CNN's 'Practical Conservative' Cupp Screams At Viewers: Vote Out GOP!

June 2nd, 2021 12:10 PM

Yesterday, we noted that so-called CNN "anchor" Brianna Keilar was behaving more like a left-wing activist, demanding that Biden fight harder against the supposed Republican "assault on voting rights."

In another bit of CNN misbranding, this morning's New Day served up the spectacle of what the network peddles as "practical conservative" S.E. Cupp literally screaming at viewers, telling them they must vote against Republicans in midterm elections. 

 

Cupp's notion was that federal legislation will not solve what she sees as the voting-rights problem, since those issues are decided at the state level. Cupp claimed that people sitting out the midterms leads to "extremist Republicans" being elected.

Here was Cupp's yelling, table-pounding, pointing-at-the-camera harangue of viewers: John Berman S.E. Cupp CNN New Day 6-2-21

"Spoiler alert. The federal government is not swooping in to solve this problem. These problems are happening in state legislatures and state houses. That’s where they need to be solved. And to do that [begans yelling and pointing at viewers] you need to go vote in midterm elections, people! You cannot just sit home and wait for every four years to vote in a new president. Because, every midterm becomes a base election when you sit home. And that’s how these extremist Republicans keep getting elected!"

The panel was reacting to a clip of President Biden blaming his failure to get things done on a Senate "with two [Democrat] members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends." That, of course, was a reference to Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Co-host John Berman did cite an "eagle-eyed viewer" who had pointed out that, contrary to Biden's claim that Manchin and Sinema vote "more with Republicans," in fact they have voted with Biden 100% of the time. But Berman tried to at least partially explain that away by saying that Manchin "has browbeat the various legislation into an area where he could vote for it." 

"Browbeat?" Isn't working with others to achieve a mutually-acceptable compromise the essence of the legislative process? When's the last time CNN accused a liberal of "browbeating" a bill to push it further left?

Meanwhile, analyst Jon Avlon got off an unintentional laugh line, claiming that Biden's "political charisma comes from a reputation of telling the truth." You say "Biden." Who says, "charisma" and "truth-telling?"

Note: Is CNN's billing of Cupp as a "practical conservative with a searing honesty" the network's subtle way of saying, "not very conservative?" Looking at the NewsBusters archives, we can't find Cupp saying anything actually conservative since 2018, when she did call out a double-standard in the treatment of Brett Kavanaugh and Keith Ellison when it came to accusations of personal misconduct.

CNN "practical conservative" S.E. Cupp haranguing viewers to vote against Republicans in midterm elections was sponsored in part by Energizer Batteries and Flex Seal.

Here's the transcript. Click "expand" to read more. 

CNN 
New Day
6/2/21
6:21 am EDT

JOE BIDEN: I hear all the folks on TV saying, why doesn’t Biden get this done? Well, because Biden only has a majority of effectively four votes in the house and a tie in the Senate, with two members of the Senate who vote more with my Republican friends. 

. . . 

JOHN BERMAN: One eagle-eyed viewer notes, one, that there is a factual issue with what President Biden said, which is that Manchin and Sinema have voted with the President Biden 100% of the time. 

BRIANNA KEILAR: Yes, that's true.

BERMAN: That said, it's because Manchin has browbeat the various legislation into an area where he could vote for it. He could change it. But, 100% of the time so far. You can’t much better than that.

JON AVLON: No, you can't. And so, the president, whose political charisma comes from a reputation of telling the truth, did not tell the truth there. I mean, you can’t get any better than 100%. I understand the frustration with the Senate. Also, it’s important to say, it’s not that they don’t support voting rights. It’s that they don’t support ending the filibuster to achieve it.

BERMAN: Joe Manchin has said explicitly he will not support the For the People Act.

AVLON: But he will support the John Lewis Act.

BERMAN: Right, right. But he said, but he did lay down a marker, saying he would not vote for a certain piece of legislation.

S.E. CUPP: Well listen: spoiler alert. The federal government is not swooping in to solve this problem. These problems are happening in state legislatures and state houses. That’s where they need to be solved. And to do that [begans yelling and pointing at viewers] you need to go vote in midterm elections, people! You cannot just sit home and wait for every four years to vote in a new president. Because, every midterm becomes a base election when you sit home. And that’s how these extremist Republicans keep getting elected!