Breitbart’s John Nolte had the opportunity to interview CNN’s Jake Tapper on his new show State of the Union, as well as get Tapper’s opinion on the issues of today including “Caitlyn Jenner”, same sex marriage, The Clinton Foundation, media bias, and conservative media critics.
When it came to the topic of “Caitlyn Jenner” and how the media will handle the story with Republican candidates, Tapper gave a diplomatic response:
“We both know there are people in the media who like to set traps for politicians — especially for Republican politicians, specifically conservative Republican politicians. I’m not one of them. I’m not out to get anyone…
Social issues are important. Abortion, the religious rights of bakers, the rights of gays and lesbians, Caitlyn Jenner… You know, I asked Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) if he considered these questions gotcha questions, and he said no, that social issues are important. I agree with him. But I also believe that tough abortion questions should be asked of Democrats as well as Republicans.”
On transgender issues, Tapper added “Frankly, we at CNN didn’t even have a policy of what to call Chelsea Manning when he became Chelsea Manning.”
When Nolte asked if Tapper would include the point of view that transgenderism is a mental problem, he backed away:
TAPPER: I’m not going to be doing a political show that looks at this topic in the way you are talking about it. Am I willing to have a panel about Americans having to grapple with this? Sure. But my knee-jerk response to a situation like this is not to assume that someone doing what they want means they are mentally ill.
NOLTE: ...I am just troubled by a media blackout on a legitimate scientific point of view. I don’t know who is right or wrong. But it should be discussed, not wrist-flicked and condemned as bigotry.
TAPPER: You have to keep in mind that a lot of people are talking about these issues for the first time. They are just learning about this issue. And I don’t look at the media world — and I’m sure the transgender community doesn’t look at the media world — as this institution that will go along with everything GLAAD has to say about this. My job is to air these issues in a respectful and thoughtful way.
When they turned to his new job hosting CNN’s Sunday show State of the Union, Tapper described how it will be different that the other morning newsmaker shows:
State of the Union will distinguish itself from a lot of cable hours, including [Tapper's weekday show] The Lead, by being a show devoted to politics for an hour…People are tuning in to get to know my guests. What I want is for a Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), or Hillary Clinton to come on knowing they will get some tough questions but that there will also be time for the kind of biographical questions they haven’t had the chance to talk about…one of the things I want to do is have viewers tune in and get a chance to really know a presidential candidate.
It was kind of Nolte to mention Brent Bozell and the Media Research Center as fighting the good fight against liberal media bias (dating back to 1987).
