Why is CNN so fixated on the eligibility issue?
That's the question former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, a top surrogate for Mitt Romney campaign, asked anchor Soledad O'Brien today.
"Why is CNN so fixated on this? Why don't we talk about the jobs issue in this country?" he asked.
O'Brien replied, "Sure, we're going to get to that in a moment, but let's start with this."
But Sununu argued, "It's CNN that wants to bring it up. I don't want to bring it up."
"I bet you don't," Â O'Brien interrupted, snickering.
Sununu then accused CNN of having an obsession with the eligibility issue.
"Mitt Romney has made it clear that he believes that President Obama was born in the U.S.," he said. "You had Donald Trump on last night, and now you are asking the question this morning. It's CNN's fixation."
O'Brien countered, "You don't think it's a valid question of someone posing as a supporter/surrogate? He's a high-level, big funder. He's talking about millions of dollars he's thinking of donating. You don't think it's a big deal that person talks about the fact that the president of the United States is not a citizen of the country?"
Sununu shot back: "I think it's as equivalent of an issue as Bill Maher, who gave a $1 million to President Obama talking with such a foul mouth about women. But you can't pick your supporters in this country. The fact is that this country has a jobs problem and supporters of the president, like CNN, keep wanting to talk about other issues."
O'Brien continued to inundate Sununu with questions about the eligibility issue and wouldn't move on to discuss American jobs.
"Aren't you embarrassed to be speaking directly from the Obama speaking points that they distributed yesterday?" Sununu inquired. "Aren't you embarrassed to sound exactly like the Obama spokesmen talking about John McCain? This is ridiculous! You should be embarrassed!"
He urged, "Come on, let's talk jobs!"
O'Brien defiantly shouted, "Is that because you don't want to talk about the fact that a major fundraiser is a birther?"
"It's not an issue," Sununu argued. "There is nobody in the Romney campaign that believes that the president was not born in the United States."
O'Brien pushed, "So then how come someone doesn't say, Donald Trump is wrong?"
"Donald Trump is wrong," Sununu said. "The president was born in the United States. Now let's move on."
"That, I think, might be the first time," O'Brien smirked, "Well thank you."
"No it isn't, ma'am," Sununu replied angrily. "It's just because you don't read enough that you don't understand that."
Is it all a CNN setup?
As WND reported, Radio giant Rush Limbaugh said CNN "set up" billionaire developer Donald Trump last night, springing the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility for office during an interview with the cable network's Wolf Blitzer.
"It was clearly a set-up," Limbaugh said. "Here's Donald Trump being set up by Blitzer and CNN, for the express purpose of what? Using that interview last night to do nothing but besmirch Romney with Trump and this birther business. That becomes the media narrative all day, so you can talk about Romney and his associations."
Limbaugh then listed some of today's media headlines to prove his point.
"Here's the AP headline: 'Romney clinches nomination, but Trump overshadows.' New York Times: 'Romney finds himself upstaged by Trump on big day.' Reuters: 'Trump birther remarks overshadow Romney appearance.' Los Angeles Times: 'Donald Trump steals limelight from Romney campaign.' Detroit Free Press: 'Donald Trump overshadows Romney nomination.' Yahoo News: 'In Vegas. Romney claims the nomination, the focus is on Trump.' And there's another AP story: 'Trump overshadows Romney with birther talk.'"
Meanwhile, Trump said he doesn't talk to Romney about the issue of Obama's eligibility to be president.
"I actually think it's a very good issue for Mitt Romney. I actually do. Now, I may be different. And again, I'm not a politician. I'm somebody that's done very well in business. I understand what life is all about," he told Greta Van Susteren during her "On the Record" show last night.
"I actually think it's a great issue for Mitt Romney, but he might not think that way. And we certainly can disagree on that. We don't even talk about that issue, by the way. We talk about jobs. We talk about lots of other things.
"One of the reasons I support him, I think he's a fine person who also understands China, understands OPEC, and understands what it's going to take to bring this country back. That's really what we talk about. We don't talk about this particular issue. I don't like to use the word 'birther' because I think it's very condescending to a very important issue. … But we don't talk about that."
As WND reported last night, Trump smacked CNN Tuesday, telling Blitzer the network would improve its dismal viewer ratings if it would only report the issue of Obama's eligibility to be president "accurately."
"Obama does not like the issue of where he was born…" he told Blitzer. "There's something that bothers Obama very much. I will tell you: It's not an issue that he likes talking about, so what he does is use reverse psychology on people like you … . He does not like that issue because it's hitting very close to home. You know it, and he knows it – but you don't report it accurately."