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CNN Tag

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 26, 2017 11 Comments
About the last accusation you'd expect to hear leveled at CNN is that it is too accommodating to Sean Hannity and Donald Trump. But that's the charge that former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett has made. Appearing on Brian Stelter's Reliable Sources on CNN today, Lovett first praised Stelter as a "bulwark," noting "you go after Hannity on your show."  Lovett then turned the tables, claiming "but then you turn on CNN, and Hannity's got a little beachhead on half the shows on this network." Lovett's beef was that CNN panels include Trump supporters he disparages.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 15, 2017 13 Comments
You might think that—given the chance to chide the star of a competing network—CNN would have called out MSNBC's Rachel Maddow over her failed, overhyped "scoop" on Donald Trump's taxes. But nary a discouraging word about Maddow could be heard on CNN this morning.  Liberal media solidarity more important than beating the competition? Instead, commenting this morning on the release of Donald Trump's 2005 tax return, CNN's Chris Cuomo described the Alternative Minimum Tax [AMT] he paid as a "benefit" to Trump. It was just the opposite. The AMT Alternative Minimum Tax is designed to prevent people with large incomes from using deductions to reduce their tax liability beyond a certain amount. No matter how little a taxpayer would normally pay, the AMT imposes a higher minimum.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 13, 2017 14 Comments
CNN's 7 a.m. ET hour today began with a news montage. Have a look, and see if you don't agree that the hit parade of horribles for the Trump administration could just about as easily have been put together by the DNC as by CNN. Here's what was included:
  • McCain calls out Trump to provide evidence of wiretapping.
  • Dem Rep. Adam Schiff saying there'd be an open hearing; an unidentified voice saying "we're going to ask, is there any truth to this."
  • Kellyanne saying "the president has asked for the investigation into surveillance to be included."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on March 08, 2017 18 Comments
On CNN this morning, commenting on a report that President Trump has "no proof, no regrets" over his allegation that Pres. Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, Chris Cuomo claimed "no, proof, no regrets: they only go together with this administration." Really? We only have to go back to the immediately previous administration to debunk Cuomo's claim. Remember President Obama's "proof and regrets" that a video led to the murder of four Americans in Benghazi? Nope? How about "if you like your policy, you can keep your policy?" Or when he told the press on national television the Cambridge police "acted stupidly" at a Harvard professor's home? Remember President Obama's "proof and regrets" over that? Neither do we.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 07, 2017 22 Comments
Outrage everywhere because House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) had the nerve to tell people they should prioritize their budget. On CNN, he spoke about healthcare with Alisyn Camerota:
"Well, we're getting rid of the individual mandate. We're getting rid of those things that people said that they don't want," Chaffetz replied. "Americans have choices, and they've got to make a choice. So rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on February 14, 2017 22 Comments
Discussing the overnight resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, CNN's David Gregory managed this morning to work in a broad swipe at the president. Gregory claimed that "the fledgling foreign policy in the Trump administration [has] been a disaster." Really? Gregory ignored: the widely-praised, weekend-long meetings that Trump just concluded with Japanese PM Abe; Trump's positive conversation with Chinese Premier Xi and the confirmation of the One China policy; the re-establishment of the special relationship with the UK and its PM May, and of course the healing of ties with Israel after years of Obama animosity culminating in his perpetration of an anti-Israel Security Council resolution.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 14, 2017 7 Comments
I came across this CNN article that Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder faced many hurdles before his Thursday confirmation hearing because four GOP senators decided to withhold their support. The fast food executive will face the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Thursday. These anonymous sources pointed their fingers at Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK), Sen. Susan Collins (ME), Sem Johnny Isakson (GA), and Sen. Tim Scott (SC). Reading through the article, I saw that CNN only cited Sen. Collins. So I decided to actually do some journalism and reach out to the offices for confirmation on the material provided by the sources.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on February 01, 2017 17 Comments
Did Joe Manchin just open the door for Republicans to invoke the nuclear option if necessary to confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court? In appearances on CNN and MSNBC this morning, Dem Senator Manchin blasted his fellow Dems for having invoked the nuclear option in the first place. Said Manchin on Morning Joe: "I've been opposed to the nuclear option. I thought Harry Reid was dead wrong when he did it. I voted against that. My dear beloved senator, prior to my coming here, was Robert C. Byrd and he would be rolling over in his grave knowing what we have done." That could be understood to mean: Dems, if the Republicans now use the nuclear option to confirm Gorsuch, you've got no one to blame but yourselves for having opened Pandora's Box.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 26, 2017 22 Comments
If this weren't so infuriating, it might be funny . . . Appearing on CNN this morning to discuss President Trump's plan to cut funds to sanctuary cities, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio implied that the city will not cooperate in the deportation of thieves who don't use violence because they might be the "breadwinners" of their families. Message to the mayor: thieves aren't bread "winners." They are bread stealers. They're taking bread from the mouths of children whose family earned it legally. In this theater of the absurd, de Blasio held up a list of crimes for which NYC would cooperate with immigration authorities. And non-violent theft is apparently not on the list.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 17, 2017 13 Comments
Mika Brzezinski is an unabashed liberal, someone who pushed Elizabeth Warren to run for president and subsequently became a Bernie Sanders fan. But she has also proved herself willing to criticize her own, be they politicians or, as this morning, fellow members of the MSM. On today's Morning Joe, Brzezinski first criticized CNN's Jim Acosta for his pro-John Lewis speech in the guise of a question to MLK III after his meeting with Donald Trump. A bit later, she expanded on the point in a very pointed way: "we [in the MSM] decipher Democrats and make them sound great. And we make Republicans sound like complete—the word we won't use."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on January 11, 2017 42 Comments
It's one fabulously nasty mess both CNN and Buzzfeed created for themselves. Buzzfeed decided to publish an unsubstantiated dossier full of all kinds of licentious information about president-elect Trump, particularly that he has "deep ties to Russia". CNN then ran with the Buzzfeed story. The backstory on how the dossier came to be is as bizarre as the document itself. NOTHING, not even the tiniest little accusation in the report was verified before Buzzfeed hit "publish." They even mentioned that the document had been bouncing around news outlets and reporters for months. Such open secrets are not uncommon. Stories, videos, documents, especially those most sensational in nature are frequently shopped to blogs, news orgs, and reporters. Everyone knows about them. Everyone talks about them. But no one reports them. Why? Because their veracity is unprovable.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on January 11, 2017 39 Comments
Of all the Morning Joe crew, you might be surprised to learn that it was liberal Dem Mika Brzezinski who this morning took the toughest shots at CNN and Buzzfeed for publishing unverified stories containing salacious allegations regarding Donald Trump's business dealings with, and personal behavior in, Russia. Mika also speculated that the intelligence community might have propagated the story as payback for Trump having insulted them. Brzezinski first wondered whether CNN and Buzzfeed went with the story "because they hate [Trump] so much, or is the intelligence community literally putting the screws to Donald Trump because he insulted them?"

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 29, 2016 21 Comments
Hanan Ashwari has for decades been the most recognizable face of the Palestinian government in the American media. As was clear this morning, she is also the face of Palestinian rejectionism of the very basis of the existence of the State of Israel. Ashwari appeared on CNN after David Keyes, Netanyahu's spokesman, said that the real barrier to peace is Palestinian rejection of Israel as a Jewish state. Ashwari expressed that rejection in clear terms: "we cannot a accept religion for any state." Emphasizing her point, she twice mockingly described Israel as wanting Palestinians "to become Zionists suddenly."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 26, 2016 32 Comments
CNN's presidential historian Douglas Brinkley this morning accused Donald Trump of "big-mouthing" President Obama by speaking out on policy issues during the transition. Co-host Poppy Harlow had teed Brinkely up to slam Trump, worrying that Trump had flouted the "one president at a time" tradition, and fretting that by doing so Trump was "confusing our allies and our adversaries. Brinkley was only too happy to run with the ball, responding: "I think it's very wrong-minded of Donald Trump to be doing this . . . what you don't want to do is to be big-mouthing and big-footing a sitting president . . . . I find it troubling, but I'm not going to be able to stop him from doing it."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 22, 2016 40 Comments
Don't look for Phil Mudd to be joining the Trump anti-terrorism team anytime soon . . . Mudd, a CNN counterterrorism analyst, declared today that the threat of terrorism is "modest." When it comes to young people, Mudd said that he worries about gangs and drugs: "I don't worry about terrorism." Mudd also argued that tight restrictions on Muslim immigration would be giving ISIS want it wants by setting ISIS up as the counterbalance to the West and the defender of Islam. Mudd apparently believes that allowing a freer flow of Muslim refugees into the United States, as Hillary wanted, would appease ISIS rather than giving it the opening to carry out more attacks. ISIS is not interested in good relations. It wants only to destroy the West and establish its caliphate. People like Mudd, whom CNN chooses as its "expert," apparently don't understand that.

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on December 17, 2016 27 Comments
Relying on an "expert" who turns out to be a former Obama aide, CNN this morning compared the Trump family to "corrupt regimes around the world." Asked by host Christi Paul whether the presence of Trump family members in official meetings with foreign heads of state and business leaders posed an ethical problem, CNN reporter Cristina Alesci said "a number of ethics experts said, yeah, it's a serious problem. A number of outspoken experts are comparing the Trump's family behavior to corrupt regimes around the world." The only "expert" cited was former Obama aide Norman Eisen, seen in a clip saying "this is not the first time this has happened. I'm just shocked it's happened in the United States."
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