CNN Host Don Lemon made every real journalist proud yesterday as he calmly rebutted former RNC Chief of Staff Mike Shields on his program. Most hosts allow Republicans to come on air and lie leaving the audience with an unresolved X said/Y said.
The Right Wing hack used his opportunity to insert a gross misrepresentation, a lie, in an attempt to malign the Left. Don Lemon fact checked him in real time and gave him no opportunity to further bloviate.
Don Lemon takes Right Wing Hack to task
“These voters understand that there is a group of Americans that look down on them and don’t understand them and don’t care,” Former RNC Chief of Staff Mike Shields said as he continued lying and misrepresenting. “I’ll finish on this. What it reminds me of is a few years ago on Capitol Hill, a story came out about Democrats. They were going down to a NASCAR race in North Carolina to do some kind of study, and they went and got vaccinations for it. Literally Democrat staffers on the hill — go look it up — went and got vaccinations before they would go to a NASCAR race in North Carolina. That’s the sort of thing that was so — so why would we be surprised that we live in this environment that you’re talking about.”
Don Lemon and his producing team would have none of it. They were ready near the end of the segment to set the record straight.
“I need to clear up something for the facts when Mike was mentioning earlier about Democrats going to visit NASCAR, Don Lemon said. “At the time the Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson said in a letter ‘Since committee staff members are visiting hospital and other healthcare facilities available at or near these venues including areas where groups of people are detained before being transferred to other off-site facilities, I believe the recommendation not requirement that our congressional staff receive these same immunizations was sound. They were visiting people who were in hospital and healthcare facilities.’ And so they figured it wasn’t, they didn’t have to do it, but it would be better if they were immunized. Thank you. We’ll be right back.”
That is how news networks ensure that political hacks cannot use their airwaves maliciously as conduits of lies, misinformation, and misrepresentations. Don Lemon deserves kudos on this one.