CNN's Suzanne Malveaux: Is Pelosi Becoming "Most Controversial House Speaker Yet"?
April 4, 2007 -- 5:46 PM EST // //
Here's a real sign of the times: The leading cable news network thinks that Nancy Pelosi -- by virtue of the fact that she paid a visit to Syria -- may be on her way to becoming the "most controversial speaker yet." Yes, more controversial than Newt Gingrich, who tried to shut down the government, tried to impeach the President for lying about sex, allegedly let his budget policy be driven by the fantasy that Bill Clinton had "snubbed" him on the way to a funeral, and had a fusillade of ethics charges filed against him by Dems in Congress.
I'm really not kidding about this. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux just teased an upcoming CNN segment about the trip to Syria by saying the following:
"And, Nancy Pelosi in Syria and in the crosshairs of Vice President Cheney. Is she on her way to becoming the most controversial House Speaker yet?"
What makes this all the more remarkable is that even CNN's Wolf Blitzer knows this story is bogus -- indeed, he has now said as much repeatedly. On Friday, Blitzer said this:
...to hear the White House tell it, you would think the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has gone wild. What's so wrong about a visit to Syria?
And introducing a news segment on the Pelosi-to-Syria story later on the same program, Blitzer also said this to CNN reporter Elaine Quijano:
I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.Congress goes on spring break and some are going abroad, but an angry White House now accusing the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, of simply going too far. She's joining a parade of lawmakers to Syria. In fact, three Republicans are there right now. So what's the problem?
After Blitzer's very good question, which reporter Quijano didn't answer, Quijano went on to do an entire segment about this without even mentioning the Republicans who also went to Syria. Yes, Pelosi is a far higher-ranking official than the GOP Congressmen who visited, but still, not mentioning their visit is a glaring omission -- one that CNN just blithely keeps on committing.
More broadly, it needs to be said that CNN's coverage of the Pelosi-to-Syria story has been simply dismal -- profoundly embarrassing. If Blitzer were sitting next to you in a bar and was halfway into his second lite beer, he'd tearfully admit as much. It's really not a stretch to say that CNN has repeatedly stooped to doing the White House's bidding. At one point the network actually gave the story the following snide label:
Yep -- "Spring break in Syria." Of course, there was also this, and this this, too.
And now CNN has hit bottom. It's let itself be snookered by the White House's transparently bogus attacks into suggesting that Pelosi may be on her way to being the "most controversial" Speaker yet -- even more controversial than Gingrich. This, even though Blitzer -- and almost certainly other reporters, editors and producers at CNN -- know full well that this story is total horseshit.
Very, very sad. Nothing more to say.
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