What's The Big Deal? ...They Already Hired The Cheney Fluffer

It's getting to be a real, dubious, sliding-scale, CNN's claim of "The Best Political Team on Television!"

The Blogosphere, and World Wide Web has been reverberating the past few days, with the news that CNN went out and reeled in one of the vilest feces-flinging Flying Monkey of the Right Wing Freak Show, Erick Erickson, who mans the dung heap Red State blog.



Lou Dobbs must be climbing the Immigration fence in rage over this one.

Steve Benen, over on Washington Monthly can give you a "Reader's Digest" of some of his greatest hits;

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 retired 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[ing] 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?"

Erickson says CNN made him an offer "he couldn't refuse."

Well, we can.

We don't have to watch, and, likely, will not, beyond an initial, curious peak.

He's slated to be part of the a new John King program.

That's the same John King that almost bumped out Hayes for the Cheney Fluffer position, him looping softballs in an interview last year.

And, it would seem that, perhaps, CNN is lowering their sights a bit, as to going after a big, wide audience.

In Tuesday's announcement, CNN political director Sam Feist lauded Erickson as being a voice for small-town values.

"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," Feist said.

King was to dominate "small-town America?"

That ought to rack up the ratings.

In the end, this shouldn't really be surprising.

CNN, after all, egregiously hired Cheney-Fluffer, Stephen Hayes, and they went out and plucked off the PartyofNoican's welfare roll the El Jefe of Scooter Libby Apologists (and another Dick Cheney staffer) Mary Matalin.



Wolf Blitzer can breathlessly shout "The best political team on television" all day long.

About the only ones believing that are those CNN-produced holograms.

With the way they are stocking themselves with the stars of the Right Wing Freak Show, It's almost as if CNN should be a block of programs on the Faux News Network.

Bonus Erickson Flying Monkey Riffs

Eric Boehlert: CNN's Ed Henry should quit while CNN is behind

Steve M: WELL, HE IS THE EMBODIMENT OF MODERN CONSERVATISM, NO?

Alex Koppelman: What was CNN thinking with latest hire?

Sadly No: The death of our media

TBogg: News you can use

Eric Martin: At Least He Hasn't Written any Hagiographies of Dick Cheney...

Libby Lover Lands New Gig To Protest His Innocence

What is CNN doing, recomposing The Bush Grindhouse, or, a Reader's Digest-version of the White House Iraq Group (you remember, Andy Card's in-house ad agency charged with selling the lies to invade and occupy Iraq).

And, HER, of all people.



Among other atrocities, the chief fundraiser/letter-writer for the Scooter Libby Defense Fund.

Mary Matalin signs on as CNN contributor

Republican strategist Mary Matalin has signed on to serve as a CNN political contributor, the network announced Thursday.

[snip]

"As one of the best-known and best-connected strategists in the country, Mary will join our line up of top Republican analysts including Bill Bennett, Alex Castellanos, and Ed Rollins," said Sam Feist, CNN political director and vice president of Washington programming. "We are thrilled that CNN viewers will be able to tap into Mary's vast political experience advising candidates and presidents from both inside and outside of the White House."

Matalin, a veteran political commentator, served as a senior White House advisor to both President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. She was a key strategist in President George H.W. Bush's 1988 campaign, and was appointed chief of staff for the Republican National Committee after his successful bid. She was also a key strategist in the 1992, 2000 and 2004 Republican presidential campaigns.

Nearly a year ago, John Mashek, in U.S. News and World Report, called Matalin "worst of the new breed of political consultants";

Matalin learned her politics from the late Lee Atwater, a gunslinger from South Carolina. In this cycle, Matalin signed on first with the presidential quest of then Sen. George Allen of Virginia before Allen imploded in his 2006 Senate race. She then moved over to former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who was an early dropout.

This is the same Matalin who was a close adviser to Vice President Cheney in the controversial run-up to the war in Iraq and its disastrous aftermath.

I mean, Jesus, they almost have enough PartyofNoicans to filibuster Obama.

Something Steve Benen also bemoans;

Matalin not only joins the growing list of Republican analysts on CNN's political team (joining Bill Bennett, Alex Castellanos, and Ed Rollins), she's also the latest former staffer in the Bush White House to make the transition to jobs with major media outlets.

It's hard to keep up with them all. Michael Gerson (Washington Post), Sara Taylor (MSNBC), Tony Snow (CNN), Frances Fragos Townsend (CNN), Nicole Wallace (CBS News), Dan Bartlett (CBS News), Jeff Ballabon (CBS News), Tony Fratto (CNBC) and, of course, Karl Rove (Fox News, Newsweek, and Wall Street Journal) have all gone from working for Bush/Cheney to working for the mainstream media.

It was just last Fall, just before the election, that CNN added the #1 Cheney Fluffer to their ranks, Stephen Hayes.

I wonder, if she helps John King with his questions, will he let her play with his Magic Board.

The thing to watch is how often she brings up how completely innocent Scooter Libby was, working him into storylines, and her convoluted answers, of ignoring reality and pumping up the Bush Grindhouse.

One thing, for "the best political team on television" to make this a bit more easier to swallow, if that is, at all, possible.

Use their arsenal of High Tech Hijinks to do something with THAT VOICE of hers.

At least coach her to speak using her mouth, instead of her nose.

Or hire Fran Drescher, to balance it out.

Beam Me Up Scottie!

It still is, thinking back to last evening, something awesome, incredibly unreal, and thoroughly satisfying.

I wonder how many Republicans today, cued up their DVD's, to look back at the Republican Convention, and watch all those speakers mock Barack Obama for being a "community organizer".

Yeah, you showed'em, alright!

Obama kicked ass, that then knocked their teeth out for mumbling about it.

If it were a road race, Obama came damn-near close to lapping the Dead Campaign Express.

Also, it was rather interesting watching it all unfold.

MSNBC seemed slow, on the take, to call states for Obama.

And, if MSNBC was slow, CNN was absolutely petrified, seemingly fearing to put that "Best Political Team on Television" in a position were they would actually have to say something of importance, and not just prattle their own talking points.

And the sets ...

OMG!

Who sold them on going with the look of a bad Las Vegas floor show?

It was like a Cirque du Soleil idea, only missing the Cirque du Soleil imagination and talent.

MSNBC's virtual set appeared like the ripped it right out of the Michael Douglas-Demi Moore movie 'Disclosure'.

I half expected, the program to be torn apart, ending in acrimonious charges of "political harassment" by the end of the evening.

All that play between Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan during the course of the campaign coverage, the fighting and arguing, leading to a "steamy encounter", with Buchanan the injured party, claiming Maddow was working her "liberal ways" on him.

The first showing of this came early in their coverage, when they threw it over to Ann Curry (moonlighting from her usual "other members of the cast" Today Show post) for some Exit Poll mishmash.

Curry walked into the 'Disclosure' set, and, Walla!, a virtual reality snowcone-type thingy popped up with the hyped data.

I'm surprised that didn't go all in on this virtual stuff.

Think of the possibilities they could have had, bringing back Little Timmy Russert, to ghost-whisper election nuggets to his former colleagues.

And what happens to The Commander Guy's buddy "Stretch"?

David Gregory's show, 'Race To The Whitehouse', if we believe the title, closed its' curtain last evening, the race being over.

Do they retitle and repackage?

Yes they do, coming on air this evening, same set and graphics, but now called "1600" (see, that happens to be the address of house the previous version of the show was racing to ... Yes, you can use the word"stretch" here, as well)

And CNN ...

Holy Electronic Hijinks, Batman!

If MSNBC was running with the Son of Kirk movie theme, CNN went full bore a retro vibe of Star Trek, beaming reporters and others in for interviews via holograms.

I would have like to been on the set for that, if only to see Wolf Blitzer turn from his usual screaming at large flat screens, to screaming at empty greenscreen space, which I am sure still has the leader of "The Best Political Team on Television" totally freaked out today, ducking at shadows and pigeons.

Over at the Faux News Network, the only thing missing was a mournful Astor Piazzolla dirge, to accompany the long faces (and in Brit Humes' case, a face so long, only Elastic Man could possible match it).

And, for a moment, I half-expected a wonderful, possible, FCC moment.

Just as Hume and Turd Blossom finished looking at the ever-growing Blue map, and Rove riffing, Joe Pesci-style, as he watch the goons beat his brother to death in 'Casino', on the shortening ways McKKKain could still "pull it off", Hume tells him that Ohio just got called for Obama.

For a split-second, time was suspended, awaiting a foot stomp and plaintive cry of "Fuck!"

Fred Barnes?

He was so spooked and shaken, it took him about five-minutes to spit out one sentence.

But, then again the only sentence that matter was that Barack Obama was elected to become the 44th President of the United States.


Bonus Bonus

Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992) "Milonga Del Ángel"