Matt Hadro's blog

CNN's Soledad O'Brien, well known for her documentaries on race "Latino In America" and "Black In America,"  questioned the GOP's credibility among minority voters on Friday's Starting Point.

Quoting an RNC committeeman who said minority voters and the youth vote "simply don't know" the GOP, O'Brien asked former RNC chair Mel Martinez "is it that they don't know you? Meaning you as the GOP. Or is that they know you and they decided they don't like you?" [Video below the break. Audio here.]

On Tuesday's Starting Point, CNN's David Gergen smiled on Hillary Clinton's "wonderful farewell" at the State Department and touted her "very powerful position" for a 2016 presidential run. As CNN noted, Gergen once worked as an adviser to President Clinton.

When asked if anything from Clinton's term as Secretary of State would come back to haunt her as a presidential candidate, Gergen replied "I don't think so. The Benghazi affair, I think, will long be forgotten unless there's some smoking gun we have no idea about." [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN joined the networks in giving outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a cushy send-off after Clinton's syrupy 60 Minutes interview alongside President Obama. The network gushed over the "chummy" affection between the "political superstars" on Monday morning.

"Well, it's the exit interview everybody is talking about," hyped anchor Soledad O'Brien. "Hillary Clinton, the President, sitting down together, laughing, chummy, chummy," she added. "They really seem to really like each other," said correspondent Brianna Keilar. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

On Thursday morning, CNN's John Berman hammered a Democratic congressman who said the cause of the Benghazi attacks doesn't make a difference at this point. In contrast, anchor Soledad O'Brien didn't ask about the controversy over that remark shouted first by Secretary Clinton.
                           
"But, Congressman – don't the facts always make a difference and doesn't knowing the facts and knowing them quickly always help in evaluating the situation so it can be prevented in the future?" Berman pressed. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Could Piers Morgan be any more of an Obama hack? After Republicans grilled Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the Benghazi attacks on Wednesday, Morgan unloaded on their criticism as "political grandstanding" showing "a whisper of misogyny."

"I've been listening to the Republicans getting on their high horse about this for a long time. Now I've thought a lot of today's criticism was political grandstanding in many ways," said the CNN host who has done plenty of grandstanding of his own from his high horse on gun control. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

On his Tuesday night town hall-style show, CNN's Piers Morgan openly pushed for more gun control and liberal journalist Dan Rather chimed in that "there's no excuse to have an assault weapon."

Morgan determined that civilians don't need high-capacity magazines. "So what do you need them for? You don't need them to defend yourself. You're going to spray gun people who come to steal a television set, is he?" [Video below the break. Audio here.]

The producer of CNN's Belief Blog lauded President Obama as "exceptional" and a "religious pioneer" for supporting same-sex marriage and hosting his inaugural prayer service at National Cathedral.

"Well, I think it's part of what makes Obama exceptional. We think of him as a racial pioneer, the first African-American president, but I think he's also a religious pioneer," John Blake said of the choice of National Cathedral, which made headlines for announcing it will conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Reporting on the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade on Tuesday, CNN's Carol Costello pelted a pro-life guest with liberal talking points while chiding the president of pro-choice NARAL for not doing enough for the pro-choice movement.

For example, Costello began her interview with pro-life ethicist Pia de Solenni by citing poll numbers favorable to abortion rights activists. In contrast, she greeted NARAL president Nancy Keenan with this bland observation: "You know, it's interesting, you wanted us to refer to your organization as Pro-Choice America. And I have read numerous articles that your organization doesn't like the term 'pro-choice' any longer."

CNN hosts were wowed by President Obama's second inaugural address on Monday afternoon, and the love kept coming on Monday evening when a CNN panel gushed over the "marvelous" and "iconic" address in the vein of Martin Luther King and Lincoln.

"And now he's come along with a statement that firmly addresses a progressive, liberal agenda that's very much in the tradition of King and of Lincoln, and he has rallied his base," said CNN senior political analyst David Gergen. [Video coming soon. Audio here.]

After CNN correspondent Jim Acosta felt like pinching himself at Monday's inauguration parade, host Wolf Blitzer couldn't contain himself as he tried to get the attention of both President Obama and Vice President Biden.

Blitzer gushed that "Look, this is history over here," as the President and First Lady made their way down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House. He waved to Obama saying "Mr. President," but was drowned out by crowd noise. Blitzer did the same with Vice President Biden. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN correspondent Jim Acosta was positively giddy while covering President Obama's inauguration parade on Monday afternoon, and didn't hold back his feelings on-air.

"You know, I feel like I should pinch myself right now, Wolf. I can't believe I have this vantage point of history in the making," Acosta gushed.  [Video below the break. Audio here.]

During President Obama's second inaugural address on Monday, some CNN hosts couldn't hold back their amazement on Twitter.

"Obama sounding more and more like Martin Luther King as this speech goes on - powerful, rousing rhetoric. #inauguration," tweeted Piers Morgan.

During CNN's inauguration coverage on Monday's Starting Point, correspondent John King helped bolster President Obama's image as he asked Tea Party Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) if Republicans were "chastened" by Democratic electoral victories.

"The President won an election that many historians say he shouldn't have won, given the high unemployment rate, given the sluggish recovery. He beat your party. Your majority in the House is a little smaller. Democrats gained a bit in the Senate. Are Republicans chastened now?" he asked the Tea Party congressman. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

It turns out that the Romney campaign was right to claim that Fiat, who owns Chrysler, would be making Jeeps in China instead of America, even though the media disparaged that case at the time with PolitiFact going so far as to declare the ad "Lie of the Year." According to PolitiFact, the campaign falsely implied the jobs would be outsourced, among other claims.

As Reuters reported yesterday, "Fiat (FIA.MI) and its U.S. unit Chrysler expect to roll out at least 100,000 Jeeps in China when production starts in 2014 as they seek to catch up with rivals in the world's biggest car market."

Anderson Cooper's lone guest to talk guns on Thursday night was the anti-gun New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I), echoing CNN's ridiculous disparity of pro-gun control guests and gun rights advocates on its newscasts.

Cooper pitched him a fairly easy interview, first asking, "your impressions of the President's proposals on gun control. Are you happy with them?" He later teed up Bloomberg to bash the NRA. "What do you think of the NRA, of how they have been fighting this?" he questioned.

CNN's Carol Costello scolded Whole Foods CEO John Mackey for calling ObamaCare "fascism" on Friday. She also questioned why he was entering the ObamaCare debate at all and lectured him that many of his customers would disagree with his opposition to ObamaCare.

"And you realize when you say 'fascism' it brings up Nazi Germany and all sorts of things. And we really want that kind language out of our public forum at the moment, don't we?" Costello admonished Mackey. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Despite Piers Morgan's consistent advocacy, CNN's own polls show support for certain gun laws down from a month ago. That didn't stop Morgan from targeting two female gun rights advocates on his Wednesday night show, asking absurd questions, constantly interrupting them, and throwing a juvenile hissy fit.

"Where does it say you can have an assault weapon that can fire 100 bullets in a minute in your Constitution?" Morgan posed to Tea Party News guest Scottie Hughes. " Do you want the right to have a tank?" he followed up. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Instead of holding the White House accountable, CNN's White House correspondent is helping the President make his case for gun control.

Jessica Yellin touted Obama's "persuasive advocates," young children who wrote letters to the White House pushing for stricter gun laws whom the President featured behind him as he pushed for more gun control on Wednesday. Yellin teed them up to explain why they wrote their letters. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN host and gun control advocate Piers Morgan kept smearing gun rights advocates after President Obama announced his proposals on guns Wednesday. CNN's Wolf Blitzer was interviewing a GOP Texas state representative, who had proposed a bill that could make a felony any enforcement of a federal ban on semi-automatic guns or magazines within the state of Texas.

"Texas Republican congressman Steve Toth on CNN right now is everything that's wrong with America re guns. A stupid, dangerous man," Morgan ranted on Twitter. Blitzer interviewed Toth shortly after Obama's announcement and had tough questions for him, but didn't resort to name calling like Morgan did from his Twitter account.

CNN continued its trend of marginalizing gun rights advocates on Wednesday. Anchor Soledad O'Brien derided a CNN guest who had cited her fear of tyrannical government as reason to own a semi-automatic rifle.

"Some people make your head hurt when they speak. Wow. And that was one of those moments," O'Brien sneered in front of Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (Ill.). [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Commemorating the one month anniversary of the Newtown shooting, CNN stacked its Monday line-up with gun control advocates and Democratic politicians.

Over the course of the entire day, CNN interviewed guests about the gun issue. 13 guests were gun control advocates, including five Democratic politicians. Only two Republican guests went on to oppose further gun control measures or defend the NRA's proposal for armed guards in schools.

One month after the Newtown shooting, CNN "commemorated" the atrocity by hosting a string of gun control activists and Democratic politicians pushing for stricter gun laws.

From the 5 a.m. through the 3 p.m. news hours, CNN hosted five guests who had participated in the "Demand a Plan" campaign put on by the anti-gun group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. In addition, two Democratic congressmen and one Democratic senator appeared on the network and pushed for more gun laws. Only one Republican made an appearance to argue to the contrary.

After President Obama's Monday press conference, liberal historian Douglas Brinkley fawned over him on CNN as a "warm and engaging man," pitted against Republicans who "don't want to be in a photo-op with him."

"I don't think we can blame the President for his style. I think it's just another part of this terrible political gridlock we have. President Obama is a warm and engaging man," Brinkley complimented the President. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN's Carol Costello helped a Democratic congressman tout his new bill on Monday that allows victims of gun violence to sue the gun industry. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is aiming to repeal a 2005 bill passed by a Republican Congress that protected gun makers and dealers from such lawsuits.

Instead of asking hard questions of Schiff's proposal, Costello spoonfed him this liberal talking point: "Ted Kennedy said this law was bought and paid for by the NRA. In your mind, what was the intent behind this law?" [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN keeps giving oxygen to the gun control movement. Correspondent Jason Carroll touted the push by New York City and Philadelphia for stricter gun laws and loaded his report with pro-gun control statements on Friday.

Carroll quoted four guests in favor of stricter gun laws and provided only one statement to the contrary, from Pennsylvania's governor explaining why the state court struck down Philadelphia's gun control measures.

When Breitbart.com's Ben Shapiro used his pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution on the set of Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN's Piers Morgan asserted that he, like the NRA, was deviously trying to frame gun control as an assault on the Second Amendment.

"You come in. You brandish your little book as if I don't know what's in there," Morgan sneered. "My little book? That's the Constitution of the United States. Our founding document, Piers," Shapiro shot back. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Piers Morgan isn't the only CNN host pushing a ban on semi-automatic guns. Fareed Zakaria hammered "anomalous" U.S. gun laws on Thursday afternoon and pointed to other countries for the strict gun control that America should strive for.

"And I think that Sandy Hook has been a huge turning point and there is a shift of consciousness. We are becoming more aware of just how anomalous the U.S. is," said the host of CNN's foreign affairs show Fareed Zakaria GPS. "So the real challenge here is going to be to take this shift in national consciousness and actually drive it through to make it a shift in policy." [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN had a friendly take on President Obama's Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew, despite the pick receiving sharp criticism from conservative circles. "He's definitely the guy for the next several months," CNN's Ali Velshi gave the White House spin on Thursday's Newsroom.

"Yeah, funnily enough if Wall Street hates him, he might be perfect for the job," chuckled anchor Michael Holmes."That's what a lot of people think, Michael, actually," Velshi added. Back in 2008, however, CNN framed Wall Street support for potential nominee Tim Geithner as a good thing.

CNN has been doing its best to spotlight host Piers Morgan after he's clamored repeatedly for more gun laws. Morgan went on a liberal gun control rant during the 12 p.m. hour of Newsroom on Wednesday, and CNN replayed some of the rant again that afternoon.

Morgan called semi-automatic rifles "machine guns," preached that a "humane society" would ban such guns, and claimed the Second Amendment didn't protect ownership of such guns. In addition, he praised liberal politicians for pushing gun control measures. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN's Ali Velshi struck back at talk radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday, lecturing him on the debt ceiling after Limbaugh had hit Velshi as a "low-information reporter."

Velshi maintained that the debt ceiling "had absolutely nothing to do with spending control or debt control" as Limbaugh claimed, and added that "Republicans seem to think the debt ceiling is a good tool to limit how much the government spends." [Video below the break. Audio here.]