Keith Olbermann on Thursday mocked the Southern drawl of Alabama’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James.

Last week, James released a new ad claiming that if he’s elected governor, drivers license exams will only be written in English rather than the twelve languages currently available for Alabama residents.

The commercial ended, "Maybe it’s the businessman in me, but we’ll save money, and it makes sense. Does it to you?"

After playing the ad on Thursday’s "Countdown," the MSNBC host mocked, "Thank goodness we don’t have an official language or anything. I mean, they, they probably won’t allow that guy into Arizona" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

KEITH OLBERMANN, HOST: Um, well, uh, to be, feh, to be. I’m sorry, every once in a while the accent on one of these guys, I just can’t penetrate it. Thank goodness we don’t have an official language or anything. I mean, they, they probably won’t allow that guy into Arizona. I mean, I caught that one part about Ali Baba. Is he going to tell us the story of the forty thieves?

Nice. Don’t address any of the ideas expressed by the candidate. Just mock his accent?

And this guy thinks he’s Edward R. Murrow.

Of course, this language chauvinism and antipathy towards the Southern drawl is quite common among pompous holier-than-thous like Olbermann.

As Bernie Goldberg told Bill O’Reilly last Tuesday, "I worked with these liberal elites for 28 years at CBS News, and they were always throwing around the term white trash, by which they meant poor Southerners who didn’t go to Harvard. I’m not sure why that makes them trash."

Neither am I.  

For the record, James is a college educated, highly-successful business owner. As the candidate’s bio page describes:

Tim James is 48 years old, and the son of a renowned Alabamian, Fob James, Jr., a former two-term governor of Alabama. He attended Baylor Preparatory in Chattanooga, TN and received his Finance degree from Auburn University in Auburn, AL in 1985.

Tim began his professional career in 1986 working in the construction business. He later worked with his brothers and father in forming Escambia County Environmental Corporation. Tim’s achievements in the business world also include owning and operating an asphalt construction business, as well as building and operating an incineration company treating non-hazardous industrial waste.

In 1996 Tim James and a group of partners formed the Baldwin County Bridge Company, LLC and managed all development of the Foley Beach Express in Orange Beach, AL. "We built this project – six miles of four-lane highway and a bridge – at no cost to taxpayers," explains Tim. "Then, we donated the expressway to Baldwin County." A multi-million-dollar gift to the taxpayers.

But the high and mighty Olbermann "just can’t penetrate" James’s accent.

Isn’t that akin to not getting past the color of someone’s skin? 

During Thursday’s 11AM ET hour on MSNBC, anchor Tamron Hall asked former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean about Florida Governor Charlie Crist’s expected announcement to run as an independent in that state’s senate race: "Is this a sign that people, perhaps centrists or moderates, like Charlie Crist, have no place in this new emerging Republican Party?"

That set up the left-wing Dean to bash conservatives and the GOP: "What effect does the tea party have on the Republican Party? And this is a really good example. They’ve driven another moderate out of the Republican Party….there just apparently is no place in the Republican Party for moderate, thoughtful people anymore."

Hall first asked Dean about an odd rumor: "There is a story online that’s being picked up by conservative blogs that you offered to contribute to Charlie Crist’s campaign if he left the Republican Party. What happened there?" Dean explained: "That was a joke between me and Joe Scarborough which some enterprising staffer for Crist picked up and pushed it around. It’s not true. I’m supporting Kendrick Meek." He then added: "I actually think that the two big winners out of this are the United States, who are hopefully going to get a real senator instead of a far-right person, and I do think, of course, it helps the Democratic Party and Kendrick’s candidacy as well."

After Hall introduced Dean at the beginning of the segment, she remarked: "I say it like you’re a correspondent now….I love that being a possible segment Governor Dean, you coming on and talking about the top political news of the day."

Later, in the 1PM ET hour show Andrea Mitchell Reports, host Andrea Mitchell opened the program: "Charlie Crist expected to make it official later today, running as an independent in the Florida senate race. Is he leaving the party or did they leave him?"

In a later interview with Republican New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg, Mitchell wondered: "What does it say about the Republican Party that someone like Charlie Crist cannot survive in the Republican Party and is going to become an independent?" Gregg shot down Mitchell’s characterization: "Well, I don’t think that’s what it says, really. I think what it says is that Charlie Crist was in a tough primary and decided he probably wasn’t going to win, so he decided to choose another course of action." He went on to praise Rubio:

I think the fact we’ve got somebody like Mr. Rubio running, who has this really amazing story, quite honestly, who’s Cuban American, has come up from – basically in the classic American tradition – of coming up from very humble means to be a leader in his state, shows that we’ve got a pretty broad tent and we have a lot of diversity and a lot of good people running for office.

Here is a full transcript of Hall’s exchange with Dean about the race:

11:20AM

TAMRON HALL: Well, Florida Governor Charlie Crist will make it official this afternoon, or is expected to make it official at 5PM Eastern Time that he’s going to run for U.S. Senate as an independent. Now this comes – would become a three-way race with Democrat Kendrick Meek, Marco Rubio, and Charlie Crist. And for more on that and some of the other top political news of the day, I say it like you’re a correspondent now, of course, we know former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, he also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. I love that being a possible segment Governor Dean, you coming on and talking about the top political news of the day. But you’re making news with Charlie Crist. There is a story online that’s being picked up by conservative blogs that you offered to contribute to Charlie Crist’s campaign if he left the Republican Party. What happened there?

HOWARD DEAN: That was a joke between me and Joe Scarborough which some enterprising staffer for Crist picked up and pushed it around. It’s not true. I’m supporting Kendrick Meek, as you would expect. It’s a very interesting race, though, because I actually think that the two big winners out of this are the United States, who are hopefully going to get a real senator instead of a far-right person, and I do think, of course, it helps the Democratic Party and Kendrick’s candidacy as well. So this is going to be a hot three-way race, and I think any of the three of them could win it.

HALL: What does this say about – and I do want to talk about the impact this could have on Kendrick Meek – but I want to get your thoughts on what this means for the Republican Party. Is this a sign that people, perhaps centrists or moderates, like Charlie Crist, have no place in this new emerging Republican Party?

DEAN: Well, it’s a really interesting question because we’re going to be asking ourselves this question a lot over the next several months. And we’ve already been asking it. What effect does the tea party have on the Republican Party? And this is a really good example. They’ve driven another moderate out of the Republican Party. Charlie Crist is the kind of republican we badly need in the United States Senate so we can actually get something done there and not have this nonsense of filibustering the finance reform bill and all this kind of thing that’s going on. And yet the Republicans actually pushed him out of the race is what they did. You had all manner of people endorsing Rubio, who used to be thought of as mainstream Republicans. And there just apparently is no place in the Republican Party for moderate, thoughtful people anymore. So Charlie Crist runs as an independent. You now have a hot three-way race that could be won by Kendrick Meek, or Charlie Crist, or Rubio.

HALL: Well, Politico is already predicting that this is going to be a very ugly race, that, in their words, ‘it’s going to get personal.’  

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell appeared and seemed to agree with Britain’s Prime Minister that a voter he met was a bigot. Discussing Gordon Brown’s April 28 comments, which were caught on a live mic, Mitchell defended, "And what he said is not actually that offensive…I mean, it was an honest opinion." [Audio available here.]

Even the fellow panel members on the mostly liberal MSNBC seemed shocked. Guest Sam Stein of the left-wing Huffington Post recoiled, "Really? To call her bigoted?"

Mitchell repeated her charge: "Well, she was decrying immigration and in a lot of people’s views, that is a bigoted stand." Fill-in host Savannah Guthrie didn’t seem to agree, asserting that this wasn’t something you do "when you’re trying to reach out to the working class."

The British newspaper The Sun recounted the back and forth between Brown and "lifelong Labour supporter" Gillian Duffy:

Mr Brown’s unguarded comments were made after the pensioner quizzed him about immigration claiming it was a taboo subject.

During their exchange in the street, Mrs Duffy told the Prime Minister: "You can’t say anything about immigrants."

She added: "All these eastern Europeans – where are they coming from?"

Mr Brown said a million people had come from Europe but another million Britons had moved the other way.

Mrs Duffy also complained about people on benefits.

She said: "There are too many who aren’t vulnerable and they can claim, and people who are vulnerable can’t get claims – can’t get it."

Mr Brown said: "But they shouldn’t be doing that. There is no life on the dole for people any more."

As he went to leave, the Prime Minister shook her hand and told her: "Very nice to meet you, very nice to meet you."

A transcript of the April 29 segment, which aired at 7:02am EDT, follows:

WILLIE GEIST; How bad is this for Gordon Brown?

ANDREA MITCHELL: This is not good. You know, I’ve known the Prime Minister a long time. He was the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had waited for all of those years to have his own chance. This is his first election because Tony Blair stepped aside and, of course, he had not had a chance to be elected. This is not good. The British press makes us look like pussycats. They’re all over this. And what he said is not actually that offensive. It was probably- I mean, it was an honest opinion.

SAM STEIN (Huffington Post): [Shocked] Really? To call her bigoted?

MITCHELL: Well, to call the woman bigoted- Well, she was decrying immigration and in a lot of people’s views, that is a bigoted stand. But, you just don’t go and insult a pensioner, as they call them.

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Especially when you’re trying to reach out to the working class.

Yesterday, as noted here, a giddy Norah enthused that Charlie Crist’s vote-splitting independent run gives the Dems "a real shot" to win the Florida Senate seat.

O’Donnell was back on the Dem ramparts this morning, defending Janet Napolitano’s execrable record on border security, leading Joe Scarborough to mock the Homeland Security secretary with some effervescent imagery . . .

JOE SCARBOROUGH: I go back to Janet Napolitano, Arizona governor, who was there while this situation festered, got worse. Now she’s–it’s not like she’s in charge of HHS–she’s in charge of Homeland Security.  We’ve been reading stories over the last several months. She’s saying we don’t need more people on the border.  She’s at the Department of Homeland Security!

NORAH O’DONNELL: Well, they want to use different technology.  She did announce they’re using unmanned –

SCARBOROUGH: She has been asleep at this switch on this issue for whatever reason. She has been way too lax as governor.  She has not sounded the alarm bell.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I’ll tell you one reason why –

SCARBOROUGH: If we were in that position, we would be saying "get that border safe."  That is an issue, if you’re running Homeland Security and you can’t keep our borders safe, what are you doing?

O’DONNELL: The Homeland Security people, they would disagree with you, that they’re using different technology, military technology –

SCARBOROUGH: Well it sure is working well, that technology.  Blowing bubbles at the border, hoping that the wind gets, that it pops in their eyes and then they sting and "oh! I’ve gotta go back!"  It’s the bubble machine now, so they use that technology. They’re not doing anything.

Too true, Joe.  But out of deference to your co-host, might we eschew the bubbles allusions?

First Lady Laura Bush is "settling scores" in her new memoir, reported Washington Post writer Ann Gerhart on Thursday, and several reporters from the New York Times and The Washington Post are called out:

The New York Times’ Jason DeParle interviewed her "in a tone that was adversarial and more than a touch offensive." [DeParle is the Times reporter whose wife currently works for Obama.]

Jim VandeHei, then at The Washington Post, appalled her in Egypt when, during a presentation by the director of the Giza pyramid excavation project, he "elbowed his way to the front of the press pool, climbed onto the pyramid plateau and began shouting out questions" about Egyptian politics.

As an ever-watchful monitor of how her husband was portrayed in the press, she confronted Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times for using in a story an anecdote about George W. Bush at Yale that Laura Bush writes wasn’t true. "While the truth may not be as interesting, it is the truth," she chides.

Then there is the anonymous female TV personality who steals hand towels:

Pilfering is a problem at the White House; guests sometimes walked out with hand towels stuffed in their jackets or purses; flatware disappeared from tables. "One prominent television personality [mmmm . . . who?!] was known for having a collection of White House paper hand towels, monogrammed with the presidential seal, in her powder room. She had ‘accumulated’ them when she came for interviews."

None of this material was on the front page of the Style section, where the article began. The only data the Post allowed on the front page was their favorite tidbit, that Mrs. Bush is liberal on abortion and homosexuality: 

She recounts the moment when Katie Couric asked her if she believed the law permitting abortion should be overturned, and she expands her answer from then only slightly:

"We are a nation of different generations and beliefs, seeing issues through different eras and different eyes. While cherishing life, I have always believed that abortion is a private decision, and there, no one can walk in anyone else’s shoes," she writes.

On gay marriage, she writes that before the beginning of the 2004 presidential campaign, "I had talked to George about not making gay marriage a significant issue. We have, I reminded him, a number of close friends who are gay or whose children are gay. But at that moment I could never have imagined what path this issue would take and where it would lead."

Gerhart snapped: "It led, of course, to a divisiveness which persists in American politics." Liberal reporters call an issue "divisive" when they cannot believe conservatives haven’t surrendered yet.

For the second time in three days CNN’s Jack Cafferty went after the White House for its response to Arizona’s new anti-illegal immigration law.

"The Obama administration says it might challenge Arizona’s new law in court," Cafferty said during Wednesday’s "Situation Room."

"They’re apparently concerned the law would take away resources needed to target criminals," he continued.

"How utterly absurd. There are 460,000 illegal aliens currently inside Arizona’s borders, and the reason they’re there is that the federal government refuses to enforce our immigration laws" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Arizona’s tough new immigration law hasn’t even gone into effect yet and it’s already working. Mexico has issued an alert for Mexicans traveling to Arizona. Mexico urging its citizens to be careful that they may be harassed and questioned without further cause at any time should they go to Arizona.

That’s not the case at all, of course, but it’s ironic, isn’t it? Travel warnings usually work the other way around with various countries warning their citizens not to go to Mexico because of all of the drug-related violence there.

However, no good deed goes unpunished. The Obama administration says it might challenge Arizona’s new law in court. They’re apparently concerned the law would take away resources needed to target criminals.

How utterly absurd. There are 460,000 illegal aliens currently inside Arizona’s borders, and the reason they’re there is that the federal government refuses to enforce our immigration laws.

Meanwhile, seven members of the Los Angeles city council have signed a proposal to refrain from the city of Los Angeles — to refrain from conducting business in Arizona. And San Francisco’s mayor has imposed an immediate moratorium on city-related travel to Arizona.

That Arizona’s governor Jan Brewer says she’s not worried about possible boycotts and she points out the new laws about the safety of Arizona’s citizens. And she’s getting support from at least one legislator in Texas who wants the Lone Star State to pass a similar law.

Shouldn’t President Obama be embarrassed by some of this? This is a federal job. They’re not doing it.

Here’s the question: Is it a good thing that Mexico is issuing a travel alert over Arizona’s new immigration law? Go to CNN.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog.

Yikes. What’s gotten into Jack?

On Monday he called the Democrats "lemmings" and Obama "misguided."

If he keeps this up, MSNBCers are going to start calling CNN "Fixed News."

Of course, let’s hope he does. 

CBS won’t let go of liberal efforts against the new immigration enforcement law in Arizona. A night after Katie Couric focused on “the backlash against Arizona’s new immigration law. San Francisco bans official travel to that state,” she teased Thursday’s CBS Evening News by trumpeting a lawsuit against it from a lone police officer: “The latest response to Arizona’s new immigration law? Sue the state. We’ll tell you who is.” She soon cited how “the first lawsuits were filed today challenging it, including one by a Tucson police officer who claims the law is unconstitutional.”

Reporter Bill Whitaker presumed Arizona has earned “notoriety,” instead of popularity for a law with majority support, as he began:

Six days after Arizona gained notice and notoriety with the toughest anti-immigration law in the country, protests are building, opposing sides are hardening, outside pressure is mounting. Today opponents turned on a little star power: Mexican-American singer Linda Ronstadt spoke out….She endorsed the first of what’s likely to be a flurry of opposition lawsuits.

The law doesn’t take effect for several months, Whitaker noted, “but many citizens say it’s having a chilling effect already. Listen as we talk to this immigrant rights worker.” Viewers then heard a male voice: “Why don’t you go back to Mexico if it’s so great, man?” Whitaker acknowledged some local governments “are pushing for Arizona-style immigration laws,” but countered with how “many more cities are lining up in opposition. Dozens are threatening to cut all business ties with Arizona.”

Oh, and this was Whitaker’s last sentence: “Just yesterday, the U.S. Border Patrol picked up 105 immigrants crossing the border near Tucson illegally.”

Just as on Wednesday, the soundbites ran 4-to-1 against Arizona’s law.

Earlier:

- Wednesday night: “Couric Touts San Francisco as Proof of ‘Backlash Against Arizona’s New Immigration Law’”

- Tuesday night: “ABC and NBC Champion ‘Growing National Backlash’ Against ‘Laughing Stock’ Arizona”

- Monday night: “CBS Again Focuses on Victims in Arizona: ‘Many Feel the Sting of Racism in New Law’”

- Friday night: “CBS Frames Arizona’s Anti-Illegal Alien Law Through Eyes of Opponents: ‘Veto Racism’”

The story on the Thursday, April 29 CBS Evening News, transcript provided by the MRC’s Brad Wilmouth:

KATIE COURIC: Turning now to Arizona’s new immigration law, the first lawsuits were filed today challenging it, including one by a Tucson police officer who claims the law is unconstitutional. And despite continuing protests, other states may actually follow Arizona’s lead. From Phoenix tonight, here’s Bill Whitaker.

BILL WHITAKER: Six days after Arizona gained notice and notoriety with the toughest anti-immigration law in the country, protests are building, opposing sides are hardening, outside pressure is mounting. Today opponents turned on a little star power: Mexican-American singer Linda Ronstadt spoke out.

LINDA RONSTADT: The dirty little secret is I’m probably not the one that would be pulled over because I’m light-skinned.

WHITAKER: She endorsed the first of what’s likely to be a flurry of opposition lawsuits.

ALESSANDRA SOLER MEETZE, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF AMERICA: We will be devoting our collective resources to stopping this bill from taking effect.

WHITAKER: The controversial law requires police in Arizona to demand proof of citizenship of anyone they suspect is in the U.S. illegally. It takes effect this summer, but many citizens say it’s having a chilling effect already. Listen as we talk to this immigrant rights worker.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE VOICE: Why don’t you go back to Mexico if it’s so great, man?

SALVADOR REZA, COMMUNITY ACTIVIST: That’s what this law is causing. It’s causing the division and bringing out the worst, the worst in people.

WHITAKER: Citing crime rates and the cost of social services, the mayor of Costa Mesa, California, and legislators in Ohio and Texas, say they are pushing for Arizona-style immigration laws.

STATE REP. DEBBIE RIDDLE (R-TX): The citizens are sick and tired of political correctness. They want, they want to take their country back.

WHITAKER: But many more cities are lining up in opposition. Dozens are threatening to cut all business ties with Arizona. Already at least eight conventions have pulled out of Phoenix in protest. The city could lose up to $45,000 on each.

JEFF FRANKLIN, RESIDENT OF SUNRISE, ARIZONA: I work in the hotel business, and know for a fact that there are several cancellations already in the pipe for several hotels in Arizona.

WHITAKER: Arizona has gone through this kind of economic pressure before. In 1987, when the state refused to observe the national Martin Luther King holiday, there was a national boycott. The Superbowl pulled out of Tempe. It all cost the state $300 million. Then, Arizona backed down. This time, state lawmakers plan to hang tough. Why? Because of this: Just yesterday,  the U.S. Border Patrol picked up 105 immigrants crossing the border near Tucson illegally.

A Rapid City, South Dakota, newscaster was suspended over a week ago for speaking at a tax day Tea Party.

As reported by the Rapid City Journal Wednesday:

KOTA TV newsman Shad Olson will be back on the air soon, following a disciplinary suspension from his news anchor duties in the Rapid City coverage area because of his speech at a tea party rally. 

Olson was taken off the air locally a few days after his April 15 speech at the Citizens for Liberty tax day rally in Memorial Park. 

"Shad’s speech to the tax day rally was a lapse in ethics, so we took appropriate action," KOTA news director John Petersen said.

On April 15, The Dakota Voice reported what Olson said at the event:

Shad Olson followed Howie with an inspirational speech about the exceptionalism of American values. He said he wasn’t there to pick on Democrats, Independents or Republicans. "They all deserve a little TEA, in my book," said Olson. "Especially the ones who are drinking the Koolaid that’s currently being handed out inside the Beltway in Washington D.C."

Olson said there is a misunderstanding among some that we should feel patriotic about paying our taxes, but that it is being done in a way that founding fathers never intended.

Olson referenced something that had been on the socialist interloper’s sign in small letters "Tax millionaires not the middle class" and said that it was truly patriotic to call for a reduction in taxes not just on the middle class but on millionaires as well because it is the wealthy who use their wealth to pursue their talents, creating corporations and industries that produce jobs…which means greater prosperity for all, including the middle class.

Olson made it clear that he is well informed about America’s history and our founding principles, and left the crowd of patriots even more excited about their great country than when the [sic] came.

Doesn’t sound inflammatory enough to warrant suspension, does it?

This seems especially the case since Olson’s political views have never been a problem in the ten years he’s worked for Rapid City’s ABC affiliate. As the Journal reported:

[Olson said] that people who believe that his tea party speech reflects a political bias that could affect his news work should watch and judge for themselves.

"The fact that they didn’t realize until now the passionate feeling and beliefs I hold about the history of our country and its values should be evidence enough of my ability to provide an unbiased news account day in and day out," Olson said. [...]

"I want people to fall back in love with their country based on what the founding principles are and the legacy left by the people who fought and bled and died to establish America on this continent," he said.

Olson said he is non-partisan in his advocacy and believes that his personal beliefs coincide with the tea party movement in general.

And Olson has had a stellar career at KOTA up to this point:

During a broadcast career that began when he was 17 at his hometown radio station, Shad’s work has consistently generated critical acclaim, garnering more than a dozen awards in both radio and television.

In 2007, Shad was a finalist for a National Emmy Award for his four-part investigative documentary on the life of a child prostitute, entitled, ‘Tonya’s Story.’ That competition pitted Shad’s work against teams of multiple people from stations in Nashville, Cleveland and Phoenix. ‘Tonya’s Story’ also captured a Regional Emmy Award (Minneapolis) and an Edward R. Murrow Award, beating out stations in North and South Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

2007 also brought Shad his eleventh Associated Press accolade in the past eight years, winning ‘Best Investigative-Enterprise’ for his undercover expose on lax security at Rapid City’s two public high schools. With Shad wandering the halls with a hidden camera, the ‘Stranger Danger Test,’ provided a startling look at how easy it would be for an intruder to invade two buildings filled with hundreds of students and staff. The resulting footage provided a video resource used by school administration in tightening security loopholes on both the Central and Stevens Campuses.

Impressive indeed. But does any of that matter?

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey raised some interesting points on this subject Wednesday:

Dan Rather took a lot of heat for speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Texas, which conservatives used to paint him as biased. Rather claimed that he didn’t know the event was a fundraiser, but as the Washington Post reported at the time, he wasn’t exactly contrite about it, either. His management at CBS had a different opinion, but didn’t suspend Rather, calling it an "honest oversight."

Olson’s appearance didn’t involve fundraising, or even partisan identification. However, it still speaks to the basic problem for supposedly objective journalists and political activism. The Tea Party is at least philosophically opposed to the current agenda of the Democratic Party, even if its activists aren’t entirely sold on the GOP, either. A keynote speech would not be a problem for an opinion journalist, but for a reporter? I suspect that had we seen Brian Williams as a speaker at an antiwar rally in 2004, he’d still be hearing about it from conservative critics. While reporters are American citizens like anyone else and have the right to participate in the political process, their publishers/editors have the right to consider whether that erodes confidence in their product, too.

Good points all. 

As Morrissey noted, since this wasn’t a fundraising event or a rally for a political candidate, this shouldn’t necessarily warrant suspension.

After all, newscasters make commencement speeches every year. TVNewser just published a schedule of this year’s high-profile addresses. Think some of these people will be talking a little politics in front of the graduating class of 2010? 

With this in mind, exactly how "unethical" was Olson’s behavior? 

Just how bad have things gotten at the low rated CNN? So bad that the CNN co-founder, Reese Schonfeld has written in his Huffington Post blog that it is at risk of becoming a bad joke:

I think CNN is at risk of becoming a bad joke. Late night comics and cartoonists are already using them as a gag line. Newspapers are asking "experts" how to save them. It’s time for a major change, before moving from "joke" to "tired joke". Writing this is getting tired, too. It’s making me feel cruel, and, even if April is the cruelest month, I’d rather be writing about something else.

Ouch! Schonfeld then relays the sad CNN ratings stats:

The April ratings are in and CNN is at its lowest point in my memory. All four of the major news networks lost numbers from last April to this April, but in percentages, CNN was down about twice as much as any of its competitors. In primetime, FoxNews lost 19 percent of its viewers, and CNN lost 38 percent. In the key 25-54 demographic, FoxNews was down 13 percent and CNN was down more than three times as many, 41%. In total day, FoxNews was down 17 percent and CNN was down 36 percent, and again in the 25-54 age group, FoxNews was down 16 percent and CNN was down 35 percent.

Somehow I don’t think Schonfeld will be invited to any CNN parties anytime soon.  Not even its wake.