Topic: Accuracy in Media
Cliff Kincaid writes in an Aug. 14 Accuracy in Media column:
As a veteran of CNN’s Crossfire in the 1980s, I am intrigued by the channel’s decision to bring back the liberal-conservative debate format show. When I was on the program, the motto was, “Don’t talk while I’m interrupting.” The “liberals” on the show this time around are partisan Obama Democrats. In fact, one of them, Van Jones, is possibly to the left of Obama.
Former Speaker of the House and GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, one of the announced conservative co-hosts, can easily take on the liberals and hold his own. His back-up, Sarah Elizabeth “S.E.” Cupp, is a former MSNBC host and intellectual lightweight. She is a self-declared atheist who has been campaigning for homosexual marriage. She is a member of “Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry,” a gay-rights front group.
Cupp may be “on the right” on many issues, but on homosexuality, a major controversy that can only get hotter in the months ahead, she is on the liberal side.
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For her part, earlier this year, on her MSNBC show, Cupp stated that she would no longer speak at CPAC, despite being listed in the program. She objected to the new CPAC policy of refusing gay groups such as GOProud and Log Cabin Republicans from sponsoring the conservative gathering.
“In Cupp’s version of conservative femininity,” writes Amanda Hess, “a woman need not even experience marriage, motherhood, and religious piety in order to promote these values as the most authentic way of living.” Clearly, Cupp is not a traditional conservative with traditional conservative views on marriage and sexuality. She thinks conservatives and Republicans should just move beyond homosexual issues and accept homosexuals and “gay marriage” as legitimate. On the other hand, Gingrich is a solid conservative, from social to economic to foreign policy issues.
By hiring Cupp, whose views are well-known, CNN is also trying to “redefine” the word “conservative.” She also calls herself a Republican, but identifies more completely with the term “Log Cabin Republican,” a reference to the pro-homosexual group. She has been quite open about this, from her perch as a commentator on Glenn Beck’s network.
Kincaid adds:
If CNN wanted a female conservative with solid credentials on social issues, an excellent selection would have been Cathy Ruse of the Family Research Council. If youth alone was the criterion, Ryan Sorba, a young conservative who has traditional views on social issues like homosexuality, would also have been a good pick.
Sorba is best known for using his 2010 CPAC speech to rail against the convention for allowing a gay group to take part. Ruse was last seen calling for a boycott of Girl Scout cookies because "the Girl Scouts decided to admit boys who dress as girls" and issued "a guidebook that tells girls to check with the leftist, George Soros-funded Media Matters before believing what they read in the news."
This is who Kincaid thinks would make wonderful spokespeople for the conservative movement.
