[Erick Erickson of RedState: Image courtesy of Joeff Davis at Creative Loafing.]

As if there isn't enough insanity on the airwaves, enter CNN to the fray. They're rolling out a new 7PM ET show featuring John King (John King USA), and bringing on "balance" in the form of Red State's Erick Erickson.

From the Political Ticker:

Under Erickson's leadership, RedState.com has become the preeminent right of center community online. Prior to leading RedState.com, Erickson practiced law for six years and managed a number of political campaigns, and he currently serves as a member of the Macon, Georgia, city council.

Wow. Right of center? Only if you're reaching around from the back with your left hand. Calling Red State right of center is a little like calling the Tea Partiers Reagan Republicans. Oh, wait.

"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."

Conservative opinion leader? Agenda-setter? What demon, pray tell, has possessed Mr. Feist? Let's have a look at some of his opinions and agendas he's leading:

• About Ted Kennedy: "Today Ted Kennedy plots our deaths..." (h/t The Political Carnival)
• About Judge Souter: "[he] is a "goat f*&king child molester"
• He thinks Rush Limbaugh is Jesus.
• He openly called for armed revolt and beating politicians to a bloody pulp.
• He said the media "gang-raped" conservative politicians.
• Suggested that the Nobel Committee had an affirmative action quota
• Said that "leftists are Nazis" and the Nazis were liberal socialists.
• Said that the Alaska Democrats gave out Sarah Palin's SS# (a fact he pulled wholly from his posterior)
• Told his readers to send Olympia Snowe rock salt for her work on HCR. (Rock salt melts snow--get it?)
• Suggested that Obama was friends with a child molester
• Claimed the left has more dominance in the blogosphere because the right are too busy raising the children they didn't abort.

C'mon, CNN. Red State is the heavily-funded, longstanding arm of the Republican wingnut online noise machine. Erickson is a propaganda-spinner, a liar and a troll.

When I had little kids, I was really careful about what they watched on TV, because a steady diet of violence really does cause kids to be desensitized to it. CNN's hire of Erickson follows the same principle: By hiring someone who is bombastic, a liar, and a right-wing noise machine trumpet, they actually mainstream views that are rightly considered the province of the fringe and the whacko. It's serious, what they're doing. They actually want us to wish Lou Dobbs were back on the air in that hour.

When I worked for CNN Interactive, RedStaters Freepers were paid to troll our political discussions and disrupt them, especially during the Clinton impeachment proceedings. Back then, CNN locked them off the site. Now they pay them the same calibre voice to troll in real time, on the air.

Got a quote from Erickson that will shame CNN? Post it here.

You can register a complaint with CNN here.

Note: This post was edited to clarify the date difference between when CNN online communities existed and when RedState came into existence. Yes, at the time the trolls were Freepers. - K