So why do people continue to watch CNN. I will go there later and tell them how I feel. Lets start to do something!

What, she couldn't land a lobbyist job or a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation?
Damaged Goods?

You know, I’m not afraid of conservative voices on the air, but I’m curious where is CNN’s responsibility to provide thoughtful voices on the left?

This goes beyond adding yet one more conservative (now 4 for every liberal), to adding Bushies propagandists.

So now CNN wants to become "fair and balanced" like FAUX News?

Don't they know that FAUX is losing viewers? They're doing so poorly that they didn't even want to release their ratings last month!

General_Rennenkampf @ 9:

Wha? This is just ridiculous. Nothing else needs to be said.

or watched!

Just to play contrarian here, maybe they assume all the liberal/progressive/Democratic voices will be busy working in the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress.

[Actually, Glenn Beck, Tony Snow, Fran Townsend....the pattern of oblivion for CNN is emerging clearer and clearer....]

eligible

el·i·gi·ble [éllijəb’l]
adj
1. qualified: entitled or qualified to do, be, or get something
----------
(thesaurus) eligible (adj)

qualified, entitled, suitable, fit, appropriate, adequate, worthy, authorized

Microsoft® Encarta® Reference Library 2003. ⓒ 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

She is Bushbot #1. How desperately she must seek approval (from anyone), to have gotten where she is.

Fran Townsend, Bill Bennett, Tony Snow, Campbell Brown (married to Dan Senor, another Bremer associate), wouldn't be surprised to look up one day and see GWB sitting right up there with Wolf. Where to turn to now? Fox News? Don't think so. MSNBC? The all day Obama network when they are not showing prison inmates and tatoos? Nope. Guess I will have to start talking to the family again.

Write CNN a letter. Tell them you will not watch them any more. Tell them you thought they were almost fair but now you cannot trust them because they have stacked the deck with Right Wing Neocons such as Tony Snow and Fran Townsend. Tell them that they have no credibility. Credibility and trust are two words that make them think.
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/cnntv/

At the end of the video linked to this header, Townsend is wished good luck as she moves into the "private sector". She did not go private enough.

Ever creeping corpocracy in America.

CitizenX @ 25:

Since she is a current "intelligence advisory board" member, how can she be in this position. Shouldn't it be illegal, if not unethical?

It should.

For years George H. W. Bush worked as an advisor to the Saudis and continued receiving intelligence briefings (after the end of his term). I believe he is the only president to continue receiving briefings after their term.

Should that have been illegal? His son is now president. That at least should be illegal.

i don't watch cnn or fox, their stations are too biased and far right.
there is no balance in diversity on either of these stations show.

These neocons are like a bad virus, spreading their corrupt idealogy into every part of the MSM media. What kind of antibiotic do you use to kill this infection? Seems as though it's spread pretty much through most of our media.

CitizenX @ 25:

Since she is a current "intelligence advisory board" member, how can she be in this position. Shouldn't it be illegal, if not unethical?

she has so many investigations against her questionable actions,
that she should not have a voice accept we know that with the
bush administration, everything fascist is ok.

At least we still have anderson cooper!!! One man with the balls to speak out and ´´keeping them honest´´.
larry king is for shits and giggles lately and well i guess CNN international over here has no former white house liars as thier hired insights. We do here in germany get wolf blitzer, but hes like a very weak beer, looks ok but after one whiff of the bullshit,, we here tend to switch to BBC or N24 for REAL news.

New post is up over at my blog. It deals with morons and candiates and horses and cancer. all of which ppl have made fun of the last two years . Due to a seat in the whitehouse.? odd.

take care folks and thanks again C&L for a kick ass blog and for letting others share thier views without the villagers coming out with fire lit rag poles and rope!
Best regards to all,,

:) nighters

I watch CNN International cuz I'm overseas, and it's a main English news source. But I read the newspaper, come here every day, and have enough of a brain to know that 70% of CNN's coverage is spin and lies.

TV is about selling things, not informing us, (or even entertaining us). I do know that.

The ads reveal the ideals of a society. Ever heard that? Hmmm... very interesting.

Time to change the fucking channel. Or turn the box off completely.

Thank God for the internet.

Marymac, I agree, Use the intenet or C-span. It's are only hope.

"..where is CNN’s responsibility to provide thoughtful voices on the left"?

You're kidding, right? Where on earth did you get the idea CNN has a responsibility to air liberal/progressive opinions, much less "thoughtful" ones. Because they don't.

Replace Eva Braun with this blood-bunny and he'd have won.

CNN: Crooked News Network

The courts have already ruled that lies and misinformation is legal.

Fran will LIE and Tony will SWEAR to it.

This gives me the creeps.

This isn't even worth getting worked up about. CNN wants us angry so we turn their channel on even if just to yell at it, which gives them ratings and thus ad revenue. These TV news outlets don't care about anything beyond the bottom line, and controversy like this feeds their marketing machine. Its like gas prices: unless a large chunk of people stop using the product, they'll keep milking us saps all the way to the bank. And since they hire these ex-propagandists (or current ones in some cases, apparently) and do almost no real investigating, they have little in the way of costs beyond high-priced and vapid pretty faces. Its an entertainment business, and won't change unless its audience does its part to give them an incentive to do so. Like the government.

If PAUL BEGALA is anybody's idea of "voice on the left," then the Left in this country truly is dead.

I mean, dead, and totally, like, buried.

This is how it works for TV hiring:

"HMMM... pretty face... bright smile... great tits. OK, give her a contract. What's that you say about her politics? I don't give a damn about her politics. She's got a pretty face... and a bright smile... and great tits."

Bush has the lowest ratings of any president... since the presidents started to get ratings. OVER 80% of the American voters think this country is going in the wrong direction! And, still, these ex-Bushies get hired for jobs like this. Something DEAD is buried under the floor boards... and it's STINKING UP THE PLACE.

Here in the DFW market the biggest right wing radio station is WBAP, which is owned by (drum roll please) ABC. Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin...they are all here, 5 days a week. Bastards.

I'm forced to wonder whether it's the Republicans that control the Corporate Media of if the Republican party is merely the political wing of a gigantic Military Industrial Media Complex that has seized control of our government by controlling the flow of information.

You have to be "elligible" for this "program" for "enhanced techniques"??? Do you hear yourself, you stupid bitch?

This is so wrong. We just change the name from torture to "enhanced techniques", call it a "limited program", and then you can put the public back into their deep slumber so they don't become aware of what this criminal administration has done to the reputation of our country.

Criminals. I want them ALL tried and they need to be held accountable IN THIS LIFE.

The bigger point here is not that another fetus waving, fascist, automaton is helping CNN sell shit. It is what she was saying. This clip will be shown to students of American history for generations to come as an example of how we bought their pablum and didn't realize how severely the constitution had eroded.

Republicans have been working in Congress to kill the "liberal media" for decades. With Bush loyalists like Rove and Snow on Faux and CNN, the dream of republican control of media is closer to reality. The evil is how they hide what they do behind the scenes to create this altered reality nightmare for the American citizen who naively swallows the misinformation and manipulation as the truth. The greed of the republicans is wildly destructive as we see in Iraq, the media, society, and everything they touch.

I don't watch CNN anymore....because of their bias reporting...Kyra Phillips, Wolf Blitzer.

CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS - they are all crap, feeding bs propaganda to keep you stupid & uninformed, while showing you where to buy that new sneeker with lights, the latest miracle drug or which beer to drink.

Paying our cable providers for crap like this shows our lack of intelligence, and ultimate demise.

These people have no shame. They are more responsible for the dead and wounded Americans in Iraq than George Bush.

well there's still um......

CNN = C.I.A.

this topic and thread are the epitome of the reasons I like C&L. 226606330 hits and counting because when the truth is put right in front of your face, there is no debate.

this is just such a great place to wage the war against the nazi press misinformation machine.

Eli Stephens @ 31:

Paul Begala isn't on the "left," he's on the "Democrat." Being to the left of people like Tony Snow or Fran Townsend or Robert Novak doesn't put you "on the left," it puts you in the center.

And what does *that* mean? Being "in the center" doesn't really mean anything--except that you're on the corporate payroll: soon to be public relations manager for an oil company or a lobbyist for the health care/pharmaceutical industry.

Oh, and a "political expert" for any of a number of corporate-controlled media outlets...and then we're back where we started.

I was at work one day and commented on the lie of the liberal media. One doc said "You're the only person I know who says that."

I replied, "Let's put on the Communist News Network and see just which liberal pundit is on right now."

We switched on CNN and there was Bill Bennett, spewing his usual bullshit.

I said, "I rest my case. You need to hang with smarter people."

You could hear a pin drop.

CNN perhaps is taking the road BLACKWATER GUNS FOR HIRE GROUP took. Eventually will become official WH contractor for media relations for WH.

Just think...CNN is official WH media outlet. CNN gives "press briefings" and "press conferences" to itself and other major media whether print or electric in nature.

For instance...when current President Dunce wants to tell American people about how great everything is going in Iraq or with American economy or why Americans should be happy to pay more for fuel and food because that is how "free" market works CNN gets to do the telling for WH.

Wolf Blitzer indeed can really be in "The Situation Room"!

Eventually several big media players will merge into just one big corporate (fascist?)media entity and be fully in charge of news and issues development and then also news framing,news tell and whether Americans find out nothing or something based on commerce driven models of maximised profit per hour of news program shown.

Of course CNN will continue to tell viewers of CNN how it is "best TV" and for those who get suckered in by that bogus claim all CNN has to do is run fluff,dumbed down "hard news",give same viewers propaganda stream and bracket it all around lots of commercials.

Pretty much where CNN is as is.

Andrew @ 49:

Arianna Huffington has called the major news outlets' reflexively sucking up to righties a form of masochism -- Bill Kristol and Karl Rove talk about destroying the press, CNN and the NY Times instantly give them sinecures to tell the world how rotten the media is.

Ariana should talk. Her propaganda blog is another Obama broadcast 24/7. You have to question why anyone goes to the lengths she does to promote one candidate to the extent she and her bloggers do. Please don't tell me it is because they "recognize" a stellar candidate when they see one. The postings are all scrutinized before publication and it cannot be that they are scrubbed for language or threats because that is not so. Some of those comments are downright objectionable. But if they are against Hillary and for Obama, no problem. So again, what is her objective since only a few years ago she was Newt Gingrich's BFF.

One thing these broadcasts and blogs like HuffPo and Kos have in common is the absence of objectivity. They are attempting to influence the political landscape and the question begs: what is their objective in the end? Once you start peeling away the layers the answer may not be what you expected.

Snowball @ 58:

I'm forced to wonder whether it's the Republicans that control the Corporate Media of if the Republican party is merely the political wing of a gigantic Military Industrial Media Complex that has seized control of our government by controlling the flow of information.

Somewhere during these past 30 years, the lines became so blurred, that I don't even think the GOP could answer this one.

Do a good job catapulting the propaganda on CNN, get paid for it, and we'll make sure there's a nice fat reward for you at a conservative think tank. You're set for life. Now go -- make like Armstrong Williams.

Frances Fragos Townsend, who gave us this timeless gem of administration spin: "Osama Bin Laden's capture is a success that hasn't happened yet."

rockrocky77 @ 72:

well there's still um......

Cafferty is the only voice of reason over there anymore, but he only gets ... what? 2 minutes?

ZombieNation @ 68:

CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS - they are all crap, feeding bs propaganda to keep you stupid & uninformed, while showing you where to buy that new sneeker with lights, the latest miracle drug or which beer to drink.

Paying our cable providers for crap like this shows our lack of intelligence, and ultimate demise.

AMEN!!

correction; Begala is the "Alan Colmes' of CNN, just a faux spews has tilted right, now CNN joins the drumbeat to war with iran.

80 Che’s Lounge Says: I was at work one day and commented on the lie of the liberal media. One doc said “You’re the only person I know who says that.”

I replied, “Let’s put on the Communist News Network and see just which liberal pundit is on right now.”

We switched on CNN and there was Bill Bennett, spewing his usual bullshit.

I said, “I rest my case. You need to hang with smarter people.”

You could hear a pin drop.
==============================
Perfect!!!! Love it.

(Aside): I don't get Bill Bennett, or some of the others I've seen here, like Glenn Beck. I think the CNN we get overseas (International) is a bit different, but still very biased. No one (outside America) would swallow the crap I see in clips on the internet. (Maybe not inside America either, but they're still braodcasting, aren't they?)

I always thought CNN was a pillar of the liberal media, recently I am not so sure, I definitely don't think they need more conservative minds.

I like to know what the hell difference it makes. CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and all the rest of them are the same people.

They all look the same, they talk about the same dame issues, they all talk about people of color as if we are invisible and don't understand what they are up too and if that is not bad enough, they don't even respect other whites, that have the nerve to have a different point of view and that now realize that their counter parts are using them also.

There is something very wrong with American National Media and the only way we are going to break into this hold card, these six, rich white bigots have, is to get rid of these ass holes, that also run this country.

Wake up folks. This is not about black people being your problem and if you are doing your home work like many are, you know that.

Why the hell would CNN be signing a contract with Tony Snow?, his little old, ugly no talent wife is bad enough and neither one of them will be telling anything close to truth, but will be more assistance for Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs to have a day off. They now add two more jerks to keep the bull shit lies and distortions of fact going, none stop.

Also another reason to not vote for Hillary, who now wants to fix it, after she and her husband put this shit into play when they signed that Telecommunications Act into law and just like the NAFTA and the Bankruptcy Bill, and on and on, with these people who now want to be put back into office to sign more terrible legislation for us to grieve about .

Dame, I really hope that people wake up, long enough to realize what we have gotten into, to screw ourselves up so bad. and if we continue to listen to this disgusting media that are currently playing this sickening race card, to divide us. We are going to be in a hell of a lot more trouble then we now find ourselves.

One thing is for sure foks and that is divided we will surely fail.

One interesting fact which is little known, is Wolf Leslie Blitzer is a fellow with the neocon AEI, or American Enterprise Institute, they lied us into the war with Iraq, another CNN pundit who is actually on the Board of AEI (American Enterprise Institute) is sweet little grandpa, Bill Schnieder. Wolf Blitzer is one of the biggest right-winged propagandist there is. PERIOD.

The msm power elites are scared shitless of the people trying to take back some of the power. They are scared we may vote into office a black man who raised almost all his money from the people instead of from the power elites. Obama started a ground up run for office and the msm and washington K street power brokers are not sure if this black man will leave them out in the cold. The msm are pulling out all the stops by hiring every smear merchant they can find to make sure the black man doesn't win the white house. Their not to sure about Hillay either, but they are betting they can control her.

I don't even know if this is a partisan thing on CNN's part. Bush administration hacks and TV news executives are all a bunch of moneyed assholes, so it may just be a case of one group of east coast assholes helping out another group of east coast assholes.

Me thinks this has a lot less to do with conservatizing the media than preparing for the attack on Iran. Word hsa likely already come down with Snow and Townsend made available to convince us of the necessity.

If Wolf Blitzer was honest he would show up for his 'propaganda' news in a nazi ss uniform complete with the 'seig heils' ....................

She was Bush's Stepford Wife. The question is, will she be McCain's? Scary that CNN couldn't find somebody with a more rational past.

And the list of liberals on tv remains at one.

Keith is all alone :(

The elite are so thick headed, just legalize pot and call CNN the Betrayus network, no one would give a shit and we could all be on the same page, asleep at the wheel.

I think it's interesting that the very first thing Ms. Townsend did, was tout the USA's "enhanced intelligence capabilities". I thought FISA died and doom was becoming of our planet?

Funny how things change when you leave the White House...

It was disturbing for me to see Jack Cafferty shamelessly welcoming Tony Snow to CNN with open arms during a recent 'Situation Room'. That was the one and only time I've ever wished that would've just tossed his clipon mic to the desk, said, "I don't need this shit..." and left the set in disgust.

My question for Fran Townsend is this: How do you kill someone that is already dead?

Is it like the miracle worker in the Princess Bride Bin Laden is only "mostly dead".

This whole thing is a joke.

Although I will say Mikka is looking pretty hot these days.

Any remaining doubts that CNN is an official propaganda organ of the neocons?