Newt Gingrich: South Carolina gives an angry old man a further 15 minutes.

Probably the lowpoints of the political coverage I sat through last night:
1. On CNN, Erin Burnett trotted out her superfabulous CEO poll that showed that 11 out of 15 CEOs prefer Mitt Romney to Barack Obama.
2. On MSNBC, Chris Matthews was practically drooling over the Gingrich victory because it extends
the horserace (which Matthews seems to like covering more than the issues beneath it) a few more months.

As far as the Republican scrapfest of back-to-the-past ideological/economic titans is concerned, this primary cycle could climax in the GOP's first down-to-the-convention-floor nomination fight since the Gerald Ford vs. Ronald Reagan duel of 1976.

Let's leave Ron Paul and his scary no-government minimalism off the table.  Consider the Big Three candidates carefully.

If you're not at least a millionaire (either through inheritance or actual work), Mitt Romney doesn't give a damn about you.

If you're not a heterosexual/literal-minded (aka Fundamentalist) Christian, Rick Santorum doesn't
give a darn about you.

And then there's Newt Gingrich, who, in essence, is every scowling, snarling, point-at-the-clock, fake-pious, never-ever-wrong boss (who keeps at least two sets of books) you've ever had the misfortune to work for.

Thanks to John King's Bernard Shaw-esque "gotcha" question (which should have been phrased as a more subtle query on the financial/sexual morality Gingrich asks of people that aren't named Newt Gingrich) and the angry voters of South Carolina (guessing a mix of anger/resentment/overdoses of Fox News/fierce dislike of being told to fall into line behind Mitt Romney), we're stuck with the frightening, monstrous blowhard behavior of ultimate nonwinner Newt into at least the late spring.

Ex-CNBC, now-CNN newsperson Erin Burnett still hearts Wall Street.

Looks like the Fox News notion of "fair and balanced" has traveled to CNN.  Here's an article about "International Superstar" (phrase coined by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough) Erin Burnett and her open disdain for Wall Street protests:  http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4408

A key passage from the article (highlighting by me):
"Burnett used to work for the same financial companies that profited from the bailouts--Goldman Sachs, Citigroup--and she is engaged to be married to a Citigroup executive (Business Insider, 9/30/11). Burnett's journalistic career includes plenty of attempts to promote Wall Street interests, earning her praise from the likes of Rush Limbaugh (FAIR Blog, 10/3/11). She even tried to defend Wall Street giants from criticism over using TARP funds to pay giant bonuses (FAIR Blog, 2/3/09)."

[UPDATE]:
Glenn Greenwald's article on Erin Burnett:
http://politics.salon.com/2011/10/05/erin_burnett_voice_of_the_people/

FEEDING THE ECONOMY TRAIN--VERSION 2

CNBC: When you're a cable network encouraging the buying of stock in a scorched-earth economy.....

I'm not sure how many people saw CNBC's Erin Burnett (known as "International Superstar" to MSNBC' s Joe Scarborough) on last night's REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER.


Ms. Burnett, at one point, resorted to tired Republican talking points about the rich paying too many taxes and even used the phrase "wealth destruction"--which caused Maher to justifiably respond with the word bull----.

Read Nikki Finke's recent column entry about CNBC (which is apparently bludgeoning its audience to buy GE stock and raise it from its current doldrums): http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/hey-jeff-immelt-blame-your-own-cnbc/
[UPDATE 3/9/09: Here's a link to a HUFFINGTON POST column mentioning Erin Burnett, plus Joe "GE makes things" Scarborough doing his best to aid General Electric in its hours of pain and decreased profits: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/09/imorning-joei-breaks-out_n_173132.html]
And here's a suggestion for a future CNBC network-branding ad: Have the on-air personalities (including Ms. Burnett, Jim Cramer, Maria Bartiromo and fake-populist trader groupie Rick Santelli) sing or lip-sync an irony-free version of Randy Newman's "It's Money That Matters."
[UPDATE 3/13/09: Glenn Greenwald, in a post-mortem view of the Cramer/Jon Stewart sitdown on last night's THE DAILY SHOW, reminds us that the "don't question what Authority tells us" ethos is still followed by prominent journalists including David Gregory and Charles "Charlie" Gibson: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/13/cramer/]