So bad that lefty journalist Jack Cafferty of CNN is asking his readers “What Can President Obama Learn From Sarah Palin?”

“With President Obama now below 50 percent approval for the first time, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd suggests the president could learn “a thing or three” from Sarah Palin.”

“Dowd writes that with the former V-P candidate back on the trail for her book tour, she clearly hasn’t boned up on anything and “she still has that Yoda-like syntax.”

“Meanwhile – it’s clear Sarah Palin is saying something people want to hear. She sold 300,000 copies of her memoir on the day of its release – one of the best openings ever for a nonfiction book, easily topping people like Hillary Clinton.”

“As for President Obama – the Gallup Daily Tracking poll puts his approval rating at 49 percent – the first time he’s dropped below 50 percent since taking office.”

“Here’s my question to you: What can President Obama learn from Sarah Palin?”

Here are a few of the choice quotes Jack Cafferty featured on the air and my responses:

Audrey from British Columbia:
He could learn that by being ignorant, vapid, divisive and stupid that the media will follow you around and make out that you are bigger and better than you really are. Sarah Palin is a “media phenom” and nothing else – just the fact that you have this question on your program should state the obvious to you.

ME:
You’re right Audrey. It’s too bad that the media doesn’t follow Obama around making him out to be bigger than he is. President Obama certainly isn’t a “media phenom.”

Chad from Alaska:
How to be a quitter in the middle of a term.

ME:
Good point Chad. At least Obama finished a single term as a US Senator before running for president. Oh wait.. He didn’t do that, did he?

Lisa says:
How to make bumper sticker catch-phrases sound like policy to 26% of the nation.

ME:
Lisa, do you mean empty catch-phrases like “Yes We Can?”

Thomas from Texas:
Not to wear shorts on the cover of news magazines if you are to be taken seriously as a politician.

ME:
Thomas, did no one at CNN tell you that Sarah Palin didn’t choose to have that photo on the cover of Newsweek? No, of course they didn’t.

Just a reminder… CNN is in last place among cable news networks.

Any wonder why?

From the department of “You’re kidding, right?”

Time Magazine writes:

“Calling ‘Em Out: The White House Takes on the Press”

“The take-no-prisoners turn has come as a surprise to some in the press, considering the largely favorable coverage that candidate Obama received last fall and given the President’s vows to lower the rhetorical temperature in Washington and not pay attention to cable hyperbole. Instead, the White House blog now issues regular denunciations of the Administration’s critics, including a recent post that announced “Fox lies” and suggested that the cable network was unpatriotic for criticizing Obama’s 2016 Olympics effort.”

To be fair, as of November of 2008, Obama had only been on the cover of Time Magazine 23 times.

The editor of Newsweek called Obama “God” last June but that doesn’t count because he said “sort of.”

The Obama Administration saying they’re “taking on the media” is like the Beatles saying they’re “taking on crazed teenyboppers.”

Please.

A tale of two headlines….

The Washington Post NOW:

“Generals Shouldn’t Disagree Publicly With the Commander in Chief”

The Washington Post THEN:

“Renouncing Bush’s World View”

Funny that.

Listen as this CNN anchor, who clearly had unlimited faith in Obama, freaks out over the bad news for Chicago’s bid for the Olympics. This is so telling.

This exemplifies the media’s ultimate faith in Obama. The Olympics Council rejected Obama’s personal plea and the idiots in the American media can’t believe their own ears.

I wonder if they’ll mention the fact that Obama’s Denmark sales pitch cost American tax payers a MILLION BUCKS.

National “PUBLIC” Radio has somehow found support for a “PUBLIC” option on ObamaCare among doctors.

You don’t say…

“Among all the players in the health care debate, doctors may be the least understood about where they stand on some of the key issues around changing the health care system. Now, a new survey finds some surprising results: A large majority of doctors say there should be a public option.”

Funny thing is, I don’t recall “NPR” covering the rally of DOCTORS AGAINST OBAMACARE last week.

“Physicians and other members of the medical profession rallied Thursday, Sept. 10 at a special event in front of the Capitol building. The gathering was designed to highlight the important, yet overlooked, role that doctors have in the debate over health care reform. According to event organizers, doctors from all 50 states attended, many of whom met with their representatives in Congress and the Senate earlier in the day and dressed in their scrubs or lab coats.”

One of the genius writers over at the Daily Kos certifies this as a victory for socialized medicine while managing to insult every member of the medical profession. Shocker.

“As a point of fact, doctors can not be used as an excuse to avoid a public option.”

Yeah, point of fact. Are you referring to the point on your head?

Gee, I wonder if the media distrust comes from the thorough non-vetting/cheerleading of candidate Obama coupled with the media driven Inquisition of Sarah Palin?

Or could it be tied to the non-coverage of a radical 9/11 truther in the White House?

Or could it be the non-coverage of a triple pronged underage prostitution scandal at ACORN?

Maybe it’s the media driven demonizing of Tea Parties or the ongoing accusations of racism for ANYONE who disagrees with Obama?

Or is it that the media is deliberately downplaying the size of the 9/12 march in Washington, DC?

Whatever the reason, PEW has revealed something many Americans already knew. We no longer trust the media:

“The public’s assessment of the accuracy of news stories is now at its lowest level in more than two decades of Pew Research surveys, and Americans’ views of media bias and independence now match previous lows.”

“Just 29% of Americans say that news organizations generally get the facts straight, while 63% say that news stories are often inaccurate. In the initial survey in this series about the news media’s performance in 1985, 55% said news stories were accurate while 34% said they were inaccurate. That percentage had fallen sharply by the late 1990s and has remained low over the last decade.”

Read the whole thing here.

More at Memeorandum.

Via TV Newser…

“CNN USA President Jon Klein asked his show producers to avoid booking talk radio hosts. “Complex issues require world class reporting,” Klein is quoted as saying, adding that talk radio hosts too often add to the noise, and that what they say is “all too predictable.”

Yeah. World class reporting.

Like Kathy Griffin getting the hard facts from Levi Johnston.

Oh, wow! Thank goodness the recession is over! The recession must be over. Newsweek says it is!

In the real world, President Obama isn’t even buying this.

“Speaking at a town hall meeting in Raleigh, N.C., President Obama defended his stimulus plan and poked fun at Newsweek for its latest cover, declaring: “The Recession is Over.”

“I don’t know whether you’ve seen the cover of the latest Newsweek magazine on the rack at the grocery store, but the cover says: ‘The Recession is Over,’” Obama said, prompting chuckles in the audience.”

“I imagine you might have found that news a little startling,” he continued, to more laughter. “I know I did.”

Newsweek made news earlier this week when it was announced that one of their “reporters” is joining the Obama Administration.

“Daren Briscoe, a Newsweek correspondent who was embedded with Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, has taken a job with the Obama administration, according to an email sent to a listserv of his classmates at the Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.”

How many “reporters” have now gone to work for the Obama Administration? TWELVE.

Writer Erik Sean Nelson at the Huffington Post, pictured at left, wrote this little classic today and the HuffPo published it at 6 pm. They have since pulled the article. We have the original copy thanks to posters at Free Republic.

Palin Will Run in ‘12 on More Retardation Platform

In Sarah Palin’s resignation announcement she complained about the treatment of her son Trig who always teaches her life lessons. She said that the “world needs more Trigs, not fewer.” That’s a presidential campaign promise we can all get behind. She will be the first politician to actually try to increase the population of retarded people. To me, it’s kinda like saying the world needs more cancer patients because they teach us such personal lessons.

Her first act as President: To introduce a Pre-K lunch buffet that includes lead paint chips. Sort of a Large HEAD-START Program.

She will then encourage women to hold off on pregnancies until their 40’s just to mix up some chromosomes.

She now is in favor of abortion only in case of diploid birth.

Her policies will increase jobs because Wal-Mart is building new stores each day and someone has to be the greeter.

This will lead to smaller government because fewer Americans will have the cognitive ability to hold a government job.

Look, she says she’s resigning as governor because people are making attacks on her and Trig. If she ever did become president, all Osama bin Laden would have to do to defeat the United States is Photoshop a picture of Trig and she’d surrender the country that night. As she said, “That’s not politics as usual.” It isn’t. Politicians don’t usually quit for so stupid of reasons.

Nelson’s HuffPo bio: Erik Nelson has written for several comedy websites and published short fiction while living in the deep South. He has studied the local culture of his Red State and feels confident that they have accepted him as one of their own. Big mistake.

Join him behind enemy lines, deep in the Red Zone. Or email him at erikseannelson@gmail.com.

Classy!

Everyone knows, nothing is funnier than taking cheap shots at an infant with down syndrome.

Right? Right?

A new low or high for CNN. I wouldn’t have believed CNN really filed this report if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

Keep reaching for the stars, CNN.