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Conservatives Have CNN Upset (Again), and Kasie Hunt Caught Editing Evidence

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Aug 21, 2023
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

08.21.23

Pounce of Prevention – CNN

  • Any concern for the liberals contorting language and redefining scientific terms, or nah???

At CNN, this was not delivered as an op-ed but arrived via its “Politics” portal. Writer John Blake is very upset that conservatives have been successful at turning preferred terms and policies of liberals into political success by redefining the meaning. 

Almost every touchstone phrase adopted by liberals in recent years — “critical race theory,” “diversity,” “global warming,” even the word “liberal” itself—has been redefined or tarnished by conservatives. How did they do it? It’s called “verbal jiujutsu.”

To be more accurate, what really bothers the “unbiased” Blake is that conservatives have successfully exposed the sham of most of these policies by applying cold facts. Note that Blake is not at all concerned with liberals manipulating language and altering terminology, it is those damned conservatives with their adherence to standard definitions and proven truths that “tarnished” these esteemed liberal concepts.

To be clear: When the left completely bastardizes the word “woman” into “birthing person,” “uterus-enhanced,” and any other science-defying label, they are operating in good faith and honesty, while conservatives adhering to a woman being only what is considered to be...well, a woman, they are the ones who are redefining things.

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If this makes sense to you, you could have a career over at the completely non-partisan CNN.

Gilded Reframe – THE DAILY BEAST

  • Somehow centuries of teachings were just created by the GOP.

When we say here in this column on the regular that the press is basically unraveling before our eyes, it is not hyperbolic in the least. It is happening in real-time, and we are just here to catalog the effects.

For the latest example, we have genius reporter Wajahat Ali, an avowed Muslim, who is insisting that his religion has been overtaken by the Republican party. Recall, we recently had Jen Psaki claiming the GOP was manipulating Muslims to oppose transgender rights. Now we get Mr. Ali, who apparently wants to deny that his own religion forbids homosexuality and instead wants to pretend that Republican propaganda has infiltrated his mosque.

Pre-Written Field Reports – THE WASHINGTON POST

WaPo’s Michael Scherer shared a piece from his outlet, penned by Dan Batz and Clara Ence Morse, and it displays something impressive; many writers employed at the nation’s capital are patently ignorant on the subject of civics.

In the article that addresses the political divide in the nation’s culture, the writers looked at one aspect of the government – the Supreme Court – and thought they had pinned down what one of the problems that our nation and population is facing.

It is just remarkable how the elites in journalism can be this obtuse about the formation of this country. That they miss both the Senate being operated on a structure apart from the population, and as to why, is one thing. But this also means they are oblivious to our foundation as a republic and that the states are to be equally balanced in the Senate. This is a revealing look at how little the supposed educated elites in the country are actually knowledgeable about the government they are charged to cover professionally.

Low Octane Gas Lighting – CNN

  • You can take the gal out of MSNBC, but you cannot take the MSNBC out of the gal.

Kasie Hunt was almost beside herself this weekend when she heard Ron DeSantis refer to Trump supporters as “empty vessels.” If the concept of the severe left-leaning Hunt being overly concerned with the portrayal of Trump’s people strikes you as out of character, you are spot-on.

What took place here is that Cassie played an interview DeSantis recently conducted and, in her playback, she edited the clip so the governor appeared to be saying something negative about those supporting his opponent. However, Hunt had the misfortune of Ken Cuccinelli appearing as a guest, and he was having none of Hunt’s games.

Ken pointed out her deceptive editing and explained that she had removed a huge section of the DeSantis comment, completely altering the context in which he was saying the general public cannot sit by idly or else they run a risk of becoming empty vessels. This is a rather amazing example of how networks manipulate, and it is jarring to see it called out in real-time on a live broadcast. We dare guess that Cuccinelli may not be invited back on CNN, at least not anytime soon.

Glossary Over Things – MSNBC

  • You can really feel the pride they have behind this graphic. That is not to say the pride is justified, however...

On her Sunday show, Jen Psaki has shown a proclivity for horrendous puns in her graphics for her in-studio segments. (Her piece on one GOP candidate was “The Will to be Hurd”.) But her dad-jokes (or are they “Mom-jokes," at the desire to avoid being sexist) hit a new nadir when her staff came up with a real groaner to use for their coverage of Trump’s impending arraignment in Georgia.

Pulitzer Prize Nomination (Distinguished Local Reporting) – WBAL-TV 11, BALTIMORE

In a segment where they spoke with a representative from the National Audobon Society, Chanel 11 News instructs us to turn off the lights in our homes at night, because you are killing birds. Members of NAS frequently patrol around skyscrapers in the city and have collected hundreds of dead birds that collided with the windows of the buildings. The idea is that if we go without lights at night, we’ll save the birds. And not just a few; they have come up with a rather staggering figure.

How the activists arrived at an estimate of 1 billion birds per year is complicated, dating back to a meta-analysis of studies in 2014. The abstract estimated that based on a review of 23 studies, between "365 and 988 million birds" are killed annually by "building collisions" in the United States.

And now here is the problem – this billion birds annum number the Audobon Society is spitting out is contradicted…by the Audobon Society. They have told us that we are missing three billion birds since the 1970s – which comes in a bit lower than the one billion annual figure, but you know how flighty things can get with statistics.