Frances Townsend Joins CNN: Latest White House Official To Spin With The Media

Seeking to round out its collection of White House obfuscaters, CNN has announced that it will add Frances Townsend to its roster of contributers. Unlike her former White House colleague and now-fellow CNN commenter Tony Snow -- the utility player of White House spin -- Fran is bringing her expertise to bear on issues of homeland security.

And what better source of objective, insightful analysis than a former Homeland Security Adviser to the President? Witness this gem of intelligence insight, where Townsend explains that she doesn't know whether al-Qaida was in Iraq prior to the Iraq war, because she wasn't at the briefing (it seems like a lot of officials missed that meeting). Or how about this nugget of nuanced punditry, where Townsend claims Al-Qaida may try to disrupt the 2008 elections, even while admitting there is "no specific intelligence" that supports the idea. Of course, since "may" just means "possible," then Townsend's anaylsis is correct, just like the idea that Snow and Townsend may provide unbiased commentary to the American discourse.

Comments

[JonathanDS2U]

During the (political) late '60s both the Democrat and Republican parties were regarded as The Establishment. Now everybody's cool, Led Zeppelin did a Cadillac commercial, etc., etc. And as long as the New Establishment can pass itself off as the legitimate offspring of the old Establishment and the counter-culture movement of the late '60s, CNN can get away with anything without ever truly having to defend its implicit coolness.

[GoodbyeKitty]

I was in the hospital for 2 weeks recovering from a major surgery. The only news option was CNN, and I could see absolutely NO difference between CNoNews and Flox News. It was appalling. Ben Stein?!!!

[realpolitic]

Yea, Ben Stein is an idiot. It has been all down hill for him since Ferris Bueller's Day Off!

[munkii]

can somebody please explain to me why all republican media women look like former-prostitutes?

[blackjack]

Can anyone prove that Murdock is not the Owner of CNN. For FOX and CNN is the same.

[nastyvirus]

I wonder if Time Warner is a victim of a NewsCorp hostile takeover that no one knows about?

[liberalghost]

Close, but the answer is Lou Dobbs is planning to run for president. He wants rethug planners. Of course, given the quality of the democratic campaigns, maybe he's right. But not about making a good president. His illegals, free trade, and protection of vital technologies positions are correct, but that doesn't mean I'd support him. It would be like becoming a Marxist because Stalin opposed Hitler.

[Manx]

CNN's predilection for propaganda spouting Generals prepped by the Pentagon and Bush has-beens makes it a quasi-government network. The old U.S.S.R. had Pravda. We've got CNN.

[wittgene]

Hey, CNN. Wew-whoo! Tell the American people republicans are voting for Hillareee. Anderson Cooper.............in depth.......yeah right! Americans, be very careful of corporate media; they do have blood on their hands.

[zigzag1]

O'Reilly with a moustache

[txshldm0007]

CNN = Clinton News Network
CNN = Conservative News Network = Closet Fox News Network

[realpolitic]

If Townsend does not even know that al-Qaida was not in Iraq before the war began, how did she merit her job as Homeland Security Adviser? She must have been a large campaign contributor. She is an example of another Bush flunkie who knows absolutely nothing. The learning curve of this administration is a complete flat line. There is no learning curve.

[larmarch5]

Never heard of her. Won't be watching her. NPR and the News Report on PBS provides what I need. Then I surf a little here, a lot less after the Bamawussies took over, and check out NYT online. BTW, I'm an Obama supporter; I'm just sick of the rancid rantings about Hillary pickin' on our Baraki. Trust me he can take care of himself.

[SILVANUS]

CNN is IRRELEVANT.

[jepysdad]

What detour took Fran away from her goal of doing global risk management for a large investment house? Does the Bush team need more media insiders given their plans?

Poetic justice would have Wolf Blitzer asking Fran, "Why did you leave out the hospital with the largest number of patient deaths from your White House Lessons Learned report on Hurricane Katrina?" Then the Wolfster would hit hard with the follow up. "What are the odds, LifeCare's new owner sat just down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House?" Yes, that would be The Carlyle Group. The infamous private equity underwriter closed the deal on LifeCare just weeks before Katrina side swiped New Orleans.

Of couse Mr. Blitzer won't want to incur any Fran cursing, so he'll offer up softball questions about how attacking Iran makes Americans safer here at home.

[realpolitic]

She took a detour from her job of doing global risk management because it requires work and one must occasionally be right. On television, as in the Bush White house, she can always be wrong and still be respected.

[OliverTwist]

The solution is simple, don't watch CNN.

I'm not going to watch a station that sponsors Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs.

[realpolitic]

CNN has so many Bush former cronies it feels like a government-in-exile. Well, when the police come for them at least they will all be in one place. The authorities will have to make a stop at Fox to pick up Rove, too.

[MajorKong]

Must be that "liberal media" I keep hearing about.

[realpolitic]

If the media gets any more liberal, we will all be wearing flag lapel pins and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance all day.

[michiganfan]

Sad, but true...

:-(

[pkafin]

"Townsend explains that she doesn't know whether al-Qaida was in Iraq prior to the Iraq war, because she wasn't at the briefing"

I wasn't at the briefing either, but I'd never be under the impression that they were. It would make little to no sense to anyone who understands even the basics of what was going on over there.

Saddam's govt. was a secular tyranny based upon loyalty to his Tikrit tribe's dominance.

Al-Queda is a religiously inspired organization whose goals included toppling govts like Saddam's and replace them with Islamic caliphates. In short, they hated each other.

Saddam never would have tolerated, much less worked with, an Al-Queda presence in Iraq.

It doesn't take attendance at a White house briefing to understand that.

[realpolitic]

Someone in the press should have explained that to her slowly.

[michiganfan]

Wouldn't matter. She wouldn't be able to pay attention past "secular tyranny."

[realpolitic]

True!

[lthuedk_1]

CNN needs to feel the pressure for creating such fascistic programming. This is a democracy and fascism is not miscible in it. It's not a party product, but one of totalitarian ideologues. It's a poisonous alien that comes around and establishes itself when vigilance is low and apathy high.

The best and quickest way to control the spread of the pox is to elect Obama.

http://www.light-to-dark.com/obama_confronts_the_corporation.html

Of course, we now witness culprit corporations unreservedly attacking Obama, (duh!) while they vigorously support Clinton, (big duh!).

The growth of the militant corporations who currently push fascism can be slowed our stopped with the right tools, like a reinstated Fairness Doctrine. It must be unassailable by radical elements, like those of the Reagan administration who killed it and cleared the way for the Murdochian ilk, and now CNN, to brainwash our civilization without fear of fair, reasoned discourse. Fascism was rammed down our throats with no remedy.

Finally, it's up to us, the people, to bring as much pressure to bear on the responsible corporations as possible. CNN was caught training PSYOPS operatives before. Their pro war, pro corporate habits have now evolved into a brazen theater for fascism for all to see.

[Moshe]

I used to watch CNN a lot, but I have stopped.

I can no longer stomach seeing yet another panel of washed up political hacks shoving their square pegged paid talking points into the round hole question or issue they are supposed to be addressing.

Talking points are not opinions, they are propoganda.

And opinions are not facts.

CNN has become just another bullsh-t fact-free waste of time.

And Rick Sanchez is the worst, mastering both the fine arts of obnoxious and dumb. The only way I'm watching CNN from now on is if there is a decent guest on Larry King, or CNN agrees to show that stupid segment where Rick Sanchez tasers himself as a non-stop loop.

(clearly, I'm feeling a little frustrated with the programming on CNN)

[MarionBell]

Me neither, I don't watch CNN any more. Especially since it shamelessly supported Obama for weeks, until someone got to them and told the guys: try impartial for a change. You bet. Let's watch Oberman instead. Now that the CNN let Glenn Beck write that piece of authentic journalism, I don't either want to hear their name mentioned. Does any one know what's on O'Reilly tonight?

[michiganfan]

Sorry, buddy. The words "Glenn Beck" and "authentic journalism" can never exist in the same sentence. Unless the sentence is: "Glenn Beck wouldn't recognize authentic journalism, even if it bit him on the ass."

[realpolitic]

Or Glenn Beck does his best to undermine authentic journalism.

[leftoflennon]

Really CNN?

I thought another low was IMPOSSIBLE !

[MarionBell]

Read the follwoing article so you can understand why the huffingtonpost rushes to take a swing at CNN, the media organization that otherwise was in the tank for Obama for weeks.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/05/beck.obamawright/index.html

Facts hurt, don't they?

[LCRover001]

What are you saying here that the news organizations should all choose a candidate and back that single one?

This thinking is what is wrong with America today and what is so wrong with our news sources. Not a single news outlet should be picking candidates to back. News organizations jobs are to report news. Reporting news is a rarity what we get flung at us now is no different than what the monkeys at the zoo throw every day. Our news is filled with opinion, propaganda and misinformation that are pawned off as "facts". News is not in the business of telling facts and reporting news it is in the business of selling news and reporting something that will hold the reader or watchers attention.

The news should report all of the candidate"s positions, pick apart the misinformation they try to sell voters and offer equal air time for all candidates to tell the American people what their plan is for the country and how they are going to do it.

This election was narrowed down by the media. We the people have very little interest in true reporting, we want the bubble head bleach blond to tell us about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye get the widow on the set give us dirty laundry. America has given into tabloid journalism and given up on the truth. Americans it seems can no longer handle the truth, why else would people only watch Fox?

[realpolitic]

If you spend your time reading articles by Glenn Beck, you are really lost.

[MarionBell]

Would care to explain what is not true in Beck's above article? That kind of reasoning reminds me of church people saying that if you spend time reading books exposing the irrational in the Bible you are for the "devil" ....

[realpolitic]

Beck writes: "I'm glad Obama has come to the same conclusion that Wright's critics came to long ago. I just wonder why it took me two minutes and him two decades."

Could it be because Beck heard a loop of Wright's most controversial statements condensed to two minutes from a forty year career? Listen, only the far right is trying to continually link Obama to Wright, to antagonize your racial fears of a militant black person. It will not work! No more unending war!!!!!

[Garcilaso]

MarionBell solicitously presents a link to an article that, according to him, would illustrate how CNN "was in the tank for Obama for weeks."

(The fact the article was written by provocateur "journalist" Glenn Beck does not seem to face MarionBell, who, with Rovian chutzpah, closes his post with a defiant "Facts hurt, don"t they?")

Contrary to MarionBell"s assertions, however, the article fails to illustrate that CNN has in fact been "in the tank for Obama". While Beck implicitly states that the media has a love affair with Obama (paragraph five), it"s a stretch to conclusively infer that Beck also had CNN in mind, let alone to regard his statement as fact--something MarionBell dogmatically does.

[MarionBell]

Does the word "otherwise" has any meaning to you? Do words in general have meaning to you. Do even know what "dogmatically" stands for? Where you sitting on your head when you read my two sentence comment? Where does it say that Beck's article proves CNN is in the tank for Obama? You want to make reality look like something is not? Go ahead, it is your blog, your reputation ... It's your choice. Facts do hurt, especially when you jumpt head first into blindly supporting Obama. Be a man, woman, and face them. Better to hurt now then later ... fand or four years

[jayburd]

Were you born insane or did you only lose your mind over the past 7 years? If the latter, believe me, I TOTALLY understand...

[jayburd]

That's a pretty dumbass example. Since when has Glenn Beck ever been in the tank for Obama? Or anything rational for that matter...