Romney Adviser Flays CNN for 'Fixation' With Trump: 'You Should Be Embarrassed'

By Matt Hadro | May 30, 2012 | 11:36

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CNN was on the "birther" beat Tuesday night after Romney surrogate Donald Trump kept espousing the conspiracy, and the former GOP governor of New Hampshire excoriated the network on Wednesday morning's Starting Point for its "fixation" with a non-story.

"Aren't you embarrassed to be speaking directly from the Obama speaking points that they distributed yesterday?" John Sununu challenged anchor Soledad O'Brien in a testy exchange. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

O'Brien had asked why Romney did not admonish Trump when then-candidate John McCain, in 2008, rebuked a supporter who articulated a conspiracy theory about Obama – video of which the Obama campaign featured the previous day in a web ad.

"The fact is is that this country has a jobs problem and supporters of the President, like CNN, keep wanting to talk about other issues," Sununu told O'Brien. CNN began the 4 p.m. hour of The Situation Room with an interview of Trump, and covered the matter extensively during the 5 p.m. hour and the next hour of John King, USA. Erin Burnett also covered that topic on OutFront during the 7 p.m. hour, and Anderson Cooper as well during the 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. hours of Anderson Cooper 360.

O'Brien kept insisting that the story was valid because Donald Trump was a prominent Romney supporter and surrogate. Sununu retorted that no one in the campaign believed the "birther" conspiracy. "It's not an issue," he declared.

And Sununu, himself a Romney campaign adviser, said Trump was "wrong" during the interview, to which an animated O'Brien responded that it might be the "first time."

"No, it isn't, ma'am. It's just because you don't read enough that you don't understand that. Let's go to the issues," Sununu responded.

A transcript of the segment, which aired on May 30 on Starting Point at 8:03 a.m. EDT, is as follows:

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Why the birther thing? I mean, I'm going to make an assumption that you don't agree with Donald Trump –

SUNUNU: I don't know. Why is CNN – why is CNN so fixated on this? Why don't we talk about the jobs issue in this country?

O'BRIEN: Sure. And we're going to get to that in a moment but let's start with this.

SUNUNU: And the disastrous -- but you – it's CNN that wants to bring it up. I don't want to bring it up. Mitt Romney has made it clear –

O'BRIEN: I bet you don't.

SUNUNU: Mitt Romney has made has clear that he believes that President Obama was born in the U.S. You had Donald Trump on last night. And now you are asking the question this morning. It's CNN's fixation.

O'BRIEN: So you don't think it's a valid question to ask of someone who is posing as a supporter-slash-surrogate at a high level? Donald Trump isn't your random supporter. He's a high level big-funder. He's talked about how much money in the millions of dollars he's thinking about donating to the campaign. You don't think that that's a big deal that that person consistently talks about the fact that he believes the President of the United States is not a citizen of the country?

SUNUNU: I think it's as equivalent an issue as Bill Maher, who gave a million dollars to President Obama, talking with such a foul mouth about women. But that's -- that's –you can't pick your supporters in this country. The fact is is that this country has a jobs problem and supporters of the President, like CNN, keep wanting to talk about other issues.

O'BRIEN: You know what's interesting, every time you ask anybody a hard question they suddenly go to this, well you must be supporting –

SUNUNU: This isn't a hard question. This is an easy question. Mitt Romney has made it clear he believes the President of the United States was born in the United States. Now we can talk about the big issues in this country.

O'BRIEN: So let me ask a follow-up question. We'll get to jobs in a second.

(Crosstalk)

SUNUNU: 24 million unemployed, and 24 million people underemployed.

O'BRIEN: Which, I agree with you on that front. And we're going to get to that in one second. But before we get to that, I want to ask you why does Mitt Romney not go further? For example, as I'm sure you have seen many times, when John McCain was posed a question by a woman who asked him a question, not only did he say here's my position. He said to her, let me correct you. So, I'm going to play that clip for you first, and then –

SUNUNU: Aren't you embarrassed – aren't you embarrassed to be speaking directly from the Obama speaking points that they distributed yesterday? Aren't you embarrassed to sound exactly like the Obama spokesman talking about John McCain? This is ridiculous.

O'BRIEN: This is a clip that we have played before. It has ran many times.

SUNUNU: You should be embarrassed.

O'BRIEN: It's a conversation that's been had.

SUNUNU: Oh come on, come on. Let's talk jobs. Let's talk jobs.

O'BRIEN: Is that because you don't want to talk about the fact that a major fund-raiser is a birther?

(Crosstalk)

SUNUNU: That's because it's not an issue. It's not an issue. There is nobody in the Romney campaign that believes that the President was not born in the United States.

O'BRIEN: So then how come someone doesn't say, Donald Trump is wrong? And we're going to tell Donald Trump –

SUNUNU: Donald Trump is wrong. The President was born in the United States. Now let's move on.

O'BRIEN: That, I think, might be the first time. Well thank you –

SUNUNU: No, it isn't, ma'am. It's just because you don't read enough that you don't understand that. Let's go to the issues.

O'BRIEN: There's no need to get into personal attacks. There is no need for it. We can move on –

SUNUNU: I'm not getting into personal attacks. I'm talking about the fact that you have a fixation.

O'BRIEN: Of asking questions when someone who is clearly a birther is a representative –

SUNUNU: You did it last night, with Wolf Blitzer –

O'BRIEN: I was sleeping last night.

SUNUNU: – and you opened the show today with Donald Trump.

O'BRIEN: That's what I was doing last night. That's what I was doing last night. So I did not do anything but sleeping last night because I go to bed early. Let's move on to talk about the economy.

About the Author

Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow Matt Hadro on Twitter.

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Comments

O'brien is an idiot who just

Submitted by texastommy on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:41am.

O'brien is an idiot who just got new kneepads in the hope that the Bamster gets reelected.

"Occasionally, and randomly, problems and solutions collide. The probability of collisions decreases geometrically as the size of the committee created to force these collisions increases."

I hope she's better on her knees than she is in that chair

Submitted by nonncom on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 1:59pm.

wow, what a moron....

And I wonder how many people changed channels?

Submitted by c5then on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:47am.

With CNN being so obviously editorially controlled by the administration, does anyone watch it for actual news anymore, or just to see what the administration's talking points are on any given day?

The bottom line is that CNN is not embarrassed at all. They are working hard as one of the Obama campaign's media outlets. What they won't realize until perhaps it's too late for them, is that they are preaching to the choir, and it is a progressively smaller and smaller choir all the time.

Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!

Is there any question.......?

Submitted by Herbster on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:52am.

Is there any question that CNN, with their ratings remaining in the toilet, need to clean house of these moronic newsreaders? Poor Soledad couldn't hold her own in a debate with a ourth grader. All she can do is sit there with that sh_ _ eating grin on her face. Clean house CNN, if you want to survive. Dump them all........all the empty skirts and empty suits.

ourth grader?

Submitted by ladeflippinda on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 12:50pm.

You shouldn't throw stones if can't proof your own copy.

Ladflippinda Republicans added to the debt too.

if can't proof?

Submitted by Scuba Dude on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 1:07pm.

Pot meet kettle.

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so." President Ronald Reagan

LOL...

Submitted by nonncom on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 2:00pm.

too funny....

Very good.

Submitted by AFVet on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 2:50pm.

Very good Scuba Dude, very good.

LOL!

Submitted by Rukus on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 5:59pm.

That folks, is know as instant karma.

Hey lade! How's that size 10 taste?

Perfect! Good catch scoob. : )

_____________________________________________________________ I'm not too drunk to dance! It's just that people keep stepping on my hands!

The good news is...

Submitted by bigdaddy on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 7:28pm.

...CNN will hire both of them immediately...

I have not seen any posts on NB on ratings of the

Submitted by Lipton on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 1:39pm.

major news networks for a long time. Have there been any. The quality seems to be continuing a downward slide with Bashir, Maddow and Sharpton on MSDNC, and Soledad''s Michelle Obamaesque sneer on CNN, but I haven't seen any data.

Of course, I would not be surprised if Fox has dipped in the ratings as many conservatives are tired of them too. Maybe they should beef up the business network a bit to get the viewers that have left the regular news network.

I'd like to thank Hollywood for renewing my interest in reading.

Fox News ratings have increased, not decreased

Submitted by AFVet on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 3:06pm.

Reported at Real Clear Politics, Fox News ratings for April 2012 are above the ratings they had for April 2011, according to Nielsen.

However, there are multiple left-wing propaganda sites that claim Fox News's rating have decreased without providing any proof.

If you took airports out of the equation, CNN's ratings would probably be non-existent.

Must be due to......

Submitted by almostacowboy on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 4:16pm.

...people needing to be included in the next liberal, I mean "independent", poll showing "FoxNews viewers less informed than those who watch paint dry". [sarc]

New Tag Line:

Submitted by diskinetic on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 6:57pm.

"CNN - Your airport lobby connection to the White House"... someone get James Earl Jones!

Need I remind you what the 'MS' in MSNBC stands for? www.ubuntu.com

Go Sununu

Submitted by ricor on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:54am.

Conservative's need to do this on every interview that takes a far left slant and upchucks The Administrations talking points.

PERHAPS-JUST PERHAPS

Submitted by JIMMY1660 on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 12:05pm.

the script for 2012 has changed from Mccain's laid back-rope a dope-style to taking off the gloves, while being Civil-and responding to this crazies-in kind.
America can not withstand another 4 years of Marxists in the White House

Fast & Furious along with Solyndra are example of who BHO is BHO Policies have caused Failed Economy- Liberals = Wealth Re-distribution

here she goes again

Submitted by I hate marxists on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:57am.

Please Soledad you're going to end your career if you continue down this path. Politics is way over your head,ask Katy Couric. You have no ideas or thought processes of your own. Seriously see if that idiot network you work for will allow you to do something else because this is major league and right now you're in single A ballpark.

One Nation Under GOD and very proud of it

Same idiot

Submitted by pockets64 on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 11:57am.

This looks like the same idiot I had to listen to the other day in the doctor's office. After another reporter described a truck accident in a centripetal force situation, she said, "That's gravity for you!"

Learned something new

Submitted by ladeflippinda on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 12:55pm.

After 13 years in tax-supported public education and years of college, I never heard of centripetal force.

Thanks for spurring me to learn about it.

Ladflippinda Republicans added to the debt too.

old news...

Submitted by Rukus on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 6:08pm.

centripetal [sɛnˈtrɪpɪtəl ˈsɛntrɪˌpiːtəl]
adj

1. (Physics / General Physics) acting, moving, or tending to move towards a centre Compare centrifugal
2. (Physics / General Physics) of, concerned with, or operated by centripetal force
3. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Botany) Botany (esp of certain inflorescences) developing from the outside towards the centre
4. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Physiology) Physiol another word for afferent

(source)

_____________________________________________________________ I'm not too drunk to dance! It's just that people keep stepping on my hands!

When the book is written

Submitted by cristo on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 12:00pm.

we will find out Solidad, indeed, many of the female talking heads at CNN, were suffering from a major bout of depression. They don't understand why their ratings are so low and they continue to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. More than one of them comes on the air looking as if they've just overcome a crying jag. Will someone please tell them over at CNN and The Prison Channel that it's over, change the tune or call an end to the dance.

When is Obama going to

Submitted by wendybar on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 12:09pm.

When is Obama going to denounce Maher, Farrakhan, Sharpton, the socialist nutcase that he gave the presidential medal of honor to yesterday who said "Republicans hate Latinos", and all the other lying supporters of the lying president??

Sic em dog....

Submitted by jdripper on Wed, 05/30/2012 - 12:23pm.

The main problem is the fact that this broad is so stupid that she is being reduced to an idiot in front of her entire audience and she is oblivious to it.

Jack