"A Reasonable Interview"

Today, CNN's Tony Harris provided Senator Tom Coburn with an uncontested platform from which to broadcast a host of conservative objections to Democratic health care reform efforts. Not only did Harris make no effort to provide a countervailing point of view or fact-check Coburn's statements, he legitimized the Senator's viewpoint through effusive praise, ending the interview like this:

"We love having you on the program. You know, we think you're a reasonable voice in all of this, and we're trying to stay out of the echo chamber of all the noise and we're trying to stay focused on how to get this done. If you wouldn't mind, we've got an open invitation for you to come on the program."

WATCH:

A reasonable voice? What would Coburn have to say in order for Harris to consider him unreasonable?

Well, pretending to be Ricky Ricardo while questioning Sonia Sotomayor doesn't count. Nor does lamenting the "rampant" lesbianism in Oklahoma's schools, or decrying the fact that the "gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country," resulting in an agenda that promotes "the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners" and is "the greatest threat to our freedom we face today."

For Harris, favoring the death penalty for "abortionists" is apparently reasonable, as is the fact that Coburn described his senate run in 2004 as a fight between "good and evil."

And just to be clear: believing that the President is "way too young and way too inexperienced to lead this country" while also thinking that silicone breast implants make you healthier -- that's all reasonable, too.

Thank goodness we steered clear of that echo chamber!