One of the journalistic highlights of the week was CNN’s Anderson Cooper confronting Florida Republican AG Pam Bondi as she tried to present herself as some kind of LGBT champion in the wake of the Orlando shootings. So, naturally, the GOP-cheering squad - and enemy of any media that isn't - seized the moment to attack CNN.
You really must watch the video (below) of Cooper confronting Bondi on Tuesday to get the full flavor of how he exposed detail after detail after detail of Bondi’s hostility or, at best, lack of concern for gays, as she tried to hold herself up as their champion.
Two days later, Fox & Friends got their GOP pal’s back.
Before Bondi said a word, the banner on the lower third read, “INTERVIEW AMBUSH: CNN SIDELINES VICTIMS TO ATTACK PAM BONDI.”
Steve Doocy called Bondi’s CNN interview “a political attack” before he played a clip. Afterward, he said, “She was clearly blindsided.” As if Fox News doesn't do that every chance it gets.
According to Bondi, Cooper picked the wrong time to ask her the tough questions.
BONDI: You know, there’s a time and place for everything. If we wants to ask me about doing my job, defending the Constitution, but to incite anger and hatred was not the time nor the place in front of a hospital. And I kept trying to bring it back. …And I get it, he’s hurt. He is a champion of the LGBT community. But you know, that’s a time for us to come together.
Yes, come together, except that on Fox, everyone who isn't a conservative is to be demonized no matter what or when.
Watch the two Bondi segments below, from CNN on June 14 and Fox & Friends on June 16.
VIDEO of @AndersonCooper grilling @PamBondi. "Do you really think you're a champion of the gay community?" https://t.co/DOFTxJOPuh
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 14, 2016
Fox is dead wrong that Anderson cooper’s interview was biased. Can a female journalist interview Trump without being seen as biased? Of course. Fox wanted to protect Pam Bondi ’s reputation especially after her trump university fiasco, and face it, she did look bad.
I agree with you that Cooper engaged in overkill and could have made the same point in just a few questions.
Oh. And there was that little “wedding-not wedding” issue in 2012 when she and her boyfriend at the time (I can’t find out if they ever did actually get married or not) flew to the Cayman Islands for a “vacation” but one of her friends was under the impression that a wedding was going to be held and posted pictures of the couple and the site but no wedding was held (oddly, it appeared that a number of “close friends” of the couple just happened to be on vacation in the Caymans at the same time but it doesn’t appear to have been a “group” trip or excursion).
To some small degree I sympathize with Bondi to the extent Cooper could have stopped after one or two follow-ups. His point was made without piling on. However, Bondi’s position appears to be he shouldn’t have asked the question to begin with. Grow up. It’s routine for the press to ask questions outside the bounds of the reason you’re being interviewed.
Ellen, as you point out, in Fox’s [fair and balanced] opinion now is never the time for the ‘mainstream media’ to ask tough, potentially embarrassing questions of right-wingers.
The sad truth is propaganda factory Fox News is an enabler of anti-LBGT hate and violence. On the one hand, they champion the gays are destroying marriage, the frabric of the American family and the foundation of our society. To that end Fox’s gaydar is always detecting America destroying trends like forcing honest, hard-working homophobes from being forced to make gay cakes. On the other hand, they are shameless pro-NRA talking point whores.
The combination of guns and anti-gay hatred spewed to Fox leads to violence like in Orlando.
The combination of guns and anti-gay hatred spewed by Fox has led to laws like the ones in Florida Bondi happily defends. Anderson is simply pointing out she’s obviously not defending them only out of a sense of duty.
My boss is gay and he’s gone through the issue of having his partner in critical care and him being unable to visit in the hospital the man he loved because he’s gay.
*F**k Doocy for not even addressing the topic which Anderson brought up in his interview*.
I’m an old Freak Brothers underground comic books fan. Sometimes certain word combinations crack me up.
