Jack & Jill Politics

Pretending to be a couple of cranky old guys, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza riff that Hillary Clinton is a "Mad Bitch," showing that maybe there's not much pretending involved. Painful to watch on almost every level.

Media Matters, which has been attacking CNN for not reining in Lou Dobbs’ birther obsession, has now purchased air time to run a TV ad attacking “CNN’s Lou Dobbs problem” — during Dobbs’ show!

A Media Matters spokesman tells me the group has bought a week of ad time on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News in D.C., New York, and Atlanta, beginning Tuesday. The catch: Media Matters has specifically purchased time to air the ad during Dobbs’ show — putting CNN in the position of either running the spot or nixing it and making this a bigger story.

Here’s the script of the spot:

TITLE: CNN’s Dobbs Problem –- 30 Sec.

Chyron: CNN Has a Lou Dobbs Problem

Voice Over: CNN’s Lou Dobbs has been promoting the false, right-wing conspiracy that President Obama hasn’t produced a valid U.S. birth certificate.

Clips: A series of short clips of Dobbs saying “birth certificate”

Voice Over: CNN President Jon Klein said Dobbs’ obsession was “legitimate.”

Clips: Another series of short clips of Dobbs saying “birth certificate”

Voice Over: It’s time for “The Most Trusted Name in News” to live up to its slogan. Let CNN know there’s nothing “legitimate” about racially charged paranoia.

Chyron: Take action at mediamatters.org

CNN, obviously, hasn’t yet been informed of the ad’s content. It seems that Media Matters’ goal is to get CNN’s competitors to pick up on the story as news, to bait CNN into responding, and to foment internal tensions over Dobbs within the network. Media Matters has been closely documenting the Dobbs/birther story, and this is a real escalation. It’ll be interesting to see how CNN and Dobbs react.

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Update: A statement from Media Matters president Eric Burns earlier this afternoon gives more context:

“Between the reaction from other media figures and the crashing of Dobbs’ ratings, CNN is making a mockery of its claim to being ‘the most trusted name in news.’ CNN can’t continue to condone Dobbs’ birther coverage and expect to be taken seriously. Jon Klein owes viewers — and his network — more.”