CNN Pundit Calls Ex-Congressman Bigot, Blasts Network

CNN invited one of its contributors, Angela Rye, and former Congressman Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) to continue a Twitter feud on air Wednesday.

Things degenerated quickly. Rye called Walsh a bigot and criticized the cable network for giving him a “platform.” Walsh suggested that Rye views every controversy through a racial prism. By the end of the 12-minute segment, anchor Brooke Baldwin was apologizing to her viewers and practically begging her guests to keep it respectful.

“I’m not talking to bigots, Joe. I’m not talking to bigots.”

The spat started Tuesday with Rye, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, saying on “Anderson Cooper 360” that former President Barack Obama had to be the “next best thing to Jesus.” Walsh, who represented Illinois for one term in the House of Representatives, responded with incredulity: “Huh? Angela, that’s why u [sic] can’t be taken seriously.”

When Walsh spoke Wednesday, about a dust-up between White House press secretary Sean Spicer and reporter April Ryan during the Tuesday briefing, Rye sat stone-faced. When it was her turn to speak, she refused to acknowledge a question posed by Walsh.

“I’m not talking to bigots, Joe,” she said, holding her hand up. “I’m not talking to bigots.”

Asked Baldwin: “Why use the B word, Angela?”

Rye launched into a tirade.

“Because Joe is a bigot. And I’ll give you an example of why,” she said. “Since you brought up Twitter yesterday, here’s Joe’s tweet: ‘We lowered the bar for Obama. He was held to a lower standard cuz he was black.’”

Rye then criticized Walsh and CNN simultaneously.

“That is [a] Joe Walsh tweet,” she said. “You all decided to give Joe Walsh a platform today. I’m not giving him the time of day.”

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Rye said it was “asinine” to think of Trump in the White House. She recounted some of his campaign statements and the FBI’s probe into possible coordination between Russia and Trump associates.

“It’s very frustrating, and I’m tired of people telling me that black people are beneath a standard when we have to be twice good all the time,” she said. “And that is why I said I am not interested in having a dialogue with someone like Joe who has demonstrated a propensity towards bigotry.”

Walsh challenged the contention that Obama had to surpass a higher standard.

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“I find that laughable. And it’s got nothing, again, to do with race,” he said. “Never in our history have we had a president who was so coddled and pampered and protected by the media like Barack Obama. That’s not a high standard, Brooke. He was held to a very low standard because the media so loved him.”

At one point, Rye mumbled, “This is horrible.”

And Baldwin disputed the notion of a media double standard, arguing that journalists covered Obama in the same way they are covering the Trump administration.

When the segment devolved into shouting, Baldwin cut it short.

“I’m just sorry. I had no idea it would go this way,” she said. “But I do appreciate hearing two very different voices on something very, very important. Let’s just please be respectful to one another. We can have different opinions. But let’s respect one another … Ugh.”