David Gergen

Gingrich Wins Over CNN for Not Being 'Negative Nasty Anti-Media' Newt
By Tim Graham | November 23, 2011 | 1:36 PM EST

CNN's Gloria Borger has been covering Newt Gingrich for decades. (I still recall her in 1989 calling him a "frisky chipmunk," as in he "resembles a frisky chipmunk scurrying from idea to idea and storing too many bad ones.") But Borger on Tuesday night concluded he had a good debate.

He was 'the good Newt, the smart Newt" and not the "negative nasty anti-media...Newt." It's true that Gingrich didn't pull out a trademark "J'accuse" against Wolf Blitzer. Perhaps Newt would say he's now seen "the good Gloria, the smart Gloria, not the the negative nasty anti-Newt Gloria." David Gergen also applauded Gergen for breaking from "orthodoxy" and embracing the "humane" side of immigration.

Journalist Behavior? CNN's David Gergen Swims In Underwear With George Clooney
By Tim Graham | September 26, 2011 | 5:30 PM EDT

Parade Magazine, the nationally distributed Sunday newspaper supplement had a cover reading "GEORGE CLOONEY FOR PRESIDENT" on Sunday. "In his new movie, at least," it said in smaller type.

Inside we were supposed to read a "candid conversation" with CNN political analyst David Gergen -- who was entirely too candid in describing how hanging out with Clooney at his Lake Como villa in Italy led to a "nasty hangover" and "nonstop fun." Apparently, there was Gergen swimming in underpants in the middle of the night. Is this how journalists behave to "soften up their subject"? Clooney can't just wine and dine with the women. He also knows how to seduce journalists into giving him what he wants: puffball publicity. Gergen wrote:

Wolf Blitzer Bemoans Perry's 'Undermining' Obama UN Address
By Matt Hadro | September 21, 2011 | 2:00 PM EDT

CNN's Wolf Blitzer fretted over Rick Perry blasting Obama's foreign policy soon before the President was to deliver his address to the United Nations. CNN analyst David Gergen agreed with him, painting Perry as a grenade-thrower.

In a meeting with New York City Jewish leaders GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry slammed what he termed President Obama's policy of "appeasement" in the Middle East, and labeled it "naive and arrogant, misguided and dangerous." Perry made his remarks on the eve of President Obama's address to the UN, in the same city.

CNN's Gergen: Many Americans 'Horrified' by GOP Debate
By Matt Hadro | September 13, 2011 | 8:02 PM EDT

CNN's political analyst David Gergen remarked Monday that many Americans were "horrified" at what they heard from the Republican presidential debate, co-sponsored by the Tea Party Express and CNN. "I was getting notes about they ought to keep this people locked up and not let them out. Don't let them do anything to the country," Gergen remarked.

Gergen's comments came in the  post-debate analysis and during the 10 p.m. EDT hour of Anderson Cooper 360. He mentioned that Tea Partiers "loved the debate" and pitted them in contrast with the many on Twitter who expressed their disgust with the debate.

Flustered CNN Analyst Can't Fathom Why GOP Is Holding Out Over Planned Parenthood Funding
By Matt Hadro | April 8, 2011 | 3:45 PM EDT

On Thursday night's "Anderson Cooper 360," CNN senior political analyst David Gergen thought it an "outrage" for Republicans to shut down the government right now if Planned Parenthood is still funded. An agitated Gergen cast the amount of federal funding Planned Parenthood annually receives as "tiny," and failed to acknowledge that the Democrats are also contributing to the impasse by holding out for Planned Parenthood funding.

"It would be an outrage...for the Republicans to shut down the government on matter how much money we give to Planned Parenthood or how the EPA is funded," Gergen insisted.

Gergen repeatedly argued that the amount of funding Planned Parenthood receives is negligible, and the battle can be fought at another time.

Ari Fleischer Educates David Gergen on Danger of New 'Investments' With Huge Budget Deficits
By Noel Sheppard | January 26, 2011 | 11:54 AM EST

David Gergen not surprisingly believes that increased federal spending on education - or "investments" as Democrats like to say - is essential irrespective of our nation's current fiscal crisis.

On "Anderson Cooper 360" following the President's State of the Union address, former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer did his darnedest to explain to the CNN senior political analyst that our mammoth budget deficits should first be brought under control before any additional outlays are considered (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Kos In Time: Palin, Angle Will Get People Killed
By Tim Graham | January 17, 2011 | 4:24 PM EST

Time magazine asked a panel of 16 experts to answer the question "Are We Becoming An Uncivil Society?" While Time's selected Republicans and conservatives (including Glenn Beck) stayed civil and didn't point explicit fingers at liberals for trying to smear the Tucson shooting on conservatives, leftist Daily Kos blogger Markos Moulitsas rudely predicted (again) that one side of the aisle, inspired by people like Beck, Sarah Palin, and Sharron Angle were going to get Americans killed:

We have always been an uncivil society. Just ask John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. But being harsh and passionate in one's political discourse isn't the same as walking around with guns intimidating the opposition, or using apocalyptic and Armageddon-style rhetoric to paint your opponents as terrorists and enemies of democracy and freedom. Problem is, we now have a side that is gun-obsessed, whipping people up into a frenzy with lies about Obama taking their guns away and interning conservatives in FEMA concentration camps (to name just two conspiracy theories).

When Sarah Palin tells her followers not to retreat, but to "reload," when Sharron Angle says people should resort to "Second Amendment remedies" if they don't get their way at the ballot box, and when Glenn Beck spreads the latest insane conspiracy theory, well then, it's only a matter of time before people start getting killed.

CNN Leans Towards Gun Control and Its Supporters
By Matthew Balan | January 12, 2011 | 7:10 PM EST

CNN indicated its sympathy for gun control on Tuesday with two segments on The Situation Room where sound bites from gun control supporters outnumbered gun rights supporters by a three-to-one margin. During the first report, correspondent Dana Bash stated that Senator Patrick Leahy "supports gun rights," even though the Democrat actually has the opposite record on the issue.

The previous evening, during the 9 pm Eastern hour of Monday's Anderson Cooper 360, the network's senior political analyst, David Gergen, indicated that he supported stricter gun control, in the wake of the attempted assassination on Representative Gabrielle Giffords, during a segment with Tea Party activist Dana Loesch.

GERGEN: ...How is it possible that someone who is this unhinged, when so many people understood that he was in mental deterioration, that he could still walk into a gun store and buy- you know, 9 mm semiautomatic Glock handgun, and also, then carry it concealed? I mean that's- if there's some cultural insanity here, it is the fact that we haven't put a stop to the capacity of these deranged young people to buy guns and then spray at people. It's just unbelievable.

In Parade, Eliot Spitzer Plays Rehab with Fellow CNNer David Gergen, Who Compares Him to MLK (Updated)
By Tim Graham | October 2, 2010 | 10:27 PM EDT

Parade magazine, the nationally distributed Sunday newspaper supplement, offers an interview with disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (aka, Client Number 9), whose new CNN talk show starts Monday night. The questioner is CNN senior political analyst David Gergen. Isn't this a bit too cozy, even as Parade acknowledged their CNN connection? When asked about his high-priced prostitute scandal, Spitzer pushed back:

GERGEN: Critics have argued that your selection is bad for TV news, that it rewards vice over virtue. [Bingo.]

SPITZER: There are precious few who are pure. I say that not to in any way justify myself or diminish my sense of remorse but rather to say 'Okay, I have acknowledged by lapses. If you think I can still offer something, I'll be happy to try.'

Worse yet, Gergen ended the interview comparing Spitzer to Martin Luther King Jr. (who cheated on his wife as well):

GERGEN: Martin Luther King biographer Taylor Branch once told me that King took great chances in his public life because he wanted to atone for the inner issues he was struggling with.

SPITZER: That's interesting -- he felt compelled to push hard in order to seek the redemption he believed was necessary. That's the great tension: we are better at understanding morality than we are at living it.

CNN's Gergen: Obama is 'Impressive,' But Press Conference Was 'Boring'
By Matthew Balan | September 10, 2010 | 3:44 PM EDT
David Gergen, CNN Senior Political Analyst; & Roland Martin, CNN Contributor | Newsbusters.orgCNN's David Gergen gushed over Barack Obama during CNN's coverage of the President's press conference on Friday, but was unimpressed by his performance: "He impresses everyone with his competence....The subtlety of his mind I think is very impressive. At the same time, I thought it was...boring." Minutes later, Roland Martin replied to Gergen by rushing to Obama's defense: "He's not an entertainer."

Anchor John King brought on some of the network's "best political team on television," including Gergen and Martin, 19 minutes into the 12 noon hour, immediately after the President's briefing concluded. King turned to the senior political analyst first and asked, "David, a lot of ground covered- what did you come away with?"
CNN's Jack Cafferty Openly Criticizes Mosque Developers
By Matthew Balan | August 19, 2010 | 9:51 PM EDT
Jack Cafferty, CNN Commentator | NewsBusters.orgOn Thursday's Situation Room, CNN's Jack Cafferty questioned the motives of the planners behind the proposed New York City mosque near Ground Zero: "The developer... has said the proximity of the planned mosque and center is not an issue. Really?...It's simply unrealistic to think you can build a Muslim house of worship two blocks from where this awful thing happened, and not get a negative reaction."

Cafferty raised the mosque controversy during his 5 pm Eastern hour commentary: "Sometimes no answer can be an answer. When asked if a portion of the $100 million needed to build the mosque and Islamic community center near Ground Zero here in New York City might come from either Saudi Arabia or Iran, the developers refused to comment. This only adds to the already heated controversy surrounding this project."

The CNN personality, after noting that "15 of the 19 hijackers responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 people, and the destruction of the World Trade Center on September the 11th, came from Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. considers Iran to be a sponsor of terrorism," applauded New York Governor David Paterson's effort to find a compromise over the planned mosque's site, labeling him "one of the few rational voices in the conversation."
Roland Martin to Dems: 'Protect the Constitution' By Supporting Mosque
By Matthew Balan | August 18, 2010 | 2:59 PM EDT

Roland Martin, CNN Contributor; Ed Rollins, Republican Strategist; & David Gergen, CNN Senior Political Analyst | NewsBusters.org[Update, 8:10 pm EDT: The original version of this article identified Roland Martin as a "black talk radio host." He no longer has his own radio talk show. He is still a CNN contributor, columnist syndicated by Creators Syndicate, and analyst for for the Tom Joyner Morning Show, according to his own website.]

On Tuesday's Anderson Cooper 360, CNN contributor Roland Martin strongly pushed for the Democrats to "stand up and protect the Constitution" by defending the planned New York City mosque near Ground Zero: "Democrats should get some spine and say, 'You know what? I am sworn to uphold and protect the Constitution.'...Stay strong- say it's about the Constitution."

Substitute anchor John Roberts brought on Martin, along with Republican strategist Ed Rollins and CNN senior political analyst David Gergen, to discuss the continuing controversy surrounding the mosque project. The anchor first turned to the former black talk radio host and asked, "Roland, is this the sort of thing that Democrats want to be talking about right now, at a point where many people form their opinions of who they're going to vote for in November?" Martin didn't begin with his "constitutional" argument, but instead emphasized that Democratic candidates needed to focus on local issues: "Frankly, if I'm a Democrat and somebody comes to me with that question...I say, 'Hey, go talk to...the folks representing New York. I'm here talking about my district.'"