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CNN’s Anderson Cooper, a gay man, seemed to momentarily lose sight of his role as a journalist Tuesday while interviewing Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, jumping on the chance to take the Republican to task for not being “a champion of the gay community.”
The textbook example of ambush journalism began with Copper focusing on questionable crowdsourcing sites that claim to be raising money for victims of the horrific shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that claimed the lives of 49 people.
Once he had his mark on the hook, Anderson then switched gears to berate Bondi for not talking about LGBT people “in a positive way until now.”
In effect, Cooper was condemning Bondi for expressing her condolences to the victims of the shooting — Bondi took to social media on Sunday to say: “Praying for the victims, their families and our country after this senseless act of violence in Orlando.”
Forgetting that he was reporting on a terrorist attack by a radicalized Muslim gunman, Cooper instead pursued an angle of gay victimization.
“I talked to a lot of gay and lesbian people here yesterday who are not fans of yours and who said that they thought you were being a hypocrite, that you for years have fought — you’ve basically gone after gay people, said that in court that gay people simply by fighting for marriage equality were trying to do harm to the people of Florida.”
Among other things, the CNN anchor was referring to Bondi doing her job as attorney general in upholding the Florida constitution in regard to same-sex marriage.
“Let me tell you,” Bondi said, “when I was sworn in as attorney general, I put my hand on the Bible and sworn to uphold the constitution of the state of Florida, That’s not a law. That was voted into our state constitution by the voters of Florida. That’s what I was defending.”
“I’ve never said I don’t like gay people,” Bondi added. “That’s ridiculous.”
But Cooper was zeroed in and not about to let her off the hook for what the left sees as Florida’s anti-gay policies. He pointed to the “sick irony” of Bondi trying to help gay couples access information about their spouses in light of the terrorist attack when she fought to oppose same-sex marriage.
“Is it hypocritical to portray yourself as a champion of the gay community when — I’m just reflecting what gay people told me they don’t see you as this,” Cooper said.
To her credit, Bondi stood her ground.
“Anderson, I’m not portraying myself as anything but trying to help human beings who have lost their lives, who are behind us right now in hospital beds, who have family members who aren’t getting the services they need,” she replied. “This morning, you know what I’ve been doing? Trying to fight with a funeral home for overcharging family members to bury the loved ones. I’m not championing anything other than Floridians. That’s what this is about. We are about human beings.”
Cooper pressed on, even criticizing Bondi because her Twitter feed did not include pro-LGBT content.
“It is Gay Pride Month,” he said. “You never even tweeted about Gay Pride Month.”
Bondi tried to remind Cooper that 49 people have been murdered by an Islamic terrorist, but the gay anchor was on a more important mission.
A more shameful case of “journalism” you will not find, as social media users noted… here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter:
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Really disgusted and disappointed by @andersoncooper – what a bizarre and needless attack.
— Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) June 14, 2016
@lyndseyfifield @FranklinsRule Note to everyone on earth: Tweet something about Gay Pride Month NOW or suffer the consequences.
— Leightweight Chocker (@ChrisSeay03) June 14, 2016
State AG defending voters’ anti-SSM decision in court doesn’t render her incapable of standing unequivocally against anti-gay terror. C’mon.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) June 14, 2016
@guypbenson BUT SHE DIDN’T EVEN TWEET ABOUT PRIDE MONTH!
— Just Karl (@justkarl) June 14, 2016
@guypbenson Done with @andersoncooper. He’s an example of what not to do if you’re a journalist with a bias. It was disgusting.
— [{(Tomás Allende)}] (@TomsAllende) June 14, 2016
@guypbenson Does @andersoncooper‘s blatant progressivism render him incapable of impartiality as a ‘journalist?’
— Rich Algeni, Jr. (@richalgeni) June 15, 2016
@guypbenson Anderson Cooper’s questions to Pam Bondi were reprehensible, especially at the site of the slayings so soon after.
— Local Man (@Local_Man) June 15, 2016
“You’ve never even tweeted about Gay Pride Month.” Anderson Cooper’s new standard for public office. https://t.co/BC6PuB7hZ3
— Michael Goldfarb (@thegoldfarb) June 14, 2016
CNN claims it’s hypocritical to believe marriage is a union of man and wife and not want gay people killed by ISIS.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) June 14, 2016
@MZHemingway A terrorist fucking attack is just leverage for them to ride their social-issues hobbyhorse
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) June 14, 2016
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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