CNN has clearly made a conscious decision to politicize the coronavirus story to trash the Trump administration and claim it's starkly opposed to "science."
CNN's John Avlon joined At This Hour host Kate Bolduan on Thursday to condemn the selection of Vice President Pence to lead the federal government's response to the coronavirus. But, what was an attack on Pence morphed into an attack that implied that any social conservative or religious person would be unqualified to lead a public health task force in a time of crisis.
Avlon recalled that during an HIV outbreak while Pence was Governor of Indiana, he "did not want to take the advice of the federal government and health experts that there should be a needle exchange as a result the number of infections basically quadrupled and subsequent studies said it was about the worst response you could have."
As if blaming Pence for the infections was not bad enough, he then turned to mocking Pence, "Prayer didn't work, other aspects of things didn't work." Avlon then asserted that social conservatism and religion can be bad for public health, "What really worked is once they finally conceded you needed to get on the ground, so public health is a tricky thing when your politics are done through the filter of social conservatism or religion."
Bolduan then emphasized the effectiveness of needle exchange programs, to which Avlon added, "I understand why they’re unpalatable to conservatives, but public health requires something more than playing to the base." Bolduan agreed, "That's an interesting point."
Mocking prayer has become an unfortunate trend at CNN.
Here is a transcript for the February 27 show:
CNN
At This Hour with Kate Bolduan
11:50 AM ET
JOHN AVLON: So, you got to go all the way back to his Indiana governorship. Scott County, the Planned Parenthood was shut down, that was the only place folks could go for HIV testing, it was shut down, in part, because of a vote Mike Pence took and then he’s governor. You had an outbreak of HIV because of people shooting drugs and Mike Pence did not want to take the advice of the federal government and health experts that there should be a needle exchange as a result the number of infections basically quadrupled and subsequent studies said it was about the worst response you could have. Prayer didn't work, other aspects of things didn't work. What really worked is once they finally conceded you needed to get on the ground, so public health is a tricky thing when your politics are done through the filter of social conservatism or religion.
KATE BOLDUAN: Needle exchange programs have proven effective
AVLON: Correct
BOLDUAN: Over and over and time again
AVLON: I understand why they’re unpalatable to conservatives, but public health requires something more than playing to the base.
BOLDUAN: That's an interesting point.
