CNN’s Tea Party Partner’s Corruption Deepens

CNN Tea PartyLast month CNN announced that they had entered into a partnership with Tea Party Express, an activist organization and political action committee, to co-host a Republican presidential primary debate. It is an unprecedented relationship that joins the news network with a discredited enterprise who’s reputation is sullied by racism, scandal, and fraud.

This week there is news that confirms the poor judgment of CNN to become involved with Tea Party Express.

First, the Center for Responsive Politics discovered that Tea Party Express has received thousands of dollars in donations from a woman who has been dead for four years.

“Joan Holmes is the late wife of media entrepreneur Lee Holmes, who himself has in recent years ranked among the most prolific political donors in Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean. And Lee Holmes was one of the first donors to the upstart Our Country Deserves Better PAC, which played a prominent role in electing conservative Republicans during the 2010 election cycle.”

And when Tea Party Express isn’t raising funds from the dead, they are raising funds by exploiting the dead. Last week they distributed a fundraising letter that drew on the sympathy of donors for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of the Tucson slaughter. The letter cast the Tea Party as the victim and politicized the tragedy by asserting that the shooter was “a far Left anarchist.”

“This weekend we all were horrified to hear the news of the violent shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and several others in Arizona. One thing that surprised us was how many in the news media and liberal political figures and organizations immediately launched into an attack on the tea party movement. […] We ask you to please stand with the Tea Party Express and show your support for our efforts. You can make a contribution online right now to the Tea Party Express – CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE.”

This is the character of the group that CNN has seen fit to make their partner in hosting a GOP debate. It is an appalling relationship and ought to be regarded as an embarrassment for an ostensibly respectable news network. And it’s an example of the conservative bias of a corporate media empire that would never consider partnering with a liberal group like MoveOn.org. But it is also not surprising for a network whose new president, Ken Jautz, is the man who gave Glenn Beck his first job on TV.

Everyone who who cares about ethical media and fair elections should let CNN know that this is inappropriate and unprofessional. You can use this form on CNN’s web site to tell them that they should not be partnering with Tea Party Express or any right-wing wing PAC (or left-wing for that matter). You can also Tweet them at http://twitter.com/cnn. Use the hashtag #NoCNNTP.

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3 thoughts on “CNN’s Tea Party Partner’s Corruption Deepens

  1. Dammit Mark. I wish I had even a scintilla of respect and hope for ANY cable news network, then maybe I’d be able to work up some outrage and/or energy. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate and admire your diligence, but I fear it’s a lost cause, like showing the Pope why pedophilia is a crime even if the pedophile is a priest.

  2. It’s what happens when a news network decides to be the even-handed never-mind-truth alternate to those other, polarized networks. This is CNN.

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