The arduous task of cataloging just who ranks among the worst in the pundit class is a daunting one and imprecise. Subjectivity rises as there is not only a degree of personal measurement on policies and issues but also on personalities. It is similar to comedy; what you find deeply amusing could only elicit a smirk from another, and likewise, the disgust felt from a journalist.
I did attempt a level of measurement to items such as the impact of outlets, degree of influence, and the like, as well as objective assessment of reporting at times. Ultimately, I believe when looking at the nadir of the journalism class, we can all agree – while you may see certain entries as better or worse, they all have a place in the mire of their industry.
Yesterday, featured the entries from 26-50 in the bottom rung of journalism's elite. Here are the top (the bottom?) names serving as the worst in the journalism industry last year.
25. DON LEMON - He claimed his show does not deal in opinions. Raged at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis about Covid mask effectiveness, but then shortly after, he was spotted in Florida, without a mask. He wrote in WaPo how blacks and whites live in two different realities. Tucker Carlson showed Lemon lives in a rather white style of opulence. All this as he faces a sexual harassment lawsuit no one at the network wants to address.
24. JEFFREY TOOBIN - CNN brought back the free-bal…– uh, free-wheeling legal expert, after his shameful Zoom call exposure, and the network suffers whenever he is on camera. The proof arrived when the man with an illegitimate child with a co-worker's daughter weighed in on the abortion debate in SCOTUS. He had no self-awareness when he said, "The good news for Kyle Rittenhouse is that he's not on trial for being an idiot." Credited the late Senator Harry Reid for paving the way for Obama to appoint dozens of judges, ignoring that Reid's policy allowed Trump to appoint hundreds in a shorter time frame.
23. YAMICHE ALCINDOR - The reliably biased PBS White House correspondent could rank higher, but she seemed content to mostly just fawn over the Biden administration and appear more insignificant. She pushed for the government to overrule federalism to control states. She told Biden the immigrant surge was because they see him as a decent man. She tried defending Representative Maxine Waters from her own words inciting violence. At a presser, was completely unbothered that Biden took no questions at all, as she preened with other journalists.
President Biden didn’t take any questions.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) September 16, 2021
But, there was this super color coordinated red row waiting to try. pic.twitter.com/1lUJ87mqIm
22. JOHN AVLON - As third in command of the faltering CNN morning show "New Day," the always condescending contributor routinely displayed incompetence. John has his own side venture where he explores the impact of Qanon, sounding like he listens to them far more seriously than those on the Right. He railed against GOP redistricting while not only ignoring states where Democrats were gerrymandering, but he proposed his own redistricting plan while condemning the practice. He strained to find a way of tying Jussie Smollet's problem to Donald Trump in conspiracy theory fashion. Avlon had to lie in order to accuse Senator Ted Cruz of defending Nazi salutes.
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21. DAVID FRENCH - The avowed but disputed conservative declared opposition to Critical Race Theory was equal to Germany preventing Holocaust teachings. He lashed out again at Evangelicals and support of Trump. He has also scolded Christians who refuse to follow vaccine mandates. Saw the Rittenhouse verdict as another chance to invoke Trump. Was upset when Amazon had blocked a book sale of a friend of his after cheering on the de-platforming of Parler.
20. KATY TUR - The deeply biased anchor at MSNBC embarrassed herself in her insurrection talk. She eulogized Rush Limbaugh with, "Promoting his allies while insulting his political enemies and average people alike, many times in deeply offensive ways." When the transcripts and emails from inside Andrew Cuomo's office were released attempting to defend him from sexual assault allegations, it was learned his PR team fed Tur talking points that she read directly on the air in his defense.
19. CHUCK TODD - The pundit who grouses constantly when challenged on media bias was a constant source of biased mirth on "Meet the Press." He attempted to sell vaccine mandates as a pro-life issue. In an interview, he asked Dan Crenshaw, "Why should anyone believe you if GOP does not have credibility?" Chuckles fretted over the reality that Biden could not get his agenda passed with the arrival of the new Covid variant. Todd also was a signal-caller for the Democrats ahead of the November midterms.18. MOLLY JONG-FAST - The Daily Beast scribe is not only a part-time contributor at The Bulwark, but she also teams up with unhinged rabid pedophile excuse-maker from The Lincoln Project, Rick Wilson. She lent advice on how to "reprogram" your Trump-loving relatives at Thanksgiving. Molly sees a problem that Ben Shapiro and Dan Bongino are popular on Facebook. She suggested that one of the best things to help Joe Biden's dwindling influence is to have a super-villain positioned against him.
17. JOE SCARBOROUGH - The Republican from Florida saw fit to give an error-prone critique of the Florida Republican governor. He completely fumbled a live feed of doctors standing in a lineup for vaccine awareness, saying they had walked off the job. Joe screeched about Kyle Rittenhouse, incorrectly claiming that the kid had fired off 60 rounds the night of his shooting. His rant was so unhinged the defense team actually mentioned it in the courtroom. The best was that after being called out for his wild inaccuracy, Joe claimed anyone following the case knew the facts – this means he blames the audience for listening to what he says on the air.
16. JOHN HARWOOD - The CNN gabber is such a partisan hack that really anyone following his reports is at fault by this point. When Biden waved off his Covid relief and said it was up to the states, John was there to tell us what Joe really meant to say. In scorching Representative Marjory Taylor Greene, he tried to pretend that the members of The Squad do not exist. He gushed over the appointing of Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger to the January 6 Commission. He was repeating the debunked border agents whipping migrants story after it was proven false.
15. OLIVER DARCY - Brian Stelter's Boy Wonder is working oh so very hard to become as relevant as his master. Ollie used the Jan-6 riot as an excuse to push for conservative news outlets to be taken down from cable satellite providers. He clearly did not want to touch the Chris Cuomo controversy, quoting his boss Jeff Zucker's town hall to CNN employees through reports in the Wall Street Journal, then broke the news of Cuomo's replacement from details in The Wrap. He tried painting Fox and the Washington Examiner as Covid hypocrites with office mandates, ignoring that they were both following local ordinances.
14. BRIANNA KEILAR - Intemperate and almost sneering at times in her role as the new morning host of "New Day," Keilar operates oblivious to audience realities. She gave false claims on border Covid infections. She made the laughably ludicrous leap from the Fox News Christmas tree burning to January 6. She was unraveled by Senator Rick Scott on the facts regarding Critical Race Theory. She chalked up the Virginia elections to dog-whistle racism. When a CNN reporter was badgering Gov. Ron DeSantis, Keilar said he was being such an ass toward her. That "New Day" ratings just hit historic lows seems lost on the hostess.
13. CHRIS HAYES - In the face of those killed by the suicide bombing during the Afghanistan fiasco, Hayes felt the need to diminish the tragedy in light of Covid deaths. He spoke with Brandy Zadrozny about conservatives being obsessed with race and how it is wrong for parents to use records requests for school board information. He was dismayed, as a journalist, about how to get information about Hunter Biden's laptop story. He recently defied all prior Covid coverage by suddenly likening it to the flu.
On the plus side, he did provide us with a convenient admission.
The only thing that I’d add is that being on TV for a long time will absolutely drive anyone nuts.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 22, 2021
12. JIM ACOSTA - The normally higher-placing insufferable mirror slut would possibly be in the Top 10 except for his move to a weekend show where he has delivered dwindling ratings. On his program, he feels he is clever delivering alliterative bromides that are retweetable. Jim attended CPAC and complained about the reception he received. Jim claimed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would kill the filibuster if he had the chance, apparently ignorant of the years Sen. McConnell had exactly that chance and did not do so. He looked at the report debunking the Lafayette Park episode and complained about the facts. He lectured aspiring journalists to be humble.
Coming up later this hour… we tried to speak to GOP House members about their bogus January 6th conspiracy theories. Congressman Mo Brooks would not comment and rode off on his bicycle… pic.twitter.com/LMSedEhUDi
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) June 26, 2021
11. BILL KRISTOL - The avowed Never Trump conservative flailed for the entire year to display his conservative values by…pimping for Democrats. He lent his support to Terry McAuliffe. He claimed Rep. Liz Cheney would run for president in 2024. He praised Biden for putting America first with Putin after Joe gave back Russia its pipeline. Said Democrat gun policies that will not work are better than GOP proposals. He said there is no border crisis, and the non-crisis is Donald Trump's fault. After backing a number of Democrat election losers, he dispensed advice on how the Republicans can win.
10. JENNIFER RUBIN - There are misguided pundits out there, but Jenny actually appears to work on being perpetually wrong. She considered the Taliban as a polite takeover entity. She completely changed her position on Covid. POLITICO scalded Jenny over her fealty to Biden, noting many at her paper do not like her. She raved Democrats should follow McAuliffe's lead and said Bill Kristol endorsing McAuliffe will be huge. She claimed Democrats lose gracefully. Jennifer propped up Biden and claimed we did not leave people in Afghanistan, except her own paper confirmed it to be the case.
9. AARON RUPAR - The perpetual dispenser of false narratives and links was laughably inept all year. He tried to slam Gov. Ron DeSantis for going on Sean Hannity to discuss the Miami Beach condominium collapse. He claimed to break that Joe Concha does not write for The Hill, except he obviously does. Gave a slanted interpretation of an Atlanta police chief after a mass shooting. His tendency to deliver clipped and edited videos to make slanderous claims led to him becoming an Urban Dictionary entry.
8. JONATHAN CHAIT - He was outraged the Wuhan lab leak story was once again a possibility, saying it was always a theory, but ignoring fact-checkers declared it false. He sneered over the 12 gallons of milk a week story, ignorant it concerned a family of 11. Wrote opposing Biden supports Trump's authoritarian plans. He whined the Senate over-represents white people.
7. RACHEL MADDOW - Her pending exit from her primetime show saw her softening, slightly, and Covid had her mind very warped. Rachel repeated the provably false Rolling Stone Ivermectin story. She admitted to struggling with how to perceive people without facemasks. She was caught dispensing completely inaccurate vaccine information without punishment. She pretended that the Virginia election result was no big deal after making the election a big deal. She gave Jen Psaki a political tongue bath.
.@maddow: "I’m already feeling like the presentation that we are hearing from you in the briefing room already feels — I trust it and I also feel like it’s too nice [about Republicans].”@jrpsaki: GOP “should work with” Biden. "Are Republicans now against reopening schools?" pic.twitter.com/3vXq5TivxQ
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 29, 2021
6. CHRIS CILLIZZA - CNN's seeming diversity-hire for mentally-impacted pundits is a constant source of fun. He scorched Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers for saying he would do his own Covid research, in a video where Chris then said of Covid facts, "Do the research!" He tried to mock Sen. Ted Cruz over saying his kids were being indoctrinated, which meant Cillizza took the position of saying we need to take Covid teachings from The Muppets. After previously slamming Oregon GOP legislators for running away, Chris saw the Texas Dems flying to DC as "The visuals were powerful." In his newsletter, he wrote about Kamala Harris' magic, as her poll numbers were plunging. Within days, Cillizza bemoaned all the people attending college football games in the pandemic while also raving about how great it was to see them all returning to stadiums.
THIS is @ChrisCillizza
— Brad Slager - Incontinent On Another Continent (@MartiniShark) September 7, 2021
-Look how terrible it is that crowds are gathering!
-Look how awesome it is that crowds are gathering!
The - same - weekend pic.twitter.com/rNGV2K4xMF
5. GLENN KESSLER - The Washington Post fact-checker had a rough go of it in 2021. He made an odd attack on Senator Tim Scott's heritage. He botched Nazi history trying to correct MTG. Said GOP attacked CDC over masks while admitting the study was flawed. When forced to correct Terry McAuliffe's numerous Covid lies, he uses "misspoke" and "slip of the tongue" excuses. Glenn said, "You're only as good as your sources," regarding the Steele dossier, which his paper relied upon heavily. Tried to slam Trump while unaware when Biden took office. Defended Pete Buttigieg for his claim of racist bridges by saying it was based on one of the greatest non-fiction books ever written – then learned the book had been debunked years ago.
4. NICOLLE WALLACE - Has become elevated on her "Deadline: White House" telecast, and her obvious leftward lurch for relevancy was done so she might fill Maddow's vacated primetime slot. The former conservative has gone full-Biden. Claimed 95-percent of America would agree with Biden on Afghanistan. She has called Trump a domestic extremism threat. On September 11, she compared the Covid surge to the terrorist attacks – but never blames Biden. She called herself a Dr. Anthony Fauci groupie.
3. BRIAN STELTER- The media maven of CNN struggled mightily all year to excuse his network, his ratings, and the media complex in general. His audience had fallen off so much he was left bragging about the high ratings he received when his show was pushed aside for the Richard Branson space launch. One week, he took a vacation, and the ratings were higher with his fill-in guest.
When looking at polls showing distrust of the media, he suggests it began to dip with Dan Rather – who is a frequent guest on his show. He constantly had to excuse CNN for not addressing the Chris Cuomo problems. When the press, in general, ran the fake border whipping story, he and Oliver Darcy excused the fake news and applauded the corrections.
2. JOY REID - MSNBC's constant barker of racist commentary is a nightly embarrassment for the network. You pick the topic and Joy has her position already in line. Critical Race Theory, Covid, Tucker, abortion laws, Rittenhouse, the Virginia election, schools opening, Elon Musk, Build Back Better getting blocked – it is all caused by racism! Her perpetual baiting has led to ratings that drop as her show begins and then rise once again when the next program begins.
1. CHRIS CUOMO - It only took two years of regular journalism ethics violations from CNN's primetime host before the network would act. Once his brother Andrew was caught up in a sex scandal, Chris claimed to be stepping away. He didn't. Last summer, it was revealed he had been working to advise his brother. Then, finally, the evidence was too large for even the apathetic network to ignore, and he was fired.
Cuomo's permissive entrenchment has been an utter debasement of CNN's integrity as a news network. What they allowed, and the length of time it was given to play out, has been a drain on any journalism quality they might want to lay claim to as a reputable news outlet.
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