CNN Newsroom

While Mitt Romney is polling strong in Nevada – as her own network had reported – CNN's Ashleigh Banfield still questioned how anyone in the state could "connect" with him over his laissez-faire approach to the foreclosure crisis. Banfield's question came at the bottom of the 1 p.m. hour of Friday's Newsroom.

The CNN host dismissed Romney's free market solution as hurtful to his own campaign, as if Nevada voters might not support such a remedy for the housing market. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Once again, CNN sympathized with an illegal immigrant supporting the largely Democratic-sponsored DREAM Act. Anchor Brooke Baldwin on Tuesday hailed "DREAMer" Mayra Hidalgo who blistered Republicans for their rigidity on immigration.

Baldwin let Hidalgo air this message to certain Republican candidates: "Do you even have a heart?" The immigrant directed her ire at Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney for saying an illegal immigrant would have to serve in the military to earn citizenship. "You're messing with people's lives," she ranted. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Their past antics might not lend them credibility as presidential critics, but CNN's Suzanne Malvaux and Carol Costello threw water on the GOP veneration of President Reagan on Friday. Echoing the liberal media of the Reagan years, the duo cast his conservative legacy as "revisionist history."

"And it's almost like revisionist history here. Back in the day, there were a lot of people who were suffering under the Reagan era," Malveaux insisted about GOP candidates invoking Reagan's name on the campaign trail. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Once again, CNN aired a coming-out story that could have doubled as a promotional piece for the GLBT community. Anchor Randi Kaye interviewed the openly-gay grandson of televangelist Oral Roberts on Thursday afternoon and she let him explain how he wanted to change conservatives' minds by giving them a "new visual" of gay couples.

Of course, one can wonder if CNN would have interviewed Roberts's grandson after he served two tours in Afghanistan, or after he did mission work in Sudanese villages devastated by violence. But even though her job as a news anchor is to be objective, Kaye admitted to being "really moved" by Randy Roberts Potts' story in a men's magazine, and she beamed when she asked him about his "upcoming marriage." [Video below the break.]

CNN claims to be the moderate voice of cable news, but it certainly doesn't play the part when it shills for President Obama's tax plan. Obama has called for the Buffett Rule, or higher taxes on millionaires, and CNN helped him make his case in a one-sided segment Wednesday afternoon.

Anchor Brooke Baldwin begged for her viewers' attention before she aired Obama's liberal spin on taxes from his State of the Union address. She then highlighted millionaire Mitt Romney's low tax rate, "adding fuel to the fire that the incredibly affluent, the rich folks, pay taxes at a lower rate than the average person," she hyped. [Video below the break.]

Does CNN favor class warfare? They played the part on Tuesday, hyping the negative image Mitt Romney's overseas wealth and low tax rate would present to the average American voter while ignoring his charitable (and tax-deductible) contributions.

Host Kyra Phillips warned that Romney's just-released tax records would not sit well with voters earning less income but paying a higher tax rate. "It's a bad economy, people are out of work. This doesn't look so good from the average American's standpoint," she argued. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

The internet group "Anonymous" claimed to have shut down the websites of the Justice Department and FBI, but that didn't stop CNN's Amber Lyon from giving them the soft treatment. Her Friday report on the group of hackers and thieves contained no voices of opposition but allowed the group to defend its escapades.

Lyon remained neutral on the group's tactics, from reporting their "favorite weapon" of web attacks to asking how long it took them to crash the Justice Department website. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

The group "Anonymous" claims to be an arm of the Occupy movement and has made headlines for stealing credit card numbers and publishing personal information of police officers. A report by CNN's Amber Lyon might have made audiences think twice about their dubious reputation with her sneak-peek of an upcoming CNN Presents story "Anonymous" that airs Saturday night at 8 p.m.

Explaining the cause behind Anonymous and noting how they call themselves the "Air Force" of the Occupy movement is more like free publicity for the group than a critical investigation. Though CNN mentioned members' arrests at the hands of the FBI, Lyon also pointed out during the 3 p.m. hour of Newsroom how "the majority of them are just average Joe Americans." [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Hosting two far-left activists, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux teed them up with "controversial" quotes from Republican presidential hopefuls that she said "people found quite offensive and strange." The interview with PBS's Tavis Smiley and Princeton professor Cornel West aired during the 12 p.m. hour of Newsroom. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Unsurprisingly, the duo bashed Republicans and hit President Obama from the left. Malveaux simply provided a podium for them to proclaim their liberal gospel. The two "controversial" soundbites that were aired were quotes from candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum:

Hours before New Hampshire voters would choose a Republican candidate to oppose President Obama, CNN host Kyra Phillips brought on liberal columnist L.Z. Granderson to tout his latest op-ed which – surprise! – blames social conservative Rick Santorum in part for triggering violence against gays and transgender people.

The openly-gay Granderson penned a nasty take-down of the candidate and claimed his "homophobic" rhetoric justifed, for some, the murders of transgender people and gay bullying – even while Granderson reveals he can't "hate" Santorum. In the CNN interview, Granderson also scolded other Republicans for their lack of love toward gays, immigrants, and the poor. [Video below. Click here for audio.]

In lieu of President Obama's Hawaiian vacation, CNN highlighted the plight of a Hawaiian same-sex couple that will legally celebrate a civil union come January 1st, but desires federal marriage benefits that do not apply to same-sex couples. In a one-sided and sympathetic report, White House correspondent Brianna Keilar painted the picture of a President who could make a gain at the voting booth if he legalizes same-sex marriage.

CNN analyst and National Journal's Ron Brownstein strongly hinted that Obama could be alienating some of his liberal base by sitting on the fence over the gay marriage issue. He made the case that Obama may be losing socially-conservative Democrats anyway, and could "mobilize" voters by supporting same-sex marriage. [Video below the break.]

Taking a tip from Mitt Romney mocking Newt Gingrich, CNN's Hala Gorani asked panel members on Wednesday what sitcom would best describe the Republican presidential race. Gorani's question was "If you could compare the Republican race as a whole with a sitcom, what would it be?" [Video below the break.]

CNN’s Alina Cho touted “The man many Democrats call the best president in modern times” in her gushing interview of former President Clinton that aired multiple times Wednesday.  By the end of the interview, she sounded utterly enthralled by Clinton and his humanitarian work.

“150 countries, more than that,” Cho told Clinton of his travels, before taking a deep breath and tremulously asking “What keeps you going?” She praised the President’s efforts, gushing that Clinton is “Working tirelessly to make a difference. Traveling all over the world.” [Video of the segment below the break.]

When asked how both parties would handle an ultimate failure to extend the payroll tax cut, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer immediately painted the scenario as a big advantage for the Democrats. “Well it’ll be great ammunition for the Democrats, because they’ll obviously blame the Republicans, especially House Republicans,” Blizter asserted during the 2 p.m. hour of Newsroom.

Blitzer didn’t say how Republicans could use the news to their advantage; he only expounded upon how President Obama and the Democrats would “hammer” Republicans if a deal was not struck. Blitzer noted that Obama’s rising poll numbers could be related to the battle over the tax cut extension.

CNN gave some quality airtime Friday to the director of a film on the coming-out story of a lesbian teenage girl. The movie "Pariah" was sponsored by LGBT organizations at the 2011 Sundance film festival and was a featured selection at an international LGBT film festival in Washington, D.C.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, the storyline is about 17 year-old teenager Alike who "feels trapped between the straight world, and the butch lesbian scene in Brooklyn. The film chronicles her silent journey to embrace her identity."
 

The same networks that jumped on every flub by Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann have, so far, ignored video of President Obama confusing Kansas with Texas. Only Fox News and CNN played the clip. 

Special Report's Bret Baier, however did cover the President's speech about taxes, calling the moment "inauspicious." He then showed Obama, in Osawatomie, Kansas, asserting: "Well, it is great to be back in the state of Tex -- oops." Panelist Charles Krauthammer quipped, "Look, it's hard to remember all 57 states." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]

Once again hosting liberal Van Jones to discuss the "Occupy" movement, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux asked him how the illegal practice of protesters "squatting" on foreclosed homes could help the "Occupy" movement take off.

Malveaux didn't exactly question the legality or the ethics of protesters secretly living in foreclosed homes, but instead gave the former Obama-appointee and Marxist some PR time to tout what new direction the "Occupy" movement will take. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

In its Monday afternoon coverage of the Congressional battle over extending the payroll tax cut, CNN repeatedly emphasized a Democratic advantage and claimed that the Democrats are acting like "conservative Republicans." Political analyst Gloria Borger even gave the Democratic talking point that the party roles on tax cuts have been switched.

"You know, if you're a true believer, and you're a Republican who believes that the tax cuts will pay for themselves, the question really is not how do you pay for it, but why do you pay for it, right? I mean, why pay for it at all?" CNN's Borger asked of the Republican insistence that the cuts be paid for without raising taxes elsewhere. "The Democrats, ironically, are acting much more like the conservative Republicans here," she boldly added. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

CNN's Don Lemon attacked the "classic GOP move" of claiming liberal media bias, on Sunday's 10 p.m. edition of Newsroom. The liberal CNN host lampooned Sarah Palin's "lamestream" media line and – rather sloppily – faulted the GOP candidates for their own travails.

"Long story short – maybe it's time for politicians who get caught in unflattering situations or who might have a bit of trouble with the truth to take responsibility for their own actions and stop blaming the media," lectured Lemon, who as a member of the liberal media didn't exactly "take responsibility" in deflecting blame back at the GOP and Fox News without refuting their claims of liberal media bias. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Apparently, Newt Gingrich wanting to employ students from poor neighborhoods and teach them job skills means that he believes they possess "no work habits." CNN obliged to put words in the candidate's mouth during Friday's 1 p.m. news hour as its headlines slammed Gingrich's "controversial" statements.

Anchor T.J. Holmes admitted that the candidate "tends to say some pretty edgy things every now and again," and CNN headlines blared that Gingrich's "controversial" talk "could become a campaign liability," and that his statement "targets children in 'poor neighborhoods'." [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

After an illegal immigrant teenager killed himself allegedly because his lack of citizenship would derail his college dreams, CNN ran a segment on the "'Dream Act' Suicide" and asked his family about the importance of the liberal "Dream Act" to other illegal immigrant students.

The family of the teenager Joaquin Luno claimed that his suicide was due to stress over his illegal immigrant status and his frustration that the Democrat-supported "Dream Act" did not pass Congress – legislation which would help him achieve his goal of attending college. The second half of CNN's segment was then devoted to the status of the liberal immigration bill. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

CNN's T.J. Holmes, reporting Tuesday on the eviction of "Occupy Los Angeles" and the subsequent arrests of 200 protesters, simply numbered the arrests as totaling in the "dozens." Apparently for CNN, over 16 dozen arrests still merits the count of "dozens" rather than "scores" or even "hundreds" or simply "200."

CNN held sympathy for "Occupy L.A." in more ways than one. During the 12 p.m. hour, Holmes asked a city police commander if some of his colleagues sympathized with the protest or even had wanted to join the "occupiers" before they had to evict them. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Reporting on Monday morning that Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was not seeking re-election, CNN's political team whitewashed his controversial tenure in office with some fond words like "titan," "larger-than-life," and "teacher at heart."

CNN's Joe Johns lauded Frank's skills as a teacher -- especially as the first openly-gay congressman. "He's taught this country so much about the gay community in the United States and what it means to be an openly gay member of Congress. A leader, in fact, on Capitol Hill," Johns gushed.

Political editor Mark Preston praised Frank as a "titan" of financial sector matters in Congress while saying nothing of the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under his oversight. While noting that Frank was tough to deal with, Preston added that he was "one of the best debaters in Congress" and "always the smartest person in the room." [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Was Brooke Baldwin's kid-glove treatment of candidate Jon Huntsman a harbinger of things to come in CNN's Tuesday night debate? The CNN host tossed the liberal media's favorite GOP candidate softball after softball in a Tuesday afternoon interview – while conservative candidate Michele Bachmann was asked Tuesday morning if she regretted running for president.

In an cushy interview during the 3 p.m. hour of Newsroom, Baldwin heaped praise on the Republican who supports same-sex civil unions and who ripped conservatives as "anti-science" for not believing in global warming. The CNN host fawned over Huntsman's "lovely" daughters and slobbered that "you seem pretty unflappable, and if I may, governor, downright nice." [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

By noon on Wednesday, CNN had already hosted a Wall Street protester and a leftist "community organizer" to talk about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Anchor Suzanne Malveaux then interviewed Van Jones, former Obama-appointee and Marxist, and told him he'd make a "good spokesperson" for the Occupy movement.

Van Jones, was Obama's green jobs czar before he was booted for a petition he had signed in 2004 demanding investigations into links Bush may have had to the 9/11 attacks. Jones, along with CNN's other guests, supported Occupy Wall Street. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

On Tuesday afternoon's Newsroom, CNN ran a positive segment on Occupy D.C. at Freedom Plaza and touted the protest's "rules and regulations." In what could have passed for an advertisement for the protest, anchor Brooke Baldwin held up to the camera the protest's application for prospective occupiers, remarking "how about that?" over its stipulations.

Baldwin noted in the beginning that "you might not have heard too much about Occupy D.C. And as it turned out, that protest is a lot different than a number of others." CNN then interviewed a number of protesters innocently labeled either "organizer" or "protester." [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

Multiple times on Tuesday, CNN touted a musician who quietly played a song about Occupy Wall Street at an APEC dinner attended by President Obama and other world leaders.

Hawaiian musician Makana performed in the background during Saturday's APEC dinner and wore a t-shirt that read "Occupy With Aloha." He sang softly and repeated the song over and over that was a tribute to Occupy Wall Street protesters. "We'll occupy the streets, we'll occupy the courts," Makana sang in a brief clip provided by CNN. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]

During Wednesday’s post-election coverage, CNN largely ignored conservative ballot victories in Mississippi and Ohio and Republican gains in Virginia, rather focusing on two conservative ballot measures which were defeated at the polls. They followed the three major networks in doing so.

The network relentlessly touted the defeat of Mississippi’s “Personhood” initiative – which would define life as beginning at conception – as they reported it 14 times in 9 hours. CNN also highlighted the failure of a measure pushed by Ohio’s Republican Governor John Kasich that limited the rights of unions to collectively bargain, as that story appeared 11 times in 9 hours of coverage. [Video below the break. Click here for audio.]