A marvelous illustration - and lesson - in the rank partisanship and bias of CNN and MSNBC.

Congressman Matt Salmon said he wouldn't support gay marriage even though his son was gay. This led to a scramble by CNN and MSNBC to try and book the young man so he could bash his father on live TV.

Imagine their surprise when he informed them that he had no such intention.

Buzzfeed:

Rep. Matt Salmon's (R-Ariz.) gay son told local news channel KPNX Sunday that CNN and MSNBC cancelled interviews with him after he said he informed producers that he wouldn't attack his father on air.

Both networks dispute the claim.

The younger Salmon said MSNBC's The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell cancelled his appearance because "they had intended to be critical of him and... I was unwilling to do so." He said CNN's Piers Morgan Live initially "seemed very gung ho about" an interview, but when he said he wouldn't criticize his father, "they seemed to lose interest.

A spokeswoman for MSNBC fold BuzzFeed "a producer had initial conversations with Matt, like we do with many potential guests every day, but he was never formally booked for the show."

Someone close to Piers Morgan's show said, "This isn't accurate. The show simply booked up with other guests on a different topic. Happens all the time in cable news."

Suuuuuure. Happens all the time. We're looking to portray one point of view  and one point of view only, and if a guest doesn't measure up, we pretend we never heard of the guy and quietly drop the matter.

Technically speaking, the younger Salmon was probably not "booked" in the sense he had confirmation of appearing on the air. But there is absolutely no doubt that the networks lost interest in him once it became clear he wouldn't go on air to "trash" his father.

Not admitting that is the same as lying.