CNN's Ed Henry Left Out Key Facts In Report On Cornyn Comments On Judges

[Mark E. Smith]

Media Matters

In a report on political fallout from the Terri Schiavo case, CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry said that the case had "fueled Republican anger at state and federal judges," but he omitted that fact that liberal and conservative judges alike rejected appeals by Schiavo's parents to restore her feeding tube. In addition, while airing a portion of Sen. John Cornyn's (R-TX) Senate floor speech suggesting that "judicial activism" had motivated violence against judges, Henry neglected to note that two recent incidents of violence targeting judges were both apparently motivated by personal grievances, not by alleged "judicial activism" -- a term Henry made no effort to define.

(later...)

Henry's use of the term "judicial activism" is only the most recent example of CNN reporters and hosts referring to "judicial activism" and "activist judges" without explaining what these terms mean. As explained in a November 2004 Atlantic Monthly article, Karl Rove, adviser to President Bush, and other conservatives have used these phrases to stoke political outrage across diverse groups of conservatives:

"Among Rove's other innovations was a savvy use of language, developed for speaking to the conservative base about judicial races. Candidates were to attack 'liberal activist judges' and to present themselves as 'people who will strictly interpret the law and not rewrite it from the bench.' A former Rove staffer explained to me that the term 'activist judges' motivates all sorts of people for very different reasons. If you're a religious conservative, he said, it means judges who established abortion rights or who interpret Massachusetts's equal-protection clause as applying to gays. If you're a business conservative, it means those who allow exorbitant jury awards. And in Alabama especially, the term conjures up those who forced integration. 'The attraction of calling yourself a 'strict constructionist,' as Rove's candidates did, this staffer explained, 'is that you can attract business conservatives, social conservatives, and moderates who simply want a reasonable standard of justice.'"

http://mediamatters.org/items/200504060007

CNN, just doing their bit to help destroy American democracy.

[thebigidea]

1. Henry does come off as a real Fox-style punk, doesn't he

[Mark E. Smith]

2. And if you don't like CNN, there is always the funnies...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/uclickcomics/20050406/cx_prc_uc/prc20050406

[BlueEyedSon]

4. WTF propaganda comic is that? Holy smokes....

[Mark E. Smith]

12. Prickly City runs everywhere.

It is in the LA Times here every effin' day. Google it. You'll be shocked and dismayed. It's like this Stantis guy gets Karl Rove's talking points and turns it into a comic strip.

[BlueEyedSon]

13. I sure am glad the NYT doesn't have comics.

[thebigidea]

5. wow, that's atrocious - like a 3rd grader tracing Bloom County

... and forgetting to be funny in the process.

Funny how they're suddenly upset about judges sentencing people to death and stuff...

[Demit]

6. It always upsets me that artists or cartoonists can even be unliberal!

I looked this guy up because I was wondering could this be another example of administration payola. The talking point is so timely...

The cartoon is called Prickly City, and the cartoonist's name is Scott Stantis:


Meet Scott Stantis

Since 1996, Scott Stantis has been the editorial cartoonist for The Birmingham News, Alabama's most read newspaper, and he produces an editorial cartoon weekly for USA TODAY. His work is syndicated to over 400 newspapers and has been featured by Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, The New York Daily News, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, CNN, "CBS This Morning" and "Nightline."

He has also been an editorial cartoonist for the Orange County Register, The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tennessee and The Arizona Republic. Stantis began "Prickly City" in 2004, after turning over his family comic strip, "The Buckets" to an assistant.

Stantis is a past president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC), the largest organization of its kind in the world. He is the chairman of Industry Outreach for the Herblock Fund Development of the AAEC. He has a seat on the board of directors of the Epilepsy Foundation of Central and Northern Alabama. Stantis is enrolled in this year's Class of Leadership Birmingham.

A California native, Stantis has been married for more than two decades to his college sweetheart, Janien Fadich-Stantis. They have two high-school-aged sons and a dog named Dogzilla, and they all live in a suburb of Birmingham.

http://www.ucomics.com/pricklycity/bio.phtml

[dbt]

3. I don't want to hear another WORD about "judicial activism" until

the judicial activism that the Supreme Court demonstrated on 12/12/2000 is addressed. Talk to me about it after Rehnkkkwist, Skull-ee-yah, Kennedy, Uncle Thomas and Accessory-To-Rape O'CON-Noir have been dragged off the bench and shackled in Solitary.

:grr:

[JitterbugPerfume]

7. Jeez

I quit watching CNN long ago and that Ed Henry guy looks like a demented chipmonk if memory serves this old woman

[Cooley Hurd]

8. Ed Henry - how did this guy get a job w/ CNN?

http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/contributors.asp

Ed Henry
is a senior editor for Roll Call and editor of Roll Call Daily in Washington, D.C. He has been covering Capitol Hill for more than 10 years and writes the political gossip column 'Heard on the Hill.' He is also an occasional contributor to CNBC-TV’s Capital Report.

http://www.buzzflash.com/capitolbuzz/2002/06/26_capbuzz.html

<snip>
I also have some questions about you. "Ed Henry" is hardly a believable moniker. It’s two first names! Who are you really? What is YOUR real name? It appears to be clear that you are someone with close ties to the Hill who knows a number of sources who like to remain nameless and spread gossip, some fun and some not so fun. Actually, I just described all of us who work here. I’m not as good at this as you.
</snip>

[reality based]

9. ". . . the term 'activist judges' motivates all sorts of people . . . ."

Very insightful. I have often wondered if the denigration of lawyers and judges isn't fueled by a lot of guys' experiences with their own divorces.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Good work by Media Matters -- thanks for posting! nt

[plasticsundance]

11. US State controlled corporate media

To call them the MSM is a misnomer. Even more, the moniker of fourth estate was sentenced to defenestration 12-years or more ago. The US-State-controlled-media is in constant pursuit to put forth a corporate/government agenda that serves to control the population, or so they're deluded to think such. This is why even though an overwhelming majority of Americans saw the unconstitutional intrusion by the Congress into Schiavo case as nothing more than a political ploy, the US-State-controlled-corporate-media kept pushing the Delay/Schindler agenda, defying the virtues of science, empirical facts, and just plain common sense.

The US-State-controlled-media is getting more defiant in its cynical approach to reporting the news. Why? Because basic facts are kicking their fucking asses. Think of it. These media-shills have to gaze upon their own worthlessness in the mirror each day, and struggle to come to terms of having a new Rove asshole drilled into them each and every day. They must believe in their own contradictions and inept reporting. Real meaning and purpose in their lives eludes them. What they are is what they are in name only.

For example, John King reported on CNN radio this morning, and with a straight face mind you, although he does have a subtle cringe revealed in his eyes of having to realize the issue of eating his own shit, but he stated that Idiot-King-Bush does not wear his religion on his sleeve like past presidents, including Clinton. Perhaps because it was radio, King knew he could hide the painful woe of reporting absolute bullshit, but, we all know just the opposite is true of Bush, and so does John King, starting with Bush stating Jesus as his favorite philosopher, including this current occupier of the Oval Office resolute blasphemous and sacrilegious invoking of the the Lord's name at every chance, right down to his faith based initiatives. It's the war is peace mantra morphing into many forms and translations.

The contradictions are becoming more obvious, because essentially the Super Power of the world is weak with desperation. This nation under the current Administration bit off more than it can chew, and the US-State-controlled-corporate media's job is now to disguise this very prevalent and real issue. One can only hold them all in contempt for their violation of the founding principles of this once great nation. The US-State-controlled-media is a puerile and sophomoric cesspool that has squandered its last grasp on credibility. They deserve only our ridicule and scorn. The epiphany by the US-State-controlled-corporate-media of the latter has them reaching out to make bigger fucking fools of themselves, like inviting James Guckert, alias Jeff Gannon, to the National Press Club.

These fuck-ups are becoming pure entertainment, I have to give them that much.

:toast: