A liberal protest that CNN.com said contained "about 10 people" still merited inclusion in CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's report on Wednesday's The Situation Room. Of course, Acosta made no mention of the smallness or brevity of the protest -- the chant of "No Swiss Mitt" lasted under five minutes.
Acosta did tout that Democrats were "hounding" Romney to keep him "back on his heels." As an example of their strategy, he mentioned the protesters with a clip of them chanting "No Swiss Mitt." [Video below the break. Audio here.]
"But Democrats have their own playbook to keep Romney back on his heels," Acosta reported, "hounding his visit to the Republican National Committee in Washington with chants of 'No Swiss Mitt,' in step with a new Obama re-election video."
According to CNN.com, the protesters were from the liberal group Americans United for Change. They stood outside of the Republican National Committee headquarters chanting "No Swiss Mitt" while Romney was inside visiting, to protest his outsourcing jobs and using a Swiss bank account.
As if the tiny protest wasn't weak enough, according to CNN.com the group "arrived after Romney was already inside, so he would only have seen them if he was looking out a back window of the Republican headquarters."
Did CNN give proportionate attention to a January pro-life march in D.C. attended by not 10, but tens of thousands of people? Not quite. That event merited two brief mentions, in contrast with CNN hyping a D.C. Earth Day rally attended by hundreds.
A partial transcript of the segment, which aired on May 2 on The Situation Room at 4:17 p.m. EDT, is as follows:
JIM ACOSTA: I was out with Mitt Romney earlier today in Chantilly, Virginia, in Northern Virginia. It was amazing to watch, because it was as if the news surrounding the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden had not even happened. Now that the President has played his trump card, and that is the bin Laden death, Mitt Romney wants to play his, that is the economy. While Newt Gingrich – he's just folding his cards.
(...)
ACOSTA: But Democrats have their own playbook to keep Romney back on his heels. Hounding his visit to the Republican National Committee in Washington with chants of "No Swiss Mitt," in step with a new Obama re-election video.
(Music Playing)
NEWT GINGRICH, former Speaker of the House: I don't know of any American president who's had a Swiss bank account. I'll be glad for you to explain that sort of thing.
ACOSTA: The star of the video? Who else?
NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS News White House correspondent: Are you calling Mitt Romney a liar?
GINGRICH: Yes.
