As if announcing Democratic National Committee chairman and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as a "CNBC contributor" weren't enough, CNBC has invited the editor in chief of one of the its biggest critics to guest co-host one of CNBC's most popular shows.
Originally reported in a status update from Arianna Huffington's Facebook page on March 24, and later confirmed by Huffington herself in an e-mail with the Media Research Center, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post will co-host CNBC's "Squawk Box" on March 31.
"I'll be hosting Squawk Box on CNBC next Tuesday," Huffington's Facebook post read. "Who would you like to see me interview, and what should I ask them?"
CNBC had been the focal point of extensive and brutal criticism from The Huffington Post itself. On March 24, the liberal blog devoted the entire top of its page to remarks that "Squawk on the Street" co-host Mark Haines made for being concerned about some of the populist rhetoric promoting compensation limits.
Haines had also taken on a couple of sanctimonious Democratic congressmen, Reps. Brad Sherman, Calif., and Charles Rangel, N.Y., for being advocates of a 90-percent retroactive tax on bonuses.
It is worth noting Huffington does have the credentials to appear as a guest host on CNBC, having graduated England's famed Cambridge University with an M.A. in Economics according to her Web site biography.
The network is owned by General Electric and is a sister network to both NBC and MSNBC, the much-criticized liberal home of lefty hosts Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow.
Several CNBC on-air personalities had been critical of the Obama administration. CNBC Chicago Mercantile Exchange floor reporter Rick Santelli made a loud plea for the president not to bailout homeowners who had gotten in over their heads and several times "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer had knocked the economic plans of the new president.
However, after the network took a vicious attack from Comedy Central "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, followed up by a humbled Cramer on Stewart's show, there have been several instances of a softening of CNBC personalities toward President Barack Obama's policies and liberal causes.
The network announced March 23 former DNC chairman Howard Dean would officially be a "CNBC contributor." And Cramer, after referring to Obama's rhetoric as having heard "Lenin," changed his tune on Obama on NBC's March 24 "Today" proclaiming "the president has become pro-shareholder."
