Don Lemon

CNN Portray Their 'Gary and Tony' as Homosexual 'Role Models'
By Matthew Balan | June 21, 2010 | 6:29 PM EDT
CNN conducted two softball interviews with the subjects of their upcoming slanted documentary, "Gary and Tony Have a Baby," on Sunday and Monday. The network sympathized with the same-sex couple, hinting they were "role models" for the homosexual community, and made little effort to hide that they were advancing the agenda of homosexual activists.

Anchor Don Lemon interviewed the two just before the bottom of the 7 pm Eastern hour on Sunday's Newsroom program. Before turning to his guests, Lemon played a three-minute clip from the documentary about "how one couple tries to redefine what it means to be a family" and what CNN billed as a "new American family" (see video at right), focusing on the young woman who donated 14 of her eggs so the couple could have one child via in-vitro fertilization and a surrogate mother. Near the end of clip, the "Tony" of the documentary, Tony Brown, spoke emotionally of how the egg donor, named Holly, "gets that she's giving us this incredible gift, and it's pretty amazing." The CNN anchor replied in agreement: "pretty amazing and very emotional."
CNN's Don Lemon Acts as Helen Thomas Apologist in Fleischer Interview
By Matthew Balan | June 7, 2010 | 3:01 PM EDT
CNN anchor Don Lemon repeatedly defended rabidly anti-Israel columnist Helen Thomas as he interviewed Ari Fleischer late in the 7 pm Eastern hour of Sunday's Newsroom. After playing Thomas's remarks, Lemon lauded her in his first question to Fleischer: "Helen Thomas has broken down many barriers for women....She has a lifelong achievement...in journalism. Should that count for anything?" [audio clips available here]

The former press secretary strongly condemned Thomas's comments and proposed that "if somebody said that all blacks need to leave America and go home to Africa, they would have already lost their jobs," while stating that two of them "always ideologically disagreed, but I liked her." Lemon followed through on this point: "Yeah, that was my next point. It's- I know that people disagree ideologically- but you can still be friends or still be co-workers. Have you reached out to her at all? Have you tried to talk to her about why she said this?"
Sting Calls Earth Day Climate Rally 'Green Tea Party', Wants 'Big Government'
By Noel Sheppard | April 26, 2010 | 11:11 AM EDT

America's media might hate the Tea Party movement, but Sting appears to love it.

"This is like a 'Green Tea Party' out there," Sting told CNN's Don Lemon Sunday about the Earth Day climate rally taking place in the nation's capital.

"People who care. People who care about clean water and fresh air for their children to breathe. Food that doesn't kill you. A better planet. A safer planet. And it is a tea party movement."

Of course, Lemon didn't ask Sting or his wife Trudie Styler if they believe folks that don't support this movement actually want dirty water, polluted air, and food that kills them, nor did he question the couple about their own astoundingly LARGE carbon footprint that makes them green hypocrites.

He also didn't point out the absurdity of referring to this rally as a "tea party movement" while in the same breath calling for "big government" to solve the world's problems (video follows with partial transcript and commentary, h/t Weasel Zippers): 

CNN's Don Lemon Insists Conservatives Guilty of 'Much, Much More' Hate and Hitler Talk
By Tim Graham | April 11, 2010 | 4:31 PM EDT

CNN anchor Don Lemon subbed in for Rick Sanchez on the program Rick's List on Friday, and he worked hard to be as obnoxious as Sanchez in charging that right-wing rhetoric is out of control. In an interview with former GOP congressman J.C. Watts, Lemon asked him to offer "words of wisdom or caution" to Republicans.

When Watts insisted both sides do it, Lemon insisted  "we have seen it on the Republican and the conservative side much, much more than on the Democratic side. The name calling in groups, with signs, calling people, you know, epithets, comparing them to Hitler. We've seen it much more from the conservatives, from the tea party movement."

Once again, a CNN anchor completely forgets the way they handled Bush-as-Hitler-with-horns protests on the left -- as fair comment, as a "Bush look-alike."

Correspondent Confuses Which Black CNN Host She's Talking To
By Noel Sheppard | April 3, 2010 | 2:36 PM EDT

Jeanne Meserve on Friday got her black CNN hosts confused.

While appearing on "Rick's List" to discuss the indictment of domestic terrorist Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, the CNN correspondent repeatedly called fill-in host T. J. Holmes "Don."

I guess she thought she was speaking to Don Lemon.

Apparently this has happened to Holmes and Lemon before.

But before we get there, here's the embarrassing moment in question (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Hot Air):

CNN Convicts Palin and Tea Partiers of ‘Inciting Violence’ and Stoking Racism
By Brent Baker | March 28, 2010 | 2:15 AM EDT
CNN put “INCITING VIOLENCE?” on screen under video of Sarah Palin earlier in the day Saturday in Searchlight, Nevada, as anchor Don Lemon announced:
Sarah Palin takes on one of the highest ranking Democrats right in his own backyard, all while causing another uproar by urging tea parties to quote “reload.” And the question is, are comments like that inciting violence and name-calling over the health care bill and the like?
In the subsequent segment, titled “DANGEROUS RHETORIC: When heated words incite threats & violence,” CNN’s panel agreed Obama’s political opponents are inciting violence and are motivated by racism -- undeterred by Palin’s assurance, which CNN played:
When I talk about it's not a time to retreat, it's a time to reload, what I'm talking about -- now, media, try to get this right, okay? That's not inciting violence. What that's doing is trying to inspire people to get involved in their local elections and these upcoming federal elections. It's telling people that their arms are their votes. It's not inciting violence. It's telling people, don't ever let anybody tell you to sit down and shut up, Americans.
Lemon demanded: “Is it responsible for someone to say that? Especially a leader, considering the anger that's going on right now?”
Jeff Toobin Disagrees With L.A. Times on Mrs. Clarence Thomas' Activism
By Matthew Balan | March 15, 2010 | 2:17 PM EDT
Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Senior Legal Analyst | NewsBusters.orgOn Sunday's Newsroom, CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin disputed the conclusion of the Los Angeles Times on the apparently shocking new political initiative of Clarence Thomas's wife Virginia Thomas, that it "could give rise to conflicts of interest for her husband...as it tests the norms for judicial spouses." Toobin defended Mrs. Thomas' grassroots conservative work.

Anchor Don Lemon brought on the senior legal analyst just before the bottom of the 10 pm Eastern hour to discuss  Kathleen Hennessey's article in the Sunday L.A. Times, titled "Justice's wife launches 'tea party' group." The Times writer indicated that Mrs. Thomas' new organization somehow risked the partiality of the Court, as indicated in the article’s subtitle, "The nonprofit run by Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is likely to test notions of political impartiality for the court." She continued later that "the move by Virginia Thomas, 52, into the front lines of politics stands in marked contrast to the rarefied culture of the nation's highest court, which normally prizes the appearance of nonpartisanship and a distance from the fisticuffs of the politics of the day."
CNN's Don Lemon Calls Young Conservative At CPAC 'Progressive'
By Noel Sheppard | February 22, 2010 | 12:31 AM EST

UPDATE AT END OF POST: Young conservative in question responds to Lemon.

Just how out of touch must you be as a so-called journalist to think someone attending a conservative conference is liberal all because he or she is young?

Such a question should be asked of Don Lemon who on Saturday interviewed a couple of under-aged conservatives at CPAC and actually called one of them progressive.

Although CNN is to be commended for letting right-leaning youth discuss their views with cameras rolling, you would think someone would have clued Lemon in to the fact that the people he was speaking to - ahem, at a CONSERVATIVE gathering - were not liberals (video embedded below the fold with transcript):

CNN Seeks Out Stimulus 'Believer' Cited by President Obama
By Matthew Balan | February 1, 2010 | 6:19 PM EST
Don Lemon, CNN Anchor; & Alan Levin, CEO, Northeast Building Products | NewsBusters.orgOn Saturday’s Newsroom, CNN’s Don Lemon deferentially took President Obama’s advice and interviewed a stimulus “skeptic” turned “believer,” whom the Democrat cited as an example of the success of the stimulus during his recent State of the Union address. Lemon talked up the stimulus and the Obama administration’s energy efficiency tax credit with his guest Alan Levin, whose company produces windows.

Before playing his taped interview with guest Alan Levin, CEO of Northeast Building Products, the CNN anchor played the relevant clip from the President Obama’s address: “Talk to the window manufacturer in Philadelphia, who said he used to be skeptical about the Recovery Act, until he had to add two more work shifts just because of the business it created.” After asking Mr. Levin if he was excited by this mention by the President, Lemon inquired about this previous skepticism: “You know what, here’s the interesting thing. You were skeptical about this process- about the stimulus. You weren’t exactly sure that it was going to get you the right people and help at all. And now?”
CNN Runs Report on ClimateGate, But Only Includes Guests Who Dispute ClimateGate
By Brad Wilmouth | December 7, 2009 | 1:57 AM EST

On Sunday, during the 6:00 p.m. hour and again during the 7:00 p.m. hour, CNN NewsRoom, hosted by Don Lemon, ran a report by correspondent Mary Snow on ClimateGate -- which was somewhat more balanced than the piece aired on November 25 -- though this report similarly did not quote any of the emails that suggest manipulation of data on global warming by scientists at the UK's University of East Anglia. But both times after Snow's report aired, Lemon followed up by talking with a guest or reporter who disputed the credibility of ClimateGate, without interviewing any global warming skeptics.

After Snow’s report aired during the 6:00 p.m. hour, Howard Gould of Equator International opined that "I don't see any importance" in the emails, and later asserted: "I think people are making a big deal out of nothing. I think it's the climate debunkers that are out there, it's their last ray of hope, and they're trying to cling on to something. But it's really, you know, I think it's a bit of a joke."

CNN's Lothian: Nobel Prize an 'A' for Effort, Could Help Pres. With Health Care
By Matthew Balan | October 9, 2009 | 1:10 PM EDT
President Barack Obama; & Dan Lothian, CNN White House Correspondent | NewsBusters.orgCNN’s White House correspondent Dan Lothian, on Friday's American Morning, saw nothing but pluses for President Obama’s reception of the Nobel Peace Prize. Lothian guessed that “the President obviously is getting an ‘A’ for effort here,” and even went so far to speculate about whether the reward could help the Democrat “push through on...health care as well...so this could help him.”

Anchors Kiran Chetry and John Roberts turned to the correspondent right out of the gate at the beginning of the program at 6 AM EDT. Chetry asked if there had been any official reaction from the White House at that early hour, and Lothian confirmed that the administration hadn’t released any statement at that point. He continued that “two things came to mind when this shocking announcement was made. First of all, that the President obviously is getting an ‘A’ for effort here. The President has made overtures and talked about, since he was running for president, that he wanted to be one who would engage in dialogue.” The White House correspondent cited the Obama administration recent work with Iran and the President “trying to get both the Israelis and the Palestinians to jump-start the peace process there.”
CNN Zeroes-In on 'Dark Undercurrent' of Tea Parties
By Matthew Balan | September 14, 2009 | 6:26 PM EDT

CNN’s Jim Spellman did his best to paint the participants of the Tea Party Express’s rallies across the nation in late August and early September as a bunch of extremists on Saturday’s Newsroom. Spellman played clips which zeroed-in on the protesters who called President Obama a Nazi, carried guns, or forwarded “outlandish conspiracy theories,” and labeled all of them “a dark undercurrent.”

The CNN journalist followed the Tea Party Express organization’s bus caravan during its 2 week journey across the United States, and the thirty-plus rallies held where it stopped. Spellman appeared just after the beginning of the 5 pm Eastern hour of Newsroom, and first played clips from seven men and six women who participated in these rallies. Six of the thirteen clips came from people who could be portrayed as “extreme,” as anchor Don Lemon put it, included one who referred to a “Gestapo-type tactic” and another who carried an AK-47: