CNN Newsroom

CNN's message to the Boy Scouts is this: "the world" is becoming more accepting of same-sex marriage, and the Scouts should get with the times by accepting openly gay leaders. Anchor Carol Costello made that clear on Tuesday morning's Newsroom.

"And like it or not, children are exposed to gay people. Ever watch 'Modern Family' or 'Ellen' or hear NFL players speak out for same-sex marriage? The world is changing. And the question now: will the Boy Scouts change with it?" Costello argued. Of course, CNN helps facilitate that "change" by giving NFL players -- who wish to "harness this Super Bowl media" to push for "marriage equality" -- air time to push for same-sex marriage unopposed. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN thinks the Super Bowl has become "a platform for the culture wars," but they are using that "platform" to support causes like gay marriage.

The morning after the Super Bowl, CNN's openly-gay anchor Don Lemon interviewed gay rights activist and Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo and thanked him for his work. No guest from the other side was brought on.

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.]

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."

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."

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.]

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.

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.

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.]

CNN did its best to promote former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' push for stricter gun laws on Tuesday. Correspondent David Mattingly even highlighted the large "donate" button on the website of Giffords' new political action committee.

"And if you think about it, if Gabby Giffords came knocking on my door, office door on Capitol Hill, I would have to let her in," swooned anchor Carol Costello. Mattingly directed viewers to her website's fundraising section: "[I]f you go to the website that they've set up now, the Americans for Responsible Solutions, the first thing you see there is a big window where you can click on it to donate." [Video below the break. Audio here.]

When news broke that counterterrorism adviser John Brennan would be President Obama's nominee to head the CIA, CNN was mum about Brennan's admitted failure concerning the attempted Christmas Day bombing in 2009. As NewsBusters reported earlier, none of the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) mentioned Brennan's "I let him [Obama] down" press conference following the intelligence breakdown at the attack.

CNN highlighted Brennan's strengths along with his controversies on Monday, but those were mostly liberal gripes about his record on enhanced interrogation and drone strikes. "Brennan has been criticized for his connection to the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques under the Bush administration, more recently, for his support of the controversial drone program in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere," reported Wolf Blitzer.

CNN reporter Ali Velshi thrashed Republicans and conservatives during last weekend's fiscal cliff negotiations. As Tim Graham of NewsBusters already reported, Velshi "clearly doesn't care about looking objective" and showed it when he opened fire on Grover Norquist last week and declared that taxes must go up on the wealthy.

In what became a tired liberal rant, Velshi pushed that argument over and over again last weekend, paddling House Republicans for not "compromising" with Democrats on tax hikes while barely wagging a finger at President Obama and the Democratic Senate. Below is the worst of Velshi from last weekend. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Out of all the guests to talk Hugo Chavez's illness, CNN brought on Chavez-fan Oliver Stone on Friday. Stone lauded him as "magnanimous, warm, warm man, big man."

Anchor Suzanne Malveaux actually played clips of Stone's documentary involving Chavez, which Time magazine called a "love story" for the dictator. Yes, this is the same network whose founder said he trusted the North Koreans and defended Kim Jong Il. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

After House Speaker Boehner pulled a vote for Hurricane Sandy aid on Tuesday, CNN gave a microphone to outraged politicians who bashed the House GOP for not voting on the relief bill that Senate Democrats loaded with pork.

CNN gave two interviews to Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) airing his grievances against fellow Republicans, and anchor Don Lemon interviewed three Democrats who wanted the relief bill passed: Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN's Carol Costello threw ugly smears and liberal talking points at the NRA's president David Keene on Thursday. Keene repeatedly had to deflect criticisms that the NRA is out of touch with most Americans during a lengthy 15-minute grilling.

Costello resorted to sharing smears of the NRA from her Facebook page. "And many, many comments said, 'Why is the NRA crazy? Why are they, like, out of touch with reality?' A lot of people said – why do you think that people say those things about the NRA?" she asked Keene. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

When Democratic Rep. Jim Moran (Va.) promoted his new gun control bill on CNN Wednesday, anchor Victor Blackwell spoonfed him a talking point from the anti-gun Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG). Moran then claimed Congress would have blood on its hands if it didn't take action on guns.

Asking Moran about his bill's five measures, Blackwell simply prompted him with poll numbers that MAIG touted earlier this summer: "You picked these five because there's a poll over the summer by a GOP pollster that says that these are not only things that are mildly supported by NRA members, but they are in the 60, 70, 80 percentile of support from the membership." [Video below the break. Audio here.]

British CNN host Piers Morgan continued ranting about America's "gun problem" on Wednesday and claimed ownership of semi-automatic rifles has "nothing to do with the Second Amendment."

"And so you have to deal with the primary problem that America faces, which is guns. Guns. Guns. Guns. And it's nothing to do with the Second Amendment right to defend yourself, and everything to do with military-style weapons that could slaughter," he insisted. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN anchor Don Lemon went on an anti-gun rant on Monday morning and called for an assault weapons ban. Lemon is only the latest CNN anchor to abandon journalistic standards and push for gun control.

"We need to get guns and bullets and automatic weapons off the streets. They should only be available to police officers and to hunt al-Qaeda and the Taliban and not hunt elementary school children," an emotional Lemon appealed. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

CNN founder Ted Turner is well-known for his outlandish liberal views, and CNN's Suzanne Malveaux teed him up on Thursday to rant against nuclear weapons, call for higher taxes on the wealthy, and announce that "the big, intelligent, well-educated countries have already quit war."

"President Obama, he says in his second term he wants to make climate change and protecting the environment a top priority. What do you think he should do? What should he do first?" Malveaux prodded the liberal Turner. [Video below the break. Audio here.]

Teamsters Union president James Hoffa warned on CNN Tuesday that there would be "civil war" in Michigan over thepassage of right-to-work legislation, but after anchor Brooke Baldwin made two brief mentions of it the CNN blackout began. In contrast, on the next day Fox News hammered the "civil war" threat as an example of radical rhetoric.

How bad was CNN's blind spot to the controversy? After Hoffa warned of "civil war," Baldwin simply repeated his words back to him. "[I]n the meantime, as you wage this civil war, what does this mean for unionized workers moving forward in Michigan?" she asked, without demanding how violent the union pushback would be.