CNN's Don Lemon bragged about how he and his network are going to make an effort to not allow politicians to come on their shows and just repeat talking points instead of answering direct questions by their reporters. Well, that's all well and good, but if Lemon thinks this interview with Rand Paul was some example of what we should expect from those that want to call themselves journalists in our media, he's going to have to do a better job than he did with Rand Paul here.

While I agree that it's a good thing that anyone in our media doesn't want to allow any politician to come on their show and just filibuster the interview with talking points, and that definitely is a step in the right direction, it's also pretty worthless if when they do answer your question and lie, that they're not called out for that lie.

It's also worthless when your network continues to paint the "tea party" as some actual third party, instead of just the right wing of the Republican Party and to continues to do the lazy "both sides" false equivalencies as was done here by Don Lemon. Sorry Don, but there are not two parties unwilling to compromise to make government work. And the "middle" of our political spectrum does not lie between "compromising" on lifting our debt ceiling and crashing our country and our world's economy if one side does not get everything they want with destroying our social safety nets.

Lemon got onto Rand Paul for not answering his questions, but he did not let his viewers know that the Republican Party has gone completely off the cliff with the crazy train with electing extremists like Rand Paul and that the Democratic Party has moved way too far to the right, other than the members of the House progressive caucus who are about the only ones out there actually looking out for everyday working Americans and their interests these days. They're given no voice or very little in our corporate media with the usual exceptions which are some of the prime time shows on MSNBC.

The full interview with Rand Paul is below the fold and I hate to break it to Don Lemon, but if he thinks this represents some sort of hardball interview with Rand Paul and holding him accountable for how he's behaved since he's been elected with pushing his extreme right wing or Libertarian views on the rest of us and for lying about how their balanced budget amendment being included in debt ceiling negotiations that has zero to no chance of being passed through Congress with the clock is ticking is somehow either "rational" or a "compromise", I'd like to have some of what Don Lemon has been smoking.

Here's the full segment Lemon was bragging about in the clip at the top of the post.