Video: Bold refusal to read moronic celebrity news — or technical glitch?
posted at 8:13 am on July 25, 2007 by Allahpundit
From yesterday’s “Situation Room.” TV Newser thinks this is Unhappy Jack’s Brzezinski-ish rebellion at having to read a story about Lindsay Lohan. Not so, I don’t think. Cafferty doesn’t read stories, he does dopey “question of the day” spots, and per the chyron here the question of the day had to do with the Pew poll on suicide bombings, not Lohan. What you’re looking at, I think, is a simple technical glitch in which someone put the script for the wrong segment in the Teleprompter and he’s telling them to put the right one in. Caff’s got no problem with the LiLo items; he’ll read ‘em, he just won’t like ‘em.
But judge for yourself.
Blowback
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glitch
captivated_dem on July 25, 2007 at 8:20 AM
Jack, “I’m lucky to be working” Cafferty would read Green Eggs & Ham on the air if so instructed. It’s not like he as other employment options.
TheBigOldDog on July 25, 2007 at 8:25 AM
Wow. Jack Cafferty. When I was a boy, he was the local NBC happy-news anchor here in NY. He paired with a lady called Sue Simmons. I don’t watch TV now so I didn’t know he was on CNN. But I can assure you, Jack is nota serious newsman and this was a glitch.
JiangxiDad on July 25, 2007 at 8:30 AM
I remember that too…I believe Sue Simmons is still on channel 4.
As for the clip, it certainly does look like a glitch, but we’d need to see a bit more to keep it in context.
Jack seems to be just that…the CNN morning grouch. He’s got a ways to go to match the vitriol of, say, our friend Olby.
JetBoy on July 25, 2007 at 8:44 AM
He is the crotch in crotchety.
TheSitRep on July 25, 2007 at 9:00 AM
But, Jack Caffery is a real journalist…he’s got bags under his eyes and he sleeves are rolled up. He’s what they used to call “a newsman.”
HockeyTemper on July 25, 2007 at 9:02 AM
Itr certainly seems like a technical glitch. He said “put my script”, which seems to imply that that was what he was expecting (although it’s tough to tell without the preamble). If he had just wanted to skip the story he probably would have said, “put the XYZ story up, instead of …”. That’s the impression from this clip.
Of course, depending on an accurate use of English to discern ones intention is very difficult when dealing with CNN, where the English tends to be pretty sloppy on a regular basis.
progressoverpeace on July 25, 2007 at 9:11 AM
Glitch + bold refusal to disguise his irritation because he had expected to stir his little spoonful of worry over suicide-bombing into the MSM cauldron.
RushBaby on July 25, 2007 at 9:33 AM
Hey, way to call out your co-workers. I’m sure Jack is just loved in the newsroom.
And CNN still provides hard scripts (paper copies) to the anchors. What is it Jack? Too difficult to read from a printed page like a true professional would in that situation? Seriously, a BIG TIME jerk.
Malpaso on July 25, 2007 at 9:42 AM
No, I don’t think it was simply a technical glitch. If it was, Cafferty could have simply said “The story on the teleprompter doesn’t match what I’m doing; could the technicians in the control room please replace it with the correct piece?” In other words, he didn’t need to mention what the other story was about. It appears to me he went out of his way to say “Lindsay Lohan” with a sneer in his voice. Or does he just have a sneer in his voice when he says anything?
Man, Jack patronizes an incompetent dry cleaner, doesn’t he? I mean, he’s been waiting about five years now for them to deliver his jacket!
radjah shelduck on July 25, 2007 at 9:44 AM
Cafferty rants so much to the ultra-left looonies from Kos and moveon that he sometimes makes Olbermahnnn sound like the Chairman of the PTA Bake Sale.
Always Right on July 25, 2007 at 9:54 AM
It looks to me like he wrote a script and they put in the Lindsey thing because it’s so important. He didn’t want to read it. He wanted to read what he wrote.
Rightwingsparkle on July 25, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Glitch. He’s just a crabby old guy who has lost his marbles.
congsan on July 25, 2007 at 12:15 PM
While the on-air talent does review/edit the scripts, that’s not what he means when he says “my script”. From my experience, the Lohan story was probably someone else’s to read, or else his but at a different time slot, and he simply meant “get the teleprompter on the piece that’s up next, matching what I have in my hands”.
The sardonic “Apparently it’s not” comment should ensure that this happens to him again, real soon, and intentionally. Don’t call out the guy who runs a teleprompter, you never know what you’ll say next.
Freelancer on July 25, 2007 at 1:08 PM
Cafferty wouldn’t take a chance at losing his job, in my opinion. So I vote for glitch. After CNN, there’s either MSNBC or Rather’s lackey up on HDnet
PowWow on July 25, 2007 at 6:49 PM