Larry King blasts CNN

When CNN is being criticized by former CNN stalwart Larry King, you know something is dreadfully wrong.  King took exception to CNN's nearly wall-to-wall coverage of the missing Malaysian airlines 777.

Appearing on Tuesday's NBC Today, former CNN talk show host Larry King ridiculed his former employer when asked if he would ever return to the cable channel: "The tough time I would have at CNN now, I think, would be doing this airplane story. Because I think I'd crack up laughing. I think I would have – you know, how many times can you cover a plane? Six weeks and all we know is it made a left turn."

Co-host Willie Geist asked: "So you wouldn't do that story?" King replied: "Well, what if they forced me to? I would probably not want to do it. I think it would get embarrassing after a while."

Even the president joked at the White House Correspondents Dinner about having to travel to Malaysia recently just to get coverage from CNN. 

Why is CNN so obsessed with the story? CNN, under new stewardship, is trying to go in a different direction lately to try to save their flagging ratings. But I suspect that the reason lies elsewhere.

With the Benghazi scandal re-shaping into an issue the reluctant mainstream media has been forced to take note of now, and with the IRS scandal doing the same, CNN appears to be trying to distract viewers from real issues with a real life version of a serial TV show like Lost. When it comes to coverage of that plane being so omnipresent however,  if Larry King is embarrassed by it, you know it has gotten to the point of absurdity.

Quick thoughts on various topics

Some observational quick hits for today.

Sour Grapes:  Mitt Romney, we know you would have done better than the president as far as the Crimean crisis goes. Unfortunately continuing to blast him beyond your original op ed, will just come across as sour grapes.

Get it right guys: The White House blasted Matt Drudge for bragging about about paying the penalty for Obamacare when the penalty doesn't kick in until next year.  Except as a small business, the quarterly payments have technically started.  Get it right liberals.  Maybe you should read the 2700 pages of the ACA, and the 50,000+ pages of tax law to know what you have wrought upon the nation rather than just lashing out blindly.

Missing airplane, missing journalism:  I haven't said much about the missing Malaysian airlines 777 (if anything).  It's providing great cover for CNN to not talk about Obama's terrible response to the Crimean crisis.  And for them to speculate about black holes swallowing up the plane.  As far as the missing plane goes, my prayers are with the families of those who were on the plane.  The anguish must be immense.

Buffett of hypocrisy:  Warren Buffett offered a billion dollars to whomever could pick a perfect bracket in the NCAA college basketball tournament.  The odds of anyone getting it right are astronomically low, so he feels safe in doing it.  But from a guy who said he feels the rich don't pay enough tax, wouldn't the optics be a little better if he just paid the money in taxes?  Just saying.  The truth is that Warren Buffet's claims about the rich and taxes are ridiculously hypocritical.  He knew the odds were in his favor on the tournament (oops!), and it is no different with his taxes.  He doesn't want to give his money away in any way.