Last night's CNN late-night coverage of the Indiana primary was more than bad; it was the lamest, most assinine, petulant, and stupid cable news coverage in a primary season filled with lame and stupid coverage.
Last night I was watching the Indiana and North Carolina returns on CNN. It was close to Midnight on the West Coast. North Carolina had already been declared a victory for Obama and the CNN crew was tensed up, still waiting to declare Indiana.
I watched CNN for about 15 minutes and what I saw astonished me. It was the lamest, most assinine, petulant, and stupid cable network coverage in a primary season filled with lame and stupid coverage. There was John King, his touch-screen electronic maps blown up and colored in; there was Wolf Blitzer, impatient and fresh out of pontifications; there was Anderson Cooper, serious, irritated, a tank commander ready to move, sitting still with his tanks idling away wasting gas.
On the phone was the Mayor of Gary, Indiana, one of the very last towns in Indiana to release the results of its voting tabulations. Indiana was close, close, close and clearly, CNN wanted to get on with the job of declaring the state for one candidate or the other, call it a wrap, and end the night. But, Gary just wouldn't deliver their vote results.
What ensued was the most boorish, unprofessional, whining, performance I have ever seen, where Wolf, John, and Anderson repeatedly asked the Mayor the same question: "Why is this taking so long????"
The Mayor patiently explained that turnout had been huge, way greater than previous years, that his staff was small, there were more than 11,000 absentee ballots to be counted, quadtriple previous elections, and they wanted to be accurate and they wanted to be right. This was, indeed, the democratic process in action.
But Wolf, Anderson, and King just wouldn't give up. "Why can't Gary be like other towns and get these results out faster?" "Why is Cook County so slow compared to other counties in the state?" "Why weren't these ballots counted at the individual precints?" "Why can't you update your numbers more frequently?"
CNN's coverage amounted to one long, Whaaaaaaaa! We want these results now! Whaaaaaaaaa!
Over, and over, and over, and over, they asked the same questions again, and again, and again. John King looked like he was ready to lay on the floor, kick his feet and throw a fit; Anderson looked ready to hold his breath until his face turned blue; Wolf looked ready to uncork the whiskey and throw a punch.
It was, without doubt, the most pathetic, juvenile, and foolish Live Coverage Media Time Waste Segment I have ever seen. With a performance like this from their top stars, it's no wonder CNN is losing its viewership to MSNBC and FOX. The mindless, impatient, petulance of the coverage was truly stunning.
Someone needs to call CNN a Whaaaaaaaaaambulance!