As flamboyant showman P.T. Barnum once observed, there is no such thing as bad publicity — later adding, "I don't care what you say about me; just spell my name right."  Proving the truth of these insights,  Anderson Cooper, wealthy son and heir of heiress and artist Gloria Vanderbilt and whose annual income as a CNN talking head is well above the average, condescendingly sniffed about the — take your pick depending on your attitude — participants, rioters, patriots, looters at Wednesday's Stop the Steal event in Washington, D.C.

"Look at them, they're high-fiving each other for this deplorable display of completely unpatriotic, completely against law and order, completely unconstitutional behavior, it's stunning," Cooper said.

"And they're going to go back to the Olive Garden and to the Holiday Inn they're staying at, or the Garden Marriott, and they're going to have some drinks and talk about the great day they had in Washington … They stood up for nothing other than mayhem."

As he hasn't made similar observations about the — take your pick depending on your attitude — participants, rioters, patriots, looters at similar but longer and more destructive events with a different orientation in Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, Kenosha, he obviously approves of these latter.  Doubtless he prefers, oh, say, the French Laundry, famous as the go-to fancy eatery for proudly hosting Governor Newsom (D-Calif.) and friends despite Newsom's ban on dining out.

So enjoy your Olive Garden salad and bread sticks, knowing you won't have to dine with the likes of Anderson Cooper.  

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.