What happened to CNN?

Almost 30 years ago, CNN delivered bold and courageous on the ground reporting of Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq. It was a testimony to the freedom of the press in action.

Fast forward to today, and alas, CNN has flushed its courageous reporting and matter-of-fact analysis down the drain. Such was the case with their 7-hour-long climate change town hall featuring 10 of the Democratic candidates for president last night.

It was an embarrassing excuse for journalism.

CFACT’s Marc Morano appeared on Fox and Friends this morning to analyze what was said. Marc watched this marathon of ridiculous, fact-free grandstanding so you wouldn’t have to.

You can watch Marc’s full exchange on Fox and Friends here.

The candidates spouted all the usual talking points we’ve grown too familiar with:

“Within the next 11 years, the damage done to our country and the rest of the world will be irreparable,” explained Senator Bernie Sanders.

Vice President Joe Biden declared: “Climate change [is] the single greatest concern for war and disruption in the world.”

And not to be one-upped, Senator Elizabeth Warren pleaded: “Life on Earth is at risk. If we don’t make CNN's climate circus 1this commitment [on climate change], we don’t only cheat our children, we cheat their future and their children’s future and that is morally wrong.”

CNN desperately tried to present this town hall as a response to millions of regular Americans who are supposedly desperately concerned about climate change.

But almost every question that came from the crowd was asked by an employee, lobbyist, activist, or student involved with a radical environmental group, including the Sunrise Movement and the Audubon Society.

What was worse than CNN’s coverage of the candidates regurgitating the claims of doom and gloom we hear every day, however, were their proposed solutions to the so-called climate “crisis.”

Senator Sanders enthusiastically agreed to include population control through abortions as a means to limit the effects the developing world has on climate change.

In regards to coal, Joe Biden assured the crowd: “We’ve got to shut down the [coal plants] that we have, but no one is going to build a new one.”

That message won’t play very well for the former Vice President in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, or Michigan.

Senator Kamala Harris said: “There is no question I am in favor of banning fracking.” When asked if she would ban offshore drilling, Senator Harris enthusiastically replied “yes.”

What was most bizarre, however, was Senator Warren’s claims that energy companies are actually responsible for the Left’s calls to ban plastic straws, incandescent light bulbs, and even cheeseburgers, to try to distract people from regulating CO₂.

“This is exactly what the fossil fuel industry hopes we all talk about! They want to be able to stir up a lot of controversy around lightbulbs, straws, and cheeseburgers.”

The most common theme though among all the candidates was their plan to spend literally trillions of dollars to try to fix the planet.

As Marc declared in his segment on Fox this morning: “I’m gonna give a spoiler here, Bernie Sanders wins! He was at over $16 trillion…the real question is why didn’t Bernie say $30 [trillion] or $45 trillion? Why didn’t they just keep upping the numbers? But that is the bottom line, they came up with who could regulate and spend the most, [in order to] save the planet.”

We’ve seen this before. It’s never really about saving the planet. It’s a means to an end to grow every government program under the sun, and ultimately to increase government control over our lives.

Don’t count on CNN to report on that any time soon.