Iranian Militia Shooting at Protestors

How long before Gingrich blames the shooting on Obama’s Cairo speech and demands Obama’s resignation?

@FlyingChainSaw: The Cairo meme is already out there — coddling dictators — although I haven’t seen it extended to the shooting yet. But the day is young.

Meanwhile, CNN is telling us about free breast implants for nurses in the Czech Republic. And did you know Larry’s got an exclusive with the Jonas Brothers on Thursday? Can James Earl Jones switch characters and choke the network for us?

Passing thought: Maybe if we send a runaway bride to Iran, CNN will follow.

@nojo: Better – Newt won’t have to be first with this twisted idea. He won’t be able to help himself. He is sick and hungry for any chance to appear relevant.

@nojo: Any pretty blonde teenage girls missing? If not, CNN’s not on it.

It is not Iran’s lack of runaway brides, nojo, but its lack of kidnapped / murdered 8-year-old doe-eyed white girls that is the problem here.

I mean, it’s not for lack of talent that CNN is failing so massively here. Christiane Amanpour is purportedly an All-World Badass, and she’s there. You could have a round-up with her every hour during daylight, and maybe a long-form interview at night (Tehran Daylight Rioting Time) before she decides to take a nap. One woman with instant cred, one camera, one satellite link.

Shit. Bernie Shaw et al put CNN on the map by riding out the first night of Desert Storm in a hotel room. From what I’m (not) seeing, this is pretty damned bad.

(Notably: MSNBC and Fox News were not much better, insofar as I could tell.)

Mistress Cynica: Heartrending ratings ploy FAIL. Mom crying over little girl > Mom crying over teenage girl. Count on it.

And now it’s Sanchez, and for the moment he’s not lunch-losing awful. And he actually has somebody sitting next to him who knows her shit.

No knock to Christiane — who’s on air right now — but one person on the ground, while essential, does not make an entire presentation. We need to know what’s happening there, but we also need a shitload of context to understand the significance of given B-roll footage. Doing a Beavis & Butthead over “i-reported” burning cars doesn’t cut it.

CNN knows how to do this, but it usually involves retired generals.

@chicago bureau: I was counting on the sex angle more than the heartbroken (and possibly murdering bitch) mom. Rookie mistake.

I wonder by how many years our invasion of Iraq delayed this day?

@nojo: Christiane – and a lot of the seasoned overseas folks CNN has (or used to have) – could always bank on one thing in addition to good reporting chops: access. She’s Iranian and has been reporting from the region for awhile now, I’d expect her to be giving all the context and background interviews necessary to get things going for us as newshounds.

Quick question: what banner slogan has CNN adopted for this? Persian Power, or a more generic and trusty “Crisis in Iran”?

@nojo: Website does have a pic of the protests on front page, but is only reporting a “possible” shooting, and no link to Christiane. (Sully has a photo up of a least one fatality). Meanwhile, the top 10 most visited stories on CNN.com?
1 Teen charged in Miami’s 19 serial cat killings
2 Mourning the death of single-girl friendship
3 Missing teen’s family pushes on after closing volunteer center
4 Captain America, thought dead, comes back to life
5 Mandy Moore makes a new name for herself
6 Shooting reported at Moussavi protest rally
7 Survey: More than half can’t find heart on body diagram
8 Dad feels cheated on Father’s Day booty
9 ‘Hunch’ Web site will make decisions for you
10 Obama makes case for universal coverage, end of medical red tape
@chicago bureau: “Missing tot seen with sex offender” is one of the top headlines WITH video of heartbroken mom and will no doubt be pulling up the ranks soon.

@Benedick: Four — Ahmadinejad was first “elected” in 2005.

@Nabisco: Gave up on Sanchez after twenty minutes, so I can’t say. But they’re still couching this as a “disputed election,” which profoundly misses the point of what’s happening. They don’t have to get ahead of the curve and call it a “revolution,” or even a “coup,” but anyone watching CNN wouldn’t understand what’s at stake.

I think Barry’s giving a statement at 5 p.m. Eastern, but I can’t confirm.

@nojo: Ahmadinejad was first “elected” in 2005. When Hugo Chávez called to congratulate him, Hugo reportedly said “dude, why don’t you just give yourself 99 percent of the votes, like me?.

I’m glad CNN had Rick Sanchez on the case, that’s just one of the many ways the channel says “We care“. He helps put the “nooze” in “snooze”.

@Mistress Cynica: Re: Captain America – just another example of Death’s Revolving Door in the comic book universe.

A Marvel comics editor explained Cap’s return by stating that this is a time for American heroes, whereas his death in 07 was a national lowpoint as a result of the changes brought on by Boosh since Nine One One. The comics world has really been bowing down to Obama since last year, btw. I have three comics or comic magazines (Spider-Man, Wizard) that have him on the cover in a Superman-like pose opening his shirt to reveal a blue suit with an “O” on it, fist-bumping with Michelle or with Spider-Man. The comics industry sees Obama’s election as a positive thing and they’re seeking to capitalize on it and support it.

@Nabisco: Wolf came very close to actually providing context. Somewhere between the Shah’s son, and Donna Brazile and Bill Bennett being consulted for their foreign-policy expertise.

Why does this sort of thing even surprise me anymore?

@blogenfreude: What’s surprising is how relatively limited that kind of thing has been. So far.

@blogenfreude: I have relatives who would cackle with laughter at that. Oh, and I know a ‘young republican’ woman in DC who is family friends with Frist; I’m gonna ping her and see if she was on that particular list.

@nojo: Now that I’m home I’ve got Jim Lehrer on. If his voice doesn’t lull me into a late afternoon nap, it should be a good piece.

Ooh, nice tie in HD, Jim!

MOO-sah-vee or Moo-sah-VEE?

Discuss.

@blogenfreude:

You know what surprises me? That the RNC doesn’t just merge with the KKK and be done with all the pretense.

CNN, which has been bending over backward to explain how they can’t run some items until they’re properly confirmed, is more than happy to ask uninformed ideological idiots what they think.

@nojo: Right, CNN can always confirm that Newt is saying something completely insane. Someone needs to pour gasoline down his throat and play Roman candle with him.

@nojo: Ask them? Hell, they put them on payroll.

Remember the Tianammen crap-shoot? CNN got the scoop on that, because they had a scrappy team of JV wannabe journos willing to go the extra mile to file their stories. Same with Gulf War I (“Poppy’s War”).

Now it’s Campbell Brownshirt and Jack “Who pissed in my Jack ‘n Coke?” Cafferty, with a lazy susan full of retired military officers on speed dial.