CNN's Gary Tuchman blasted Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell on Tuesday's AC360, suggesting that the Republican was like the leader of a totalitarian regime, after she dared to say that the media should be left out of certain campaign events: "I think, for most Americans, that gives you a little chill. When we go to places like Cuba and Iran and North Korea and China, we're often kept out" [audio available here].
Anchor Anderson Cooper led the 10 pm Eastern hour of his program with the latest on O'Donnell's candidacy, particularly her interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity the previous hour. Tuchman, who was reporting live from Wilmington, Delaware, raised the issue of her finances, and after reporting on two recent local events which the Republican attended, went into his lamentation over her stab at the media:
TUCHMAN: One final thing we should mention is that, during this program, she said that the media was pushing and shoving at that particular event. I will tell you- I have been covering politics for almost 30 years, and it was nothing out of the ordinary. They were coming up to her. That's what happens with any high-profile political campaign. And she also mentioned that, perhaps, it would be good if the media was kept out of certain events. And frankly, I think, for most Americans, that gives you a little chill. When we go to places like Cuba and Iran and North Korea and China, we're often kept out. The media is kept out. There's no free reporting, and it's just something that we really don't like to hear in the United States of America- to keep the media out.
Here we have the CNN correspondent attacking a candidate who hold no office at the moment, when highest officeholder in the country, President Obama, and his Democratic allies in Congress, teamed up to break his campaign promise to "broadcast health care negotiations on C-SPAN." Even Tuchman's own colleague, Jack Cafferty, attacked Obama and the congressional leaders for their lack of transparency during a January 6, 2010 commentary. One wonders if he would have held those politicians to the same standard he's holding O'Donnell.
Just under two minutes later, Cooper raised the Senate candidate's slam on the media with guest Erick Erickson. The conservative called out Tuchman for his remark:
COOPER: I get the hatred of the media and stuff and stuff, but to hear a major candidate for U.S. Senate saying like- well, you know, they're hurting my campaign by asking me questions, and they're taking pictures of my dad on the lawn- I'm certainly sympathetic to that.
ERICKSON: Right.
COOPER: Someone's family shouldn't be bothered and stuff. But if she actually made herself available to the media, rather than run away and refuse to ask questions-
ERICKSON: You know, Anderson-
COOPER: I mean, it just seems odd.
ERICKSON: Frankly, that's the issue there. She doesn't care about the national media, and she doesn't really need to. It's kind of the Rand Paul strategy in Kentucky. He's raising a lot of money. He's up on the air in Kentucky. He's now 20 points ahead- although, admittedly, she's behind. But they're focused on local media, and the national media attacks- to have Gary bring up the point about Christine saying maybe there's some events that the media shouldn't go to, and then jumping to this is like in China and Korea and Cuba- I mean, when you hear- conservatives hear that, they're thinking, obviously, this is biased, whether it is or not. I mean, she's playing to her base, and the media's just helping her.
