[The title above is a reference to this post from last year, in case you missed it despite my linking to it just about every other day since…]
On the May 19, 2017 edition of Anderson Cooper 360, the CNN host became frustrated with President Trump’s flack Jeffrey Lord—consider him this President’s less slick version of Lanny Davis or less repulsive version of Paul Begala—-as Lord defended the President’s alleged description of former F.B.I. Director James Comey as a “nut job,” leading to this immortal exchange.
Cooper: If he took a dump on his desk, you would defend it.
Lord: What? [Starts laughing.]
Niiiiice! So professional! So respectful to the President of the United States and any CNN viewers left who have a shred of civility, decency, and sense of etiquette in public discourse!
So disgusting.
As we know, a back-up weekend weatherman who said this about the previous President or any before him would have been fired before he finished the 7 day forecast. Cooper, however, is permitted this gutter level breach of courtesy and professionalism, because 1) as CNN’s star, he is held to a lower standard (The Star Syndrome) than weekend weathermen, as we saw in when Cooper smirked and joked with Rachel Maddow about the gay term “teabagger” in order to mock the Tea Party movement, 2) CNN has normalized blatant partisan gestures and outbursts by its talking heads, and 2) this President of the United States has been found unworthy of respect and courtesy, or professional journalism standards. CNN will do nothing to discipline Cooper or send te message that his conduct is unacceptable, because the dirty little secret is that as long as President Trump is the target, it is acceptable. At this point in its devolution, CNN is cheerleading what has been accurately called a slow-motion attempted coup by the one-time news network’s party of choice. A Harvard media study released last week showed CNN to be the most unbalanced of all major news outlets in its reporting on the President’s first 100 days, with 97% of its coverage negative in substance or tone.
Cooper later apologized to Lord in the segment, saying, “I like having your voice on here and I think you’re an important voice to have, so I’m sorry I was a little crude. And you defend the president very well, and that’s your job.”
A little crude? Well, I guess he didn’t call the President a cockholster on national TV, but then he’s not a smug openly left-wing satirist who is seen only after 11:30 PM. He isn’t a highly paid smug openly left-wing journalist who is supposed to be the nation’s successor, at least one of them, to Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Barbara Walters—no, scratch Babs, she inflicted “The View” on us—and Peter Jennings. Thanks to Cooper, who couldn’t and wouldn’t exercise a modicum of self-control over his peer group-enforced contempt for an elected President, this kind of vulgarity and personal denigration is what we can expect and will continue to get from what we will fraudulently call broadcast journalists. They are self-righteous progressive/Democratic Party assassins, and the masks are off.
Cooper later apologized again, this time to his audience, sort of, by tweeting,
“I regret the crude sentence i spoke earlier tonight and followed it up by apologizing on air. It was unprofessional. I am genuinely sorry.”
Not good enough. Cooper conjuring the image of the President of the United States “taking a dump” on his desk on national television, and apologizing via Twitter is what a CNN anchor would call, on the air, “cheapshit.” If he truly is sorry, then he should apologize on the air, where he took a metaphorical dump on our political discourse. A real apology would also include apologizing to the President, directly.
This is yet another test to see how low CNN will permit its employees to sink—how much naked bias and unprofessional hackery it will tolerate, and through its tolerance, normalize. Just four years ago, Martin Bashir was forced to resign from MSNBC for saying on the air that he wanted someone to defecate in Sarah Palin’s mouth.
Poor Martin. He was ahead of his time.
Ethics Alarms 
Sadly Jack, you are spitting into the wind at this point.
CNN is not a news source anymore, just as Fox News ceased to be a news source during Obama’s presidency. The complete inability to cover the news without spin (and CNNs is more devious as it is more subtle) leaves the general public with nowhere to turn.
The answer here would be for people to depend on their own critical thinking skills, but the nature of society has led to a degradation of those very skills. In fact, breaking free of the groupthink is so discouraged that I am stunned when I hear a salient point from someone that isn’t simply regurgitated and stripped of true understanding. I would imagine for some, developing a nuanced point of view is nearly impossible, and it isn’t hard to see how this has happened, with media sources blasting “BLACK” and “WHITE” instead of “blank” (ideally for news) or “GRAY” (which is what the world really is, of course).
Cooper is a partisan hack. There is no way out of this death spiral unless we stop worrying about filling the 24 hour news cycle and instead focus on fixing the very real problems in our nation.
You said that people need to depend on their critical thinking skills, sure that would be nice; however, in our dumbed down society of political “sheeple” that’s just not going to happen for the vast majority of politically involved people.
This can be reversed, if people stop denying that what you say is true. It has to be. Democracy cannot function without a trustworthy “press.”
I think we’re going to have at least four years to test that theory, Jack. Unless, of course, the coup succeeds.
So, is he going to sign off for a commercial break by saying “I gotta go fire the brown torpedo” next? He sounds like a drunk college student.
Cooper is a shithead.
Pronounced sh teed. Let’s be civil.
The problem is that Cooper, Colbert, Maddow et. al. have produced a President who firmly believes in tit-for-tat, and a large group of voters who believe he’s right…that “basket of deplorables” that someone , apparently, forgot are willing to vote. This is sad, but it is also true.
It doesn’t make them less deplorable and it wasn’t Colbert who produced them.If you’re looking for blame look at Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones and Glenn Beck. They ginned people up long before the people you blame were on the scene. If you start with Rush and add in Newt Gingrich, you’ll see a straight line from there to where we are now.
Donald Trump doesn’t copy Rachael Maddow who likes to do long segments on a topic, he repeats whatever he hears on talk radio or gets parroted in a Breitbart comment thread. So place your blame there.
What? Rush Limbaugh never used an expletive or a slur on his show in his life. Glenn Beck, wacko that he was, was always civil. Jones is a fringe figure not relevant to the issue. Nor are any of those journalists in any sense of the word. Rush is an entertainer, equivalent to Colbert, but without a TV platform. Beck was a pundit. Jones is an idiot. None of them create any precedent for journalists at all.
One of the more desperate, false comments that I can recall.
Dump isn’t an expletive, it is merely crude.
Rush and Beck never say anything crude like that either. Stop spinning.
“Merely crude.” That’s a classic. Describing someone defecating on a desk on a cable TV broadcast is merely crude. Okay. Good to know. “Merely?” Crudeness is acceptable? Admirable?
Sorry VG, while I often lean your way in this forum, I can’t on this one. Cooper is supposed to be a journalist, and is held to a different standard than Beck or Limbaugh (no need to address Jones, because cuckoo).
Cooper was flat out of line here. Not only was the choice of words bad, but as Cooper himself noted, without Lord on the panel, they give up any pretense of bipartisan debate.
Then both reread my argument and the comments I was replying to. I didn’t say Coopers question wasn’t problematic, I said two things.
1: In reply to Dragin’s accusation. That it isn’t Anderson Cooper Rachael Maddow and Stephen Colbert who produced Trump’s behavior. A series of angry aggressive right-wing echo chambers did.
2: In reply to Jack’s reply to my reply. Dump is not an expletive, it is merely crude.
Again, clueless and inexplicable. There is no “merely” crude for professional broadcast journalism. It is misconduct. As in court: a lawyer who suggested that a judge’s ruling was like his taking a dump on his bench would be in jail within seconds, and the lawyer protesting that what he said was “merely” crude would get him a few extra days. For YOU it’s merely crude. For a professional on national TV, it’s cultural pollution and a mandatory suspension. Bashir’s “shit in Palin’s mouth” comments was also “merely” crude…so what?
I wonder how you come here and seem to be immune from ethical literacy. Whatever Trump says, it doesn’t justify the abandonment of basic civility and professionalism by Anderson or anyone, and somehow dragging conservative talk radio into it is beyond desperate. Trump was liberal Democrat less than ten years ago, and was a blabbering boor 30 years ago. Santa Claus makes as much sense to blame as Limbaugh. What’s the matter with you? You have to be smarter than this. If you weren’t, you would be in a crib and a ventilator.
“shit in Palin’s mouth” is an expletive.
Dump is deliberate avoiding of an expletive.
You introduced the word expletive in a case where it doesn’t apply.
It’s quite amazing how people here can read anything into one of my arguments except what I actually said.
Did I say I wasn’t problematic? Did I say a lawyer antagonizing a judge wouldn’t be in jail? No.
I said it’s not an expletive. It isn’t.
It isn’t an endorsement of crude language on cable news. If I wanted to endorse such a thing I’d outright say so. I ain’t shy with my opinions.
valkygrrl,
You’re argument is absolutely absurd!
Taking a dump is literally equivalent to taking a shit. The only way your absurd argument makes any sense at all is to take the word dump 100% out of context; taking the word dump in context it is 100% equivalent and therefore it is an expletive.
Just shut up about this!
“I wonder how you come here and seem to be immune from ethical literacy.”
Go back to her posts about wanting to castrate and burn Mitch McConnell and pull a Bridgegate on his hometown, and her posts about wanting a civil war. Also go back to the post that got you to ding her for 30 days. Any questions?
One could understand how someone like you, who likes to post violent fantasies, would believe I intend physical harm to a sitting senator. Sane people understand that responding to an accusation of ball busting (metaphorical) with more like ball crushing, is also metaphorical. But the most interesting part is how quickly you forget your own statements about wishing to attack me in a very real way.
Or are we supposed to pretend you didn’t say you wanted to break my arm, the same way we just accept the way you called me a cunt got completely overlooked.
Steve-O-in-NJ & valkygrrl,
Why don’t you two get a room.
I speak only the truth, and if you insult me like a seventh grader, which you did, expect me to return it in kind. Yes, I did say I wanted to break your arm, it seems from some of your posts that might be the only way to get your attention. Even if we were to put aside your post about crushing McConnell’s genitals into a fine paste and setting them on fire, which was obviously not written in the heat of passion, but required some thought, that insane post in which you advocated a Bolshevik-like civil war with governors and other officials being targeted for death should give any sane person both pause and the creeps.
I don’t understand thing one about you. Chris I kind of understand, he’s a millennial just getting started and in a job that leaves him with perhaps a bit too much time on his hands. He also has the twenty-something mentality that he can’t let anything go, always has to be right, and always has to have the last word. You just seem to be a normally simmering hater who occasionally lets it boil over on the rest of the world, or at least the forum here. You’re obviously not stupid, since you are widely read.
However, as someone also well-versed in literature, albeit different than the stuff you read (for me science fiction is a lot of fun on the silver screen, but can get tedious on the page) I have to say it’s necessary to realize what makes a cracking good yarn or thriller on the page is not something most folks would want to experience. None of us would want to experience a resurgence of hostilities in Korea with the Russians just waiting in the wings, or a nuclear threat to our closest ally that draws us in, or a full-on assault on NATO, though Larry Bond and Tom Clancy got rich on those plots. A full-on civil war with cities in flames and governmental authority non-existent? Have you lost your mind?
I know once in a while I’ve gone Mr. Hyde, which is why I have to make sure I take my potion before I write here. You are, however, in no position to criticize me after those posts that sound like your twelve-year-old got a hold of your account.
Get a room? To do what, have a mixed martial arts fight? Although one person who is very dear to me has purple hair and five tattoos, I can’t see V-girl and I as secret lovers.
Steve-O-in-NJ wrote, “Get a room? To do what…”
What you do with the room is not relevant, the fact that I felt the need to use the phrase is relevant. There are times around here that I’ve earned that phrase too. 🙂
Ahhh, gotcha. You mean take it private, as opposed to you two are in love. When I say get a room I’m usually expressing disgust at couples who can’t keep their hands off each other or questioning people acting a little too friendly for no apparent reason. Your use is legit also, though.
Steve-O-in-NJ wrote, “Ahhh, gotcha. You mean take it private”
Bingo! 🙂
But she’s been reading here since! She should have been cured by now! Now you have me doubting whether my life has meaning.
Jack Marshall wrote, “But she’s been reading here since! She should have been cured by now! Now you have me doubting whether my life has meaning.”
You can only lead a horse to water. The failure of valkygrrl to be cured is not your failure, it’s her’s.
I blame her environment rather than her innate ability to learn 🙂
She is obviously getting the sense espoused at EA countered by a lifetime of influence and liberal company.
/snark
Jack, there will always be some folks you can’t help. It’s the ones we can help that get us out of bed in the morning.
Taking a dump is literally equivalent to taking a shit. The only way your absurd argument makes any sense at all is to take the word dump 100% out of context; taking the word dump in context it is 100% equivalent and therefore it is an expletive.
No, this argument is absurd, Zoltar.
Some people use the word “fudge” in place of the word “fuck.” Does that make “fudge” an expletive?
Just shut up about this!
You really need to stop bossing people around. You are not this blog’s moderator and you have no authority to tell people what they can and cannot talk about.
FUDGE YOU!
DUMB FUDGE!
Heh. Thanks for making my point. 😉
^^^^^
This is what’s wrong with Liberal “logic”.
I’m sure you can logically explain why my argument was wrong, then.
Chris asked, “I’m sure you can logically explain why my argument was wrong, then.”
It’s already been explained so not you can FUDGE OFF!
That “now” not “not”.
I love how ‘hate speech’ depends on political view. Cooper gets away with…anything, but simply using logic (sometimes in a funny way) has the left labeling Rush and all conservative talk hosts as whatever ‘-ist’ is in vogue at that moment.
Simple dissent is hate, to the left. Except if it is the left doing the dissenting; then it is ‘patriotic.’
Hypocrites.
PS: Lest anyone think this a partisan slam, the Republicans Establishment are crooks and hypocrites as well.
It seems media nastiness is nothing new & some historical context may be useful here. John Adams called Jefferson publicly a libertine, coward, and halfbreed son of a mulatto father – while Jefferson convinced voters Adams planned to attack France when it was a lie. He also referred to Adams as having a “hermaphroditical character” implying he was weak & dense. John Quincy Adams was called a pimp (I’m picturing Adams in a 70’s polyester suit & big hat with a feather) while Jackson’s wife was called a whore. Then we have Hearst who happily blurred the lines of truth in ways we’re still utilizing in the media.
I mention taking history into account because really, nothing is new here about rudeness, fake news, and the people who perpetuate lies for profit & power- in the media. How we got here is hundreds or years in the making. What each of us must ask ourselves at some point is how we are adding to the uncivil discourse. Do we keep turning to these types of stories out of boredom or fear of being uninformed? Do we derive satisfaction from feeling indignant & superior to those who present themselves or others as fools, hypocrites, and asshats, for all of us to see? Do we secretly like the drama, chaos, and confusion of the news circus? What other notions could we bring out of the dark regarding the roles we play in allowing ourselves, generation after generation to be duped or excited by another person’s folly, and the folly of the person reporting on another person’s folly? We all complain about the vulgarity & lies yet over & over we tune in or read more, caught in the same web of engagement followed by complaint.
Since most of us are aware that major news outlets are run in the spirit profit by elite corporatists’, wouldn’t it make some sense to take the power of their influence out of our homes & heads? If we know that in part these shows, stories, controversies, are here just to upset us or influence us, why do we keep tuning in?
The monster lives because we feed it & because it feeds us. All we have to do is refocus on what’s actually important to make the craziness of all this crap have less of a hold on us. Family, sunshine, good food, friends, craft beer, and so much more is far more important than the time we spend being pissed off by whoever is doing that thing that we hate (but probably do ourselves). I took 2 years off from watching news & wasn’t surprised after the break to see NOTHING had changed. Same songs by those with the strings, same dance from those who refuse to cut them. In the age of Trump we just dance a little faster.
I disagree, Mrs. Q. Perhaps I’m looking back to my childhood with rose colored glasses, but network news broadcasts seemed to be run by mature adults who seemed to have some sense of decency and maturity. TV used to be aspirational. Now it seems to be constantly pandering to the least common denominator. I think it’s terribly corrosive and anyone who is bothered by it is simply told to chill out. I just don’t think it’s a good thing.
OB you’re absolutely right that we shouldn’t just “chill.” And I think you’re right that there have been times when broadcasters *seemed* more mature (a quick look into Walter Cronkite’s global interests seems anything but mature but I digress). I’m pointing out that there are ebbs & flows regarding crassness in news & entertainment and this time, like other times, leaves us having to take personal responsibility for our willingness to chose these forms of infotainment that are at times corrupt & meant to engineer social panic or other responses. Saying it wasn’t always like this is true, but it leaves out the times it has been like this. If we say we don’t like what’s happening we either break off from it, attempt to change it, or we participate in it…regardless of how much we claim offense. If we continue to participate, knowing what we know, then we only have ourselves to blame & must ask ourselves the hard questions… like why we keep going back to these crass distractions over & over.
I was watching some films recently from before movies had decency ratings…all I can say is some of them even by today’s sick standards, were pretty darn raunchy. Have a good day Other Bill. I’m going to practice some digital minimalism today & enjoy the sunshine. Peace out!
Agreed. Old Wather was a bit of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Defintely too authoritative for words, in retrospect. I guess he begat Dan Rather.
Cheers.
That picture of Anderson Cooper affects me like nails on a chalkboard. Now, that’s creepy. Where do you find these pictures?
He’s a Vanderbilt. I still think these people like Cuomo and Tucker Carlson and Cooper actually pay for their positions in front of the camera. I think the TV people sell the spots to the highest bidder. They’re all trust fund babies. (One of my favorite self-made conspiracy theories, beside my belief Huma Abedin’s lack of interest in guys and absorption with HRC pushed her putative, Clinton arranged husband, Anthony Weiner, into phone sex, etc. because he sure wasn’t getting any at home and having a regular affair would have been too easy to detect. Ironic.)