CNN's "Newsroom" apparently can't get enough of Max Blumenthal. Less than four hours after their 5-minute infomercial on Blumenthal latest left-wing hack job on Sunday evening, host Rick Sanchez and correspondent Josh Levs did another segment promoting the "expose" on College Republicans. Sanchez and Levs continued to "conveniently omit" the liberal associations of Blumenthal, not even mentioning Blumenthal's posting of his video on the Huffington Post, as they did in their first segment. Sanchez was even open about where he stood on the issue of young Republican "chicken hawks." "As you watch these guys – and I think most people at home would agree -- there seems to be a certain hypocritical nature to this. I mean, they're so boastful when they talk about supporting the war, and yet sheepish when it comes to actually doing something about it."
Sanchez and Levs's introduction to their rehash on Blumenthal's video:
RICK SANCHEZ: Staying now with the Iraq war, and doing a little Josh's corner. Josh Levs is joining us to talk about something that's interesting, and it has to do with Young Republicans -- that's what the organization is called -- getting a visit from a writer, who then challenged them, since they all seemed to be very gung-ho about the war, as to whether or not they themselves would go and fight in this war. Or do they want to?
JOSH LEVS: Exactly. That's what happened. It's a man named Max Blumenthal, who decided to go to a meeting, this national College Republican group, and he posed to some of these people a question that they may not have seen coming.
Blumenthal is not merely a "writer" and/or a "man." He has written for "The Nation" magazine, "The Huffington Post," and for "Media Matters for America," the left-wing "watchdog" group. All three institutions are part of the radical left-wing, a label that Blumenthal apparently rejects, as Levs repeated in the first segment.
After playing clips from Blumenthal's "documentary" for the second time, Levs repeated his line that "Karl Rove... Ralph Reed, Jack Abramoff" were all former members of the College Republicans.
The full transcript of the second Sanchez/Levs segment on Max Blumenthal:
(CNN CAPTION: “WHY AREN’T YOU SERVING?”)
RICK SANCHEZ: Staying now with the Iraq war, and doing a little Josh's corner. Josh Levs is joining us to talk about something that's interesting, and it has to do with Young Republicans -- that's what the organization is called -- getting a visit from a writer, who then challenged them, since they all seemed to be very gung-ho about the war, as to whether or not they themselves would go and fight in this war. Or do they want to?
JOSH LEVS: Exactly. That's what happened. It's a man named Max Blumenthal, who decided to go to a meeting, this national College Republican group, and he posed to some of these people a question that they may not have seen coming.
MAX BLUMENTHAL: Why are you not fighting them over there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why am I not fighting them over there? Because I'm in college right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I’m an undergraduate right now, and I just had a scholarship (INAUDIBLE). And I just didn't have any real -- I didn't have any strong urge...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think -- you can't talk about this issue if you're not serving.
LEVS: Ok, so he put that and more into an Internet video that he's calling ‘Generation Chicken Hawk,’ and he told us that this is what it's all about.
BLUMENTHAL: An ideology that says you can support this war, which is not supported by most Americans, and which is wearing down the military, without serving in it in any way or participating in it or making any kind of sacrifice.
SANCHEZ: You know, it's interesting. As you watch these guys – and I think most people at home would agree -- there seems to be a certain hypocritical nature to this. I mean, they're so boastful when they talk about supporting the war, and yet sheepish when it comes to actually doing something about it.
LEVS: That perception is definitely what led a lot of people -- what led Max to want to even do this video, and it's making a lot of people really interested.
SANCHEZ: What about the guy that runs -- isn't there like a top guy at the top? I imagine, as a journalist, you probably sought him out.
LEVS: Absolutely. I did. Spoke with him. And guess what? He's a veteran. 25 years old, and he served in Iraq. He called this a political hit job. He said it's one-sided, this video that Max Blumenthal put out there, and this representative of the group also told us this.
NICK MICCARELLI, CO-CHAIR, COLLEGE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMTE.: There are many people who support stricter laws on a lot of things in this country and aren't necessarily willing to go become police officers.
SANCHEZ: Now, he seems like a straight-up guy, who's willing to put his muscle where his mouth is. Maybe a little different than some of the guys in this organization. It's interesting. These organizations, maybe it's me, but they're awfully young to have so much to say about something that maybe they ought to put in a couple of years first. But we'll leave that alone.
LEVS: I’m sure you had something to say in college.
(CROSS TALK)
SANCHEZ: They're young upstarts. But is there a sense that this is the kind of organization that makes the Karl Roves of the world?
LEVS: Exactly. It actually made the Karl Rove of the world.
SANCHEZ: He was a member of this organization?
LEVS: Karl Rove was in this, Ralph Reed, Jack Abramoff. Some major Republican players started off in the College Republican world. So, one thing Max Blumenthal is saying with this video is you know what? Some of these people someday just might be running America, so it's worth challenging them now, getting to know what their positions are, and from his perspective, calling them on what he views as hypocrisy.
SANCHEZ: That's amazing. Josh Levs. Thanks, Josh.
(h/t NewsBusters reader Damian G.)
