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Kos' Curious Attack On James Carville

On the day that Newsweek published his first commentary as a Democratic partisan, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga of Daily Kos curiously decided to attack CNN for using another Democratic partisan as a commentator.

Kingpin Kos' gripe: CNN included "partisan [Hillary] Clinton supporter" James Carville in its roundtable of analysts after the network hosted a Democratic presidential debate last night.

"Would it kill CNN to not include partisan supporters of the various candidates in their post-debate spin?" Kos wrote. "Would it kill CNN to disclose that James Carville is a partisan Clinton supporter when talking about the presidential race? Would it kill James Carville to disclose that he is a partisan Clinton supporter when on the air talking about the presidential race? Apparently so."

Both The Caucus, a New York Times political blog, and John Aravosis of Americablog seconded Kos' complaint, and I agree with all of them. CNN shouldn't let Carville serve in that role, and if the network is going to do so, it needs to be more transparent about his political ties.

But it sure sounds hypocritical to hear Kos attacking the ethics of a guy like Carville when Kos is now doing similar work for Newsweek as a "movement partisan." Maybe he's just angling for Carville's job to complement his magazine work.

Kos, by the way, included no disclosure about his own partisan activities on his first Newsweek piece. Then again, his opening shot was aimed at Democrats for not standing firm against the Iraq war, giving weight to the distinction that Kos sees between movement partisan and "establishment hack." Carville probably falls into the latter category in Kos' eyes.

I called Newsweek editor Jon Meacham to ask his views on disclosure by Kos if and when he writes about candidates whom he supports. Meacham has not yet returned the call.

Posted by Danny | 04:07 PM

Comments

Kos is a pro-Democratic partisan. Carville is a pro-Clinton partisan. See the difference?

It was a Democratic debate, and Kos has not announced his prefrence amoungst the canidates (if he even has one), nor has he worked for any of them in the past or is currently working on thier campaigns, therefore, in this context, he's more or less unbiased. Carville worked for Bill Clinton in the past and has sent a fund raising letter for Hillary Clinton. He therefore has an obvious pro-Clinton and anti-everybody else on stage bias.

Geotpf | 11.18.07 06:36 PM

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