Jack Cafferty: CNN's Answer to Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann has proven to be the messiah for those waiting desperately for a journalist who will hold Pres. Bush accountable for his actions. And his inactions. While some mainstream journalists-so called-jumped into bed with Bush and the Pentagon as part of their coverage of the Iraq invasion, others ignored the issue entirely and spent their days tracking down every last possible detail about Scott Peterson and others of his tabloid ilk. It's hard to imagine Walter Cronkite opening a CBS Evening News broadcast during the Vietnam War with coverage of some slimeball jerkoff who killed his wife, but alas that is the nature of American media for most of the reign of George W. Bush. While Pres. Bush's lies about WMDs in Iraq went unchallenged both on the floors of Congress on the airwaves, at least we know what kind of alcohol Natalee Holloway was drinking the last time anyone saw her alive.

Those days are over, of course. Now that it is safe to call Pres. Bush to the carpet, the American media is finally beginning to do its job. Only in pockets, of course, but something is better than the years of nothing we got. The most famous journalist to publicly question Pres. Bush has been Keith Olbermann. Olbermann's ratings have risen in concert with the number of Special Comments he has made calling on Pres. Bush and his cronies to answer for their criminal policies. As such, Keith Olbermann rightly deserves the title of savior of American dissent. But Olbermann, thankfully, is not alone. Although so far not rewarded with the kind of prime time exposure given to less worthy personalities like Nancy Grace and Glen Beck-again, I ask, why does this uninformed, ill-equipped talking head have his own CNN show?-there remains little question that Jack Cafferty continues to prove every afternoon on the Situation Room that he has the biggest brain and balls on CNN.

Jack Cafferty is just as much must-see-TV for anyone who cares about the truth behind the lies of the Bush administration as Keith Olbermann. While Olbermann's MSNBC show Countdown affords him ample opportunity to examine the web of deceit that lies at the heart of the Bush White House, Jack Cafferty is only given a few minutes each hour in which to castigate Pres. Bush for his incompetence and criminal behavior. Unfortunately for us all, CNN's The Situation Room is hosted by Wolf Blitzer. Blitzer has proven himself unfit to handle the primary responsibility of the press, that of keeping a country's leadership honest. For years, people like Blitzer failed to do their job and as a result, we have the most dishonest leadership in our country's history. It is almost an offense to the senses that Wolf Blitzer should even be allowed to banter with Jack Cafferty. Several times each weekday afternoon during the Situation Room on CNN Jack Cafferty appears with a question of the day to which viewers can respond via e-mail. Due to the fact that nearly every day there is a new Bush scandal, these questions invariably have to do with the latest offenses committed by these hooligans. And invariably, Cafferty offers his opinion on Bush and his legion of evil wrongdoers. In the past six months or so, Cafferty has become much more outspoken in his criticism of Pres. Bush and Dick Cheney and Condi Rice and Alberto Gonzalez. In fact, Jack Cafferty was the first person I ever heard call for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. And this was long before Karl Rove ever told Gonzalez to fire US Attorneys. (Silly me, I always thought the Attorney General answered only to the President, not the President's fat boyfriend.)

Jack Cafferty is CNN's answer to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. Rumors swirl that CNN was willing to pony up some big bucks to get Olbermann from MSNBC, but Keith decided to stay put. That's a good thing. If CNN employed the only two American TV journalists willing to publicly call Bush the dangerous man that he is, where would those who don't watch CNN turn to for the truth? But now it's time for CNN to make a decision.

Do they really want to be known as the network of Nancy Grace and Glen Beck? Do they really want to be known as the network that grants hours of prime time to two distressingly irritating personalities who seem to be clueless about all the philosophical gains made since the Dark Ages? It's time for CNN to give Grace and Beck the boot and give Cafferty a forum. Don't put him in competition against Olbermann, for God's sake. Put Cafferty on against Joe Scarborough. It's time that beady eyed weasel was driven off the airwaves for good and if liberals had access to another Keith Olbermann, Joe Scarborough wouldn't last a month.

C'mon CNN. Do the right thing. Give Jack Cafferty the Nancy Grace spot on Headline News. You owe America at least that much.