Erin Burnett has nothing to say!

TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2013

Hillary Weiner edition: There are a few basic facts to keep in mind about the celebrity press corps.

In the end, these people just aren’t very smart. Nor do they have any real interest in any serious topic.

This explains why they should be forced to stick very closely to traditional journalistic procedures.

Last night, Erin Burnett opened her program with a segment which seemed extra dumb even to us. To us, her premise seemed a bit puzzling:

She wanted to know whether Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal “could affect [Hillary] Clinton's potential 2016 presidential bid, as some have claimed.”

Does that supposition make any sense? We aren’t bullish on Clinton’s prospects to win the general election if she gets the Dem nomination. That said, the race will take place in 2016—and according to both our calendars, it’s now 2013!

According to our mathematics division, that means the election in question is more than three years away!

Presumably, Weiner will be defeated in Gotham next month. Three years later, does anyone think that the White House race will turn on the sexting scandal? Especially since the alleged connection to Clinton involves the fact that Weiner’s wife was once a Clinton aide?

That struck us as a massive stretch. But Burnett was willing to go there!

Burnett’s first question went to pseudo-conservative Tim Carney of the Washington Examiner. As she started, she described a full page ad from a Gotham sports club:
BURNETT (7/29/13): Tim, let me start with you. Even if Wiener were to drop out today, the jokes borne from this scandal are likely to last a lot longer.

I mean, just this morning I woke up to, this full page ad from the New York Sports Club, “The New York Post.” This is my picture I took on my new phone. “Carlos Danger, we give extra attention to our members, too.” I have to say they didn't even spell the word “Wiener.”

They used the same ad in the Boston Globe. And a reader of the Globe tweeted out that picture.

Wiener has dropped from first place to last place in the New York City race. His campaign manager has dropped out. Obviously, bad press for him, his wife—but the Clintons too. Do you buy it, that the Clintons only care on a personal basis not professionally?
She had to say that they didn't even spell “Wiener!” Apparently, that's in her contract!

At any rate, that was Burnett's first question. Carney agreed to pretend that he maybe didn’t buy that the Clintons don't care. (“Well, I do think that it does bring back the memories of Bill Clinton. Everybody is talking about it...”)

Carney had nothing to say. Seeming to feel right at home, Burnett turned to Democratic strategist Kiki McLean, a long-suffering recipient of idiotic sexy-time cable questions:
BURNETT: Now Kiki, a lot of interest in the Weiner scandal has to do with Huma, frankly, and her connection to Hillary Clinton. That's just the way it is. You can't ignore it. When you listen to what Hillary Clinton said about her husband's scandal versus what Huma Abedin said about Anthony Wiener, there are some eerie similarities. Here they are...
“That's just the way it is,” Burnett frankly announced. “You can't ignore it.”

Burnett played tape of Clinton and Clinton on that 60 Minutes program from early 1992 (sic). Then, she popped her question to Kiki:
BURNETT: Kiki, how does replaying that specific moment of Hillary and Bill Clinton, which frankly a lot of people have forgotten—I mean, that moment on the couch. How does that not hurt Hillary Clinton?
Did you follow the logic there? Because she had nothing else to discuss, Burnett played tape of the Clintons from early 1992. She then asked a Democratic consultant how it doesn’t hurt Hillary Clinton when she does dumb shit like that.

No, Virginia. Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal isn’t going to play a key role in the 2016 campaign. But Erin Burnett had nothing to say and she had a full hour to kill.

Carney and McLean pretended to hold a discussion, and then it was mercifully time for a break. Signing off, Erin Burnett wanted to know what we think:

“Let us know, everyone, what you think, whether you think the Anthony Wiener scandal will hurt Hillary Clinton or not.”

CNN viewers swelled with pride. Erin Burnett wanted to know what we the people think!

Burnett is very rich. She’s also an empty vessel. She cares about nothing, has nothing to say. For that reason, she tends to kill time on topics like this.

Breaking! This is the way a large part of your “press corps” intersects with the world. It really isn’t a good idea to give these people license to start making up facts (while withholding other facts) about the most significant matters confronting the American people and the human race.

These people tend to be empty vessels. They really shouldn’t be given the task of inventing a whole nation’s facts.

24 comments:

  1. Where is the misspelling of Weiner's name coming from -- is it from the transcript of the show? Why cannot journalists at least get his name right?

    Mission accomplished -- Weiner is now in 4th place in the Mayoral race. Hillary Clinton's decision about whether to run or not will not be made in 2016. It will be made soon and partly on the basis of fund-raising, which may be affected by news like this. The people who put this show together presumably know that. Whose side do you think they are on?

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    1. Not a misspelling. Her poor joke was to the effect that the name Carlos Danger was used, rather than the double entendre "weiner." Got it?

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  2. Would Dems in New York City abandon Hillary in a presidential primary because she reminds them of Huma?

    Oh, hell no. Hillary was protecting the country from Right-wing terrorists. Huma is just hanging on to Weiner in the face of some other liberal candidate.

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  3. His name is Weiner, but he pronounces it Wiener. Go figure.

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  4. u feeling alright bob? erin, mclean, carney and no invocation of the 'i' word'?

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    1. He's clearly very sensitive to your...condition.

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  5. Erin Burnett can have nothing to say and kill a full hour with me anytime.

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  6. Bob,
    Found your blog from comments at TalkLeft re Zimmerman, the case that upset me for over a year since some ordinary person in a comments somewhere laid out the 4 minute time gap while the mainstream media continued showing photo of an 11 year old Trayvon Martin. Trying to make black Americans feel that white Americans hate them is awful. I have to spend a lot of time in a hospital with a loved one who is getting chemotherapy and there are quite a few black staff. It is awful to think they are feeling that about us.

    Re Hillary Clinton - have you posted why you think she would not do well in 2016. I tend to agree as she has been around such a long time. Maybe not fair but the word I'd think of for a Hillary Clinton run for president is "stale." I think that was the problem in 2008, too. - Karen

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    1. Hillary Clinton has a resume' that won't quit and a fully functional mind. That's more than can be said for all but twenty-five members of Congress.

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    2. ... and certainly not the current occupant of the White house.

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    3. Who is it Mr. Mike that doesn't have a "fully functioning mind?" You or the current occupant of the White House?

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  7. God bless you Bob,
    To watch an empty vessel like Erin Burnett I would have to be paid money. Large dollars.

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  8. Not exactly sure why the left leaning media hate the Clintons. Could it be he was so much more effective than the President they elected?

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    1. Same reason they hated Carter, Bill is an Arkansas Hillbilly in their mind not one of them, an East Coast Elite.

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  9. "not very smart...an empty vessel...cares about nothing...has nothing to say"

    I guess Somerby would also apply this critique to, say, Kevin Drum who is also covering the Huma/Hillary situation.

    http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/07/weiner-clinton-scandal

    Drum links to Weigel at Slate who links to the Washington Post and the NY Post. Because, even though it's not Baltimore, Mayor of New York City is kind of a big deal.

    If only Burnett would focus more on tabloid court cases, like Bob does, then .... then what?

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    1. Did you read teh part where Bob critiques *what* Erin Burnett has to say about the Weiner kerfluffle?

      Why don't you go ahead and read that part of his post. We'll wait!

      Incidentally, Trollmes, how do you think the Weiner scandal will affect the forthcoming Josh Groban album in 2017, if at all? We can do a panel discussion on the topic on national television.

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    2. Somerby singles out Burnett with his trash talk, yet *what* Burnett says is broadly similar to speculation elsewhere. Why isn't TDH in a tizzy about Drum and Weigel too?

      Did the Lewinsky scandal affect the Gore campaign 3 years later?



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    3. "Did the Lewinsky scandal affect the Gore campaign 3 years later?"

      Whatever its merits as a "scandal," the Lewinsky affair was a Presidential scandal and Gore was a member of the administration in power during that scandal.

      You are able to see the key differences between that case and this, no, Trollmes?

      "Presumably, Weiner will be defeated in Gotham [mayoral voting] next month. Three years later, does anyone think that the White House race will turn on the sexting scandal? Especially since the alleged connection to Clinton involves the fact that Weiner’s wife was once a Clinton aide?"

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    4. Anon 1127,

      Since you've got a crystal ball, please tell us what will be the determining factors for the 2016 election. Oh wait, you have no idea...

      If you can't figure out after 15 years that Bill Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky was a scandal, then I don't believe you have any ability to interpret or predict US politics.

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  10. Who are the "some have claimed" individuals? Could the "some have claimed" be fortune tellers, republican operatives, cocktail party goers or imaginary friends?

    The government is going to throw away the key of a cage to hold a young man who saw a multiple murder and after being ignored by the chain of command exposed the murderers. In what world is that justice? America's government can now proudly join the ranks of China, Russia and North Korea as examples of the inhumane and unjust. A witness of a war crime is the victim of a war crime and freedom of the press is no longer protected by the Constitution. It is shameful and a disgrace. This is no longer the country I was raised to believe in.

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  11. Ever stop to think that some of the criticisms leveled here are from the sockpuppets of (in)famous journalists Bob skewers?

    Or their interns?

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