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Ari Fleischer Joins CNN As Political Contributor

» 28 comments

Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush, has joined CNN as a political contributor, the network announced this morning.

Fleischer served as the primary spokesman on Bush’s presidential campaign and through the rough early years of Bush’s presidency, covering 2000 recount, 9/11 and the U.S.’s entry into Iraq and Afghanistan, at times with a quite heavy hand. He stepped down midterm, in 2003, saying that, “You have to have a sense of when the time is right to make your decision about to serve or to go.” In the years since, he has worked with his own consulting company, Ari Fleischer Sports Communications Inc, while making time for frequent cable news spots.

Fleischer’s addition to the team should buff-up the network’s commentary in approach of the 2012 elections. CNN senior vice president and Washington bureau chief Sam Feist said in a statement that:

Ari’s extraordinary experience in the political arena and the White House make him an invaluable contributor to the network. We are thrilled to have Ari on board and our viewers will appreciate his keen insight as we head into this election cycle.

“It’s shaping up as a red hot political year and I’m eager to lend my perspective to it,” said Fleischer. “I’m looking forward to joining CNN as a regular contributor.”

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  • Darladoon

    yeah, that oh-so-liberal CNN has just hired mr. gotta-defend-torture-at-all-costs

  • Anonymous

    MSNBC tries to restructure itself by going further left.  CNN tries to strike a balance with extreme left hosts and occasional extreme right pundits.  Here’s a thought – hire an independent that calls BS on everybody.  Too bad they can only get B-listers.  Fox is at the top of the cable news food chain and has the best talent – I say that because its true and I say that to tick some radicals off :)    I’d like to see Fox feature some of their a-list liberal personalities more (even though I think they are mostly full of crap) since that often brings out the best discussions.

  • Anonymous

    ,.. awesomee ..
    I just got a $827.89 iPad2 for only $103.37 and my mom got a $1499.99 HTV for only $251.92, they are both coming tomorrow. I would be an idiot to ever pay full retail prîces at places like Walmart or Bestbuy. I sold a 37″ HTV to my boss for $600 that I only paid $78.24 for.
    I use http://alturl.com/f956c

  • Glutton

    Fox mainly gets its ratings from 3 factors. 

    1) Playing the conservative demographic.

    2) Creating more drama than reporting news.

    3) Blonde female anchors. 

  • Anonymous

    Ari will be working for ” FOX ” in eighteen, maybe twenty four months….tops.

  • Anonymous

    Guifoyle isn’t blond, but has the outrageous personality to negate that need.  I’d rather hear from an intelligent and attractive person than an intelligent and unattractive person, but that’s just me.  

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    I hope you’re correct. It would be a better venue for such a liar. 

  • Anonymous

    Maybe he will tattoo Anderson Cooper’s face on top of his shiny bald head.

  • Anonymous

    As if Paul Begala is a fountain of truth.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Could very well be, but I am not making any comparisons. I am simply stating a truth: Ari is a liar.

  • Texan

    And you’re so freaking jealous you can’t see straight, lacky. ;)

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Yet, you can’t prove anything he said untrue. In fact, you don’t even dispute it.

  • ganymede

    I don’t know. If Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Yoo, etc belong in jail for their egregious lying and criminality, what does that make Fleischer who was their front man. Oh yes, he gets rewarded with a program on CNN. Part of the cloud hanging over America has to do with the lack of justice in the land as well as the delusions, denial and infantile obstructionism of the rightwing.

  • Anonymous

    Fare enough, but given the minimal conservative (which is more than 50% of the population or the country) personalities on CNN a comparison is a valid topic, though you conveniently didn’t raise it.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    You’re correct. I did not raise the issue. However, I am actually very supportive of more conservative voices at CNN. Histrionics aside, CNN is the closest we have to a 24 hour news channel in America. That creates a certain content test when news is “enhanced” or analyzed by commentary. I would simply say Ari is as poor choice for this role as Paul is for the other “side”. A George Will type conservative would be a most welcome addition. There are others, as well. Barone, Brooks, Charan, Noonan, Sowell. All could add much.

  • TruDat

    BTW, don’t forget to lock up Holder for his illegal activities, one of which resulted in the death of a U.S. border agent.  And Obama, who illegally entered a war with Libya (for a matter of days, not weeks).

  • TruDat

    Prove it.

  • TruDat

    If waterboarding is torture, what do you call Obama’s favorite tactic of drone bombing innocent men, women and children in countries we’re not at war with, such as Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia??

  • Anonymous

    Back in the day I was a huge critic of Fleischer, but in comparison to the failures Obama has employed, Fleischer was a master.

  • ed galbraith

    Ari Fleischer is intelligent, arrogant and has a wonderful world view…a bit left of Adolph Hitler.

  • Anonymous

    Keep trying CNN, you’ll appease that right wing yet. I’m sure his “extraordinary experience” as an inveterate liar and hopeless political hack will serve your viewers well.

     

  • ed galbraith

    Well said. “Political hack” is right on the money. I have never…never…heard him criticize even the most blatant GOP errors/treachery. On the other hand, I have heard Paul Begala take a swipe at his Dem confderates. Why the difference? Oh yes…back to “political hack”

  • Anonymous

    Damn!  You are an athletic person….I saw the way you just leaped over addressing that comment and went right for the “oh yeah?” comment.  You must be trying to set a new world record, huh?

  • Anonymous

    I think it depends on what they’re trying to do.  Put him on a point-counterpoint formatted show with a leftist of equal and a fact-finding journalist moderating the show…then you’ll have a good show.  Let the viewers create their own opinions by hearing the story in the raw and then the opinions of the left and right.  You just don’t find that anymore.

  • http://twitter.com/Staciisa_bitch Staci Chase

    It looks to me like CNN is pushing in the Tea Party direction.  

  • Bob

    oh, so NOW conservatives have a problem with bombing. Where were you during Shock and Awe?

  • Bob

    There is no liberal media:
    “”I admit it: the liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures.” 
    –Bill Kristol

  • Bob

    “ ”The truth is, I’ve gotten fairer, more comprehensive coverage of my ideas than I ever imagined I would receive. I’ve gotten balanced coverage and broad coverage — all we could have asked… For heaven sakes, we kid about the liberal media, but every Republican on earth does that.”
    –Pat Buchanan

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