CNN Hires Saddam-Al Qaeda ‘Connection’ Fabricator And Cheney Hagiographer
CNN Hires Saddam-Al Qaeda ‘Connection’ Fabricator And Cheney Hagiographer
TimeWarner announced today that “frequent CNN guest, Stephen F. Hayes, has made it official by signing on with the network as a political contributor”:
Currently a senior writer at The Weekly Standard, Hayes will appear on the full line-up of CNN programming as part of the network’s ideologically diverse group of analysts and contributors. Hayes has a long history of reporting on the political world. [...]
“Steve is a well-respected and knowledgeable journalist who already has become a natural part of CNN’s political coverage,” said Sam Feist, CNN’s political director. “As part of the ‘Best Political Team on Television,’ Steve will help CNN in its commitment to go beyond political spin and present viewers with the most in-depth and bipartisan insights.”
Over the past eight years, Hayes has done little more than spin for the Bush administration’s “war on terror.” Hayes was one of the foremost peddlers of the false claim that Saddam Hussein was in league with Al Qaeda, something that even Doug Feith, one of Hayes’ supposed sources, later disavowed.
Spencer Ackerman wrote that Hayes “has made a career out of pretending Saddam and Al Qaeda were in league to attack the United States”:
He published a book — tellingly wafer-thin and with large type in its hardcover edition — called “The Connection.” One infamous piece even suggested that Saddam might have aided the 9/11 attack. Hayes can be relied on to provide a farrago of speciousness every time new information emerges refuting his deceptive thesis. Unsurprisingly, [Dick] Cheney has repeatedly praised Hayes’s work, telling Fox News, “I think Steve Hayes has done an effective job in his article of laying out a lot of those connections.“
Hayes later returned the favor, penning a worshipful biography of Cheney that Michael Emerson called “a wet kiss…filled with glowing praise from cover to cover.”
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Liberal media my f*&$()#$ ass!
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:52 pmGoebbels Jr. III?
How many Goebbels does the GOP need?
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:56 pmCNN Hires Saddam-Al Qaeda ‘Connection’ Fabricator And Cheney Hagiographer»
- - CNN suddenly found itself deficient in the Glenn Beck Demographic.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm.
Let this be proof that Corporate Media IS in bed with bad government...
.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:58 pmThat's it.. I really am done watching CNN.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm"Hayes later returned the favor, penning a worshipful biography of Cheney that Michael Emerson called “a wet kiss…"
and i thought that was a goatee.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:01 pmhe really should wash his face after kissing DICK's ass.
You *know* how I am:
Edie Emery
(202) 423-6806
edie.emery@cnn.com
I just dropped her a line about their wonderful new hire...
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:05 pmSo far this guy sounds like a one-trick pony -- and that trick is "Bushco can do no wrong".
Am I missing something? How can Hayes be a "well-respected and knowledgeable journalist" AND a Kool-Aid drinking parrot?
While I agree that adding a Kool-Aid drinking parrot to the line-up would indeed add to the "diversity", I would have a bit more respect for CNN if they hired a conservative contributor who operated on more than one cylinder (surely some must exist). If this guy has really done nothing but spin for the GWOT for the past eight years, he's not going to attract any thinking people to CNN.
On the other hand, perhaps CNN (in their continuing effort to emulate Fox News) really doesn't want to attract thinking people.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:06 pmMeanwhile CNBC runs Obama-Wright ads with "Hate You Can Believe In" as the tag line. GOP Trust is behind the ads. It's not their first.
The investor class is strongly encouraged to vote McCain by their business talking heads. They kept the Dow Industrials propped up for a week, despite horrible economic news. GM's terrible auto sales might weaken their knees.
Watch out for the scary black man!
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:06 pmThey are putting in place the pieces for the ndless critisms of a Dem Prez.Remember,the Clinton years.Well,it's gonnna be be deja vue all over again as per Yoggi Berra.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:07 pmSo, when will CNN add the tagline "Fair and Balanced" to their promos?
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:07 pmExactly who do they think will be watching them after President Obama wins tomorrow? Will the Republican "rump" really support two news channels?
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:09 pmI used to get good stuff, i.e. unusual news from CNN and the BBC. No more. They've become flat, vanilla, toe the hegemonic party line news organizations. Well, other than Jack Cafferty. I'm still a fan of his in spirit.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:09 pmThis is going to be the first in a long line of 'balancing acts' that the so-called liberal media will enact to offset the Obama Presidency. The assumption being that the media was too liberal during the Bush Years, so now it must swing to the right to compensate, never acknowledging that, at best, the media was centrist during the Bush Years, and nowhere near liberal.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:09 pmSomeone needs to replace Gelnn Beck -- so the FOX wannabee, CNN, has hired another toady from the extreme right wing party. Stephen Hayes has been little more than a propagandist for the most outrageous rightwing claims - yet CNN (the most respected name in news) further compromises their reputation by hiring Hayes.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm"He published a book — tellingly wafer-thin and with large type in its hardcover edition — called “The Connection.”"
Look, he brought a copy with him!
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:10 pmThe only thing CNN has going for it is Jack Cafferty. And they keep him in a hidden room on a leash.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 pmThis guy loves cheney, how intelligent can he really be?
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:23 pmSo CNN continues to add to its reich wing screech stable...
YAWN... Just one more reason to listen to nothing but NPR and watch nothing but Rachel Maddow...with the occasional ESPN thrown in, of course...
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:32 pmIt makes sence, doesn't it? A republican known for connecting two entitties that had nothing to do with each other will be busy during an Obama presidency. It will be the US president he's trying to connect to anything and everything 'evil'.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:33 pmThese days, it really pays to be an expert who is always wrong.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:34 pmI quit watching the cable channel that hired Glenn Beck a couple of years ago and this ranks right up there with that joke. I will never watch this channel again as long as they have biased reporting on the right. We already have FAUX and do not need another.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:34 pmNevar Says:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“He published a book — tellingly wafer-thin and with large type in its hardcover edition — called “The Connection.””
Did his book include the cartoon drawings of Saddam's mobile biological weapons labs that Colin Powell showed to the UN?
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:36 pmMaybe he'll be on 'AC-180'.
Anderson Cooper, the guy who retells today's news every night.
'360', my ass, he's doing a '180' anytime I've listened.
Cheney / Wet Kiss...arrrggghhhh!
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm"Steve will help CNN in its commitment to go beyond political spin and present viewers with the most in-depth and bipartisan insights.”
It's all part of Dick Cheney's Running Man 2009.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:44 pmIf we can get past the anti-science republican bullies, non-intellectuals like this freak that have been proven wrong and yet still have a voice will become obsolete. I believe it's the anti-science culture that has permeated here that has allowed people proven wrong time and again to continue.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:48 pmMore, obviously.
As many as they can get, at this point.
Plus several.
The ones they got ain't working so good, what with reality eating their lunches and all.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:54 pm"Steve will help CNN in its commitment to go beyond Fox News' spin and present viewers with the most insipid and bipolar insults.”
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:57 pmDISGUSTED?
MAD?
HORRIFIED?
ME TOO!....DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.....
360@cnn.com, loudobbs@cnn.com, am@cnn.com, bill.schneider@turner.com, jeanne.meserve@turner.com, jim.walton@turner.com, deirdre.walsh@turner.com, caffertyfile@cnn.com, kyra.phillips@turner.com, lou.dobbs@turner.com, miles.obrien@turner.com, candy.crowley@turner.com, jon.klein@cnn.com, greg.d'alba@cnn.com, jonathan.davies@cnn.com, Richard.Davis@cnn.com, susan.grant@cnn.com, ken.jautz@cnn.com, tony.maddox@cnn.com, jim.walton@cnn.com, jack.womack@cnn.com, Christiane.Amanpour@cnn.com, wolf.blitzer@cnn.com, soledad.obrien@cnn.com, sanjay.gupta@cnn.com, anderson.cooper@cnn.com, cnnfutures@cnn.com, dana.bash@cnn.com, Campbell.brown@cnn.com, Gloria.borger@cnn.com, Jim.Acosta@cnn.com, john.roberts@cnn.com, ali.velshi@cnn.com, Carol.Costello@cnn.com, rick.sanchez@cnn.com, joanna.digeronimo@cnn.com, JESSICA.YELLIN@CNN.COM, candy.crowley@cnn.com, drew.griffin@cnn.com
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:05 pmSo. It looks like CNN is following the FAUX pattern of giving BS the same standing as factual information.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:06 pmGuys a motherf&%^$ is all there is to it. How he gets hired for any position above the level of barista is incredible to me.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:27 pmBarack Obama's grandmother has died. RIP Toots. You raised a fine son who will be the 44th President of the United States.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:44 pmIt's a ratings grab.
CNN has consistently latched onto these Weekly Standard-type talking heads -- all of whom are devoid of knowledge, substance, or intellect, but all of whom have a built-in audience of willing receptors -- in a lame, misguided, and empirically flawed attempt to catch up on Fox News.
I say that not as a fan of Fox News -- God forbid -- but as someone who suspects that CNN is suffering from a massive chip on its shoulder: "We invented cable news!"
So they pimp themselves in the false equivalency game, call it "ideological diversity," and continue to expect their ratings to go up.
The ratings don't, of course, so they dump their neocon dork infatuation of the moment and run out and hire another.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pmCNN hires the only person in the whole world who made his reputation by lavishing praise on Dick Cheney. I mean WTF.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:06 pm#7 Leftside Annie,
Yep, I'm coming late to this party, but I did the same. Goodbye CNN.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 pm#29 rastaman
Piss on Lou Dobbs, but thanks for the email addresses.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:29 pmCNN is not to be trusted , because they no longer are a news network , but just an infotainment network hell bent on getting ratings and informing the public last and if you can squeeze in some pro government propaganda , fashizzel .
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:37 pmFrom the tired, contrived " debates between Brazile and the short of personality Bennett, to blitzers monotonous, monotone shtick fabricating issues like .." the Democrats are walking a fine, between over confidence and thinking they can win " According to who Blitzer ? YOU ?
Then lets us not forget seeking authorization from the Pentagon while providing employment and opportunity to spread pro government propaganda, to every other war mongering , weapons rep General and colonel to Hiring PSYOPS from U.S. military to work as " interns" in the late 90s and when afghan civilians were and still are getting blown up by the thousands, by U.S. bombs , zionist and government lapdog CNN head said ''seems perverse to focus too much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan." - isaccson , the perverse , so called journalist .
it's affirmative action for Republicans!
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:45 pmin order to be "Fair" they must studiously over represent the Republican point of view. it's in the constitution!!!
CNN was once both the template and the standard for all-news networks. These days it's been literally unwatchable for quite some time. Hiring a hack and a liar like Stephen Hayes all but completes CNN's long swan dive.
More so than any hire in recent memory, CNN should have been embarrassed for even considering inking Hayes. Instead they trumpet his arrival as if it were a coup.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
-AF
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:56 pmAndrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
Gee, another lying neo-scum bastard, as if Glenn Blockhead wasn't enough. CNN, I'm still not watching and I wouldn't trust you guys to report the weather.
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:57 pm