4. "By the way, nine meters in English is?"

[Jennicut]

9. LOL! But he did ask an "education expert" yesterday WTF is wrong with the Texas

Board of Ed and all the RW textbook changes. He does not come off as a major conservative. Sad that a guy who once hit somebody with a car and is not the brightest is about all that I can stomach on CNN.

[Cha]

6. This is exactly what

I asked cnn when I posted this in another forum. Where's the balance, cnn?

CNN-
(404) 827 – 1500
Comment line: (404) 827 - 0234
(From grasswire
fax: [phone].
CNN NEWS DIRECTOR Kim Bondy. 404 827 1500. fax. [phone]
CNN NEWSROOM 404.827.1500 . 404.827.1500. [e-mail]
Call Anderson Cooper at 1-866-NY-AC360

Everyone at CNN is listed individually on this page: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv /
(Thanks to Frenchie's Action Numbers)

One thing about this..there's no question now that they are trying to bring down Democracy.

[bullwinkle428]

5. If they also hired Lee Papa (aka The Rude Pundit) and agreed

to a series of head-to-head debates between the two of them, I'd be okay with it. :evilgrin:

[Cha]

7. They'd never do anything remotely resembling balance..

They're too entrenched in freakin' mediawhoredom.

[corpseratemedia]

8. I did see this schlub Erickson say that people get unemployment to avoid going to work.

what an ass-dreck