I grew up watching Crossfire on CNN. But that was before the dark times of the past 13 years. Crossfire's original time period was an era in which even leftist 20 percenters and deranged right-wingers could speak to each other and debate issues in an intelligent fashion and without all the hate and third-grade style ad hominem attacks of today. But 9-11 and the 2000 election seemed to send all of these people off the deep end, and things have never been the same since...
Some of my favorite political pundits are old former Crossfire hosts, even if I don't hold with their group-thinking, totem-pole-style, extremist views of the world. I'm thinking of names such as Bob Novak, Juan Williams, Pat Buchanan, Bob Beckel, Michael Kingsley, and Fred Barnes, among others.
I still recall living in the ol' trailer court in the early 90's ("Walnut Hills" on Old 63, baby!) during my sophomore and junior years at the University of Missouri, when my roommate and I would typically catch Crossfire most nights at 6 p.m. as we ate our supper (BTW, I was more of a Hamburger Helper man for my typical eats, while Justin was a much better cook in terms of his grub -- an Aristocrat, you might say! But I digress...)
Which brings me to the current state of affairs: Great that CNN is trying to bring back the old show -- but with the sleazy likes of Stephanie Cutter and Newt Gingrich as hosts!?!?! Why not just turn over the show to a Pinocchio doll and a Georgia shithouse?
IF the show comes back, I want to see hosts on the right and left who can speak like reasonable human beings to each other. Which, alas, brings me to a tandem that I would recommend for CNN to go after: Fox News' Sean Hannity (deranged right-winger) and former Obama cabinet member Austan Goolsbee (loony leftist 20 percenter). Their debates on Hannity's show are always lively and entertaining, and they don't even have to call vile names! Such a novel concept over there.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/04/cnn-in-talks-with-newt-gingrich-stephanie-cutter-for-162439.html
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