Tom Cohen

CNN's Tom Cohen Baffled by the Obama Popularity 'Disconnect,' Holds Real Answers Until the Very End
By Tom Blumer | July 4, 2014 | 8:04 PM EDT

A prominent exhibit explaining why the nation's trust in its media establishment has dropped to precipitous lows would likely include Tom Cohen's Thursday afternoon column at CNN expressing befuddlement over President Barack Obama's unpopularity.

After all, Cohen's headline crows that under Obama we have "more jobs" and "less war" (!), so there's a "disconnect" which must be explained. To give you an idea of how pathetic his attempt is, he managed not to mention any form of the words "immigration," "scandal," or "contraction" (as in, the first-quarter decline in GDP) while pretending to present a complete analysis. Meanwhile, one of CNN's embedded headline links to another story ("Obama to Republicans: 'So sue me'") openly mocks Cohen, doing a better job of explaining the "disconnect" in six words than anything he wrote in his first 37 paragraphs. Excerpts follow the jump (bolds are mine throughout this post; numbered tags are mine):

CNN Originally Calls IRS Targeting 'The Forgotten Scandal,' Wipes 'Forgotten' Away in Revisions
By Tom Blumer | June 16, 2013 | 7:42 PM EDT

Either CNN's Tom Cohen, his headline and subheadline writers, or both thought it was a bit over the top to describe the IRS's targeting of Tea Party, conservative, and religious groups as a "forgotten scandal" in a Friday story. Evidence that the subheadline originally read "Republicans try to keep the public focused on the forgotten scandal of IRS targeting of conservative groups" is here and here.

As will be seen after the jump, Cohen tries to make the case that there's nothing to see, that everyone who matters agrees with him, and that forgetting about the scandal would be defensible (bolds are mine):

CNN.com Cherry Picks Blog Posts to Paint 'Hard-Core Conservatives' as In 'Denial' Over Obama's Victory
By Matt Hadro | November 20, 2012 | 5:34 PM EST

CNN.com cherry picked a few conservative blog posts to make the sweeping claim that "arch-conservatives" are in denial over President Obama's victory. It's definitely poor journalism when four bloggers at two conservative websites represent all "hard-core conservatives."

The article points to four writers at Tea Party Nation and RedState.com as examples of "many" "die-hard conservatives" who "remain stuck somewhere between denial and anger, very far from acceptance" of Obama's re-election. In short, the implication is that conservatives need to get with the times and change their message.

CNN Politics Reports 'Republicans Name Fiscal Conservatives to Debt Committee,' Ignores Liberals Picked by Democrats
By Mike Bates | August 10, 2011 | 4:42 PM EDT

Today CNN's Politics Web site carries the story "Republicans name fiscal conservatives to debt committee," written by Deirdre Walsh and Tom Cohen.  The piece begins:

"Republican leaders on Wednesday named fiscal conservatives for their six picks for a new congressional "super" committee charged with crafting a plan to cut the country's deficit."

OK, the GOP's selections would be seen by most as fiscally conservative.  Senator Jon Kyle (R-AZ), for example, has received an A in the most recent rankings of the National Taxpayers Union and a 97 percent rating for 2009 from Citizens Against Government Waste, as reported by Project Vote Smart.