Not a Fran


CNN’s just hired the woman whose letter of resignation compared George W. Bush to George Washington:

Townsend paid tribute to President Bush by saying: “In 1937, the playwright Maxwell Anderson wrote of President George Washington: ‘There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, til all men walk on higher ground in their lifetime.’ Mr. President, you are such a man.”

To me, that’s like comparing Tee Ball to the Majors. Not in the same league? I’d argue Bush has never been fit to play the same game.

When CNN hired Tony Snow, I couldn’t find the words to express exactly why it bothered me, but then Arianna provided the Aha! moment:

The prerequisite for any TV pundit is credibility. Viewers won’t agree with every opinion expressed; but they do need to trust that the opinion expressed is not some pre-packaged PR pitch cooked up in the White House to keep us in the dark.

This was always Snow’s specialty — along with a glib dismissiveness that made him the poster child for the Bush administration’s brand of Callous Conservatism.

Anyone who has stood and knowingly lied on behalf of the Bush administration should automatically be excluded from a spot at the news desk in any capacity for any allegedly unbiased news organization. I’m sure Snow’s a nice enough guy. I just don’t get what he adds to CNN’s flailing reputation as a credible news source.

Conservative insights and perspectives are great. Necessary, even. But I’d be hard-pressed to trust anything from a man – and now woman – who publicly backed our current president when it became evident to most – regardless of party affiliation – that Bush was an unmitigated failure in every sense.

To me, here’s the message this sends: Can you look into a camera and lie through your teeth? Have we got a gig for you!

One thought on “Not a Fran”

  1. JS:

    I think they want good looking people who speak good, they don’t give a shit about the truth, facts, integrity, yada yada yada. maybe she and tony will create a black hole of callous ignorance and be swallowed up in their own indifference to truth, the Constitution, democracy, etc.

Leave a Reply to Glenn Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *