Pompous Overload: Everyone Point & Laugh at CNN’s ABSURD New Ad

The biggest lie in America? It’s that the liberal, elitist media claim they don’t want to be “the story.” In reality, they love being the center of attention, the captain of your soul, and the martyr of all martyrs. Such was the case Wednesday when CNN unveiled a new ad to celebrate a federal judge extending the injunction against the Trump administration’s September 18 ban of CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House.

Pensive-looking hosts and reporters? Check. Movie trailer-like music? Check? Quotes about how important the press are (and thus more than any of us rubes)? Check.

Here was the ad in full, beginning with what appeared to be a silhouette of The Source and chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins at CNN’s outdoor booth on the South Lawn:

 It was followed by the first of four quotes from past presidents, beginning with Thomas Jefferson: “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and cannot be limited without being lost.”

After footage of Anderson Cooper getting ready for AC360, the next quote appeared. This time, it was Calvin Coolidge: “The press is one of the cornerstones of liberty.”

There were four quick bursts of reporters looking off into the distance or on location, with Collins appearing on screens in a control, White House correspondent Kristen Holmes staring into space, Capitol Hill denizen Manu Raju walking backwards in a Hill office building, and OutFront host Erin Burnett looking out of a helicopter.

George W. Bush was the third President to have a quote, praising the people who hated him with every fiber of their being: “We need an independent media to hold people like me to account.”

The speed picked up with a three-shot of The Lead and State of the Union host Jake Tapper and correspondents David Culver and Clarissa Ward, followed by split seconds of White House reporters Betsy Klein and Ayanna Treene, senior international correspondent Fred Fleitgen, Asia-based correspondent Hanako Montgomery (appearing to be on-site of the Nepal mudslide), and correspondent Omar Jimenez with his fellow leftists at a protest.

After still shots of Tapper and CNN NewsNight host Abby Phillip being on-air, the next quote was from their pal, Barack Obama: “A government without a tough and vibrant media of all sorts is not an option for the United States of America.”

The final presidential quote arrived once we again saw Collins and Klein. Clearly aiming to stick it to Trump and any Republican in support of the ban, they turned to Ronald Reagan: “Freedom of the press is, and must always be, above politics.”

It ended in a flurry of headshots, starting with Collins questioning Trump in the Oval Office. Amid those were two sneering lines, with the first being “Freedom of the press is not optional,” and the other reading, “follow the facts.”

Before the ad, though, CNN boss Mark Thompson appeared on Wednesday morning’s CNN News Central to celebrate the win and cartoonishly insist it shouldn’t be viewed as merely a win for CNN, but one “on behalf of the public everywhere…to hear their political leader held to account by the — by the press, in ways that no politician always loves, by the way.”

Bolduan reiterated this nauseating line that the last month “isn’t about CNN…but it is much – it is much bigger,” as in “the public’s access to ask tough questions.”

Then came the pants-on-fire lie from both of them that CNN doesn’t want to be the center of attention, including Thompson stating it point blank:

BOLDUAN: It’s not every day that CNN and other outlets are the news, rather than just are forced to be the news rather than report the news.

THOMPSON: Sure. And we don’t — we don’t want to be the news.

Thompson moved on to praise the “great support from other news organizations,” claiming it’d be reciprocated in the future “because we know that this can be something which happens with governments of the left, governments of the right, governments of the center,” and all news outlets will need “to stand together to defend our rights on behalf of the public.”

The CNN head honcho next went on a bit of a rant about Thomas Jefferson and the press, which sounded nice if it were in a vacuum. But since it’s not, and the liberal, elitist media ignore any number of stories, and explained away Biden’s cognitive decline until it became too politically inconvenient for them, this should be mocked (click “expand”):

THOMPSON: [T]he first thing is the politicians are, I think, you know, in human terms, it’s very understandable, and they’re killing themselves to do their jobs, and constantly they’re bombarded by questions, many of which, to them, understandably, feel irritating, annoying, negative, and all the rest of it. It’s us doing our jobs, and back through the ages, presidents — Thomas Jefferson was a passionate supporter — I mean, you know, significantly responsible for the First Amendment to the Constitution — passionate supporter to the end of free speech. He was driven mad by the press, the actual press, and talked about how much he hated the press. That’s very typical. So, to me, it’s one of those things you have to be vigilant all the time about. There’s always a risk that a government of any political hue, particularly when they’re in — under some political pressure —

BOLDUAN: Mmhmm.

THOMPSON: — they just lose their patience. But unfortunately, when they — when that happens, fundamental rights begin to get pushed away. And we know there’s a road there which — if governments were allowed to go down — is very dangerous. Dangerous, not just for the press, but for democracy and a free society.

BOLDUAN: I think it was Thom Tillis who said, and I keep remembering it, he said, you know what to do with a question you don’t like is give a good answer. And that’s, you know, ask the questions, give the answers. That’s what it kind of comes down to.

To see the relevant CNN transcript from October 15, click here.