CNN has been reduced to peddling conspiracy theories. Hugh Hewitt has covered the ravings of Jack Cafferty:

Less than 30 minutes ago, Jack Cafferty on CNN's The Siutuation Room, which may soon be renamed The Rubber Room:

The last time we got a tape from Osama bin Laden was right before the 2004 presidential election. Now here we are four days away from hearings starting in Washington into the wire tapping of America's telephones without bothering to get a court order or a warrant, and up pops another tape from Osama bin Laden. Coincidence? Who knows.

In the same segment, Cafferty reads an e—mail and comments:

Mike writes "I don't think the new tape is important at all. Osama is trying to put something out to make himself look important. He's not really the al Qaeda leader anymore. He's a lot like the Queen of England, just a figurehead."

They actually look a little alike, too.

Diane, in Tampa Florida: "It seems suspicious. Every time the Republicans get into trouble, bin Laden sends a tape. Is it possible bin Laden is working out of the White House?"

Meanwhile the San Francisco Chronicle's hard left TV critic Tim Goodman can't forgive CNN for trying to be Fox News, in its desperate efforts to rise above a distant second place. Tim obvously yearns for CNN to be a popular "progressive" (his word — don't you love it when leftists refuse to call themselves leftists?) competitor to FNC.

Tim should check out his own paper's circulation to see how "progressive" politics are trending these days in the marketplace.

Thomas Lifson  1 20 06