CNN's Crowley again defines liberals by purported choice of caffeinated beverage

Summary: CNN's Candy Crowley said that the "affluent, well-educated white voters" who were part of Sen. Barack "Obama's voting bloc" were the "so-called latte liberals." This statement recalls her reported 2004 suggestion that green tea is unfamiliar to "most of America" after John Kerry requested it in Iowa. Similarly, on Fox News, U.S. News & World Report's Michael Barone suggested that Obama would do well among "latte liberals." Alan Colmes then challenged Barone's description: "[A]re there latte conservatives?"

On the February 11 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, senior political correspondent Candy Crowley said that the "affluent, well-educated white voters" who were part of Sen. Barack "Obama's voting bloc" were the "so-called latte liberals." Similarly, during Fox News' coverage of February 9 caucuses and primaries, U.S. News & World Report senior writer Michael Barone suggested that Obama would do well among "latte liberals." Moments later, co-host Alan Colmes challenged Barone's description: "Is there -- are there latte conservatives? I'm just curious. Do they -- conservatives may like that drink, too. It's a very lovely drink." Barone responded: "Well, I think it seems to be a pretty universal drink these days."

Crowley's use of the term "latte liberals" recalls her reported 2004 suggestion that green tea is unfamiliar to "most of America." According to a November 16, 2004, Palm Beach Post article, Crowley gave a speech in which she said that in January 2003, she and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) "met for breakfast at the Holiday Inn in Dubuque, Iowa. 'I'd like to start out with some green tea,' Kerry told the waitress, who stared at him for a moment before responding, 'We have Lipton's.' " The article reported that Crowley said: "There were many green tea instances ... There's a very large disconnect between the Washington politicians and most of America and how they live. Bush was able to bridge that gap, and Kerry was not." In fact, as Media Matters for America noted at the time, according to Lipton's product locator, green tea was available (and still is available in 2008) at the Dubuque, Iowa, Kmart.

Additionally, on the December 14, 2007, edition of The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer cited a December 12, 2007, Associated Press article, in which the presidential candidates answered questions about their coffee preferences, part of the AP's "series of questions about [the candidates'] personal side," and announced, "[L]ook at this -- Hillary Clinton is a flip-flopper. Sometimes she takes it black, sometimes with cream." Yet, Blitzer had offered no characterization of either Rudy Giuliani's or Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) coffee preferences, noting only "Giuliani prefers low-cal sweetener, any brand will do" and "McCain is fond of cappuccino, or coffee with cream and sugar."

During the October 19, 2006, edition of The Situation Room, Crowley asserted that Democrats have been "on the losing side of the values debate, the defense debate and, oh yes, the guns debate"; suggested that Democrats are out of touch with mainstream Americans because "[former Democratic presidential candidates] Al Gore and John Kerry lost every Southern state and most of the mid- and interior West"; and aired only negative opinions of the Democratic Party, such as an Asheville, North Carolina, resident who called the Democrats "losers."

From the November 16, 2004, Palm Beach Post article:

During a luncheon speech Monday to the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, CNN political correspondent Candy Crowley shared an early memory from the campaign trail that may explain why John Kerry will not be president next year.

In January 2003, when his campaign was still young enough that Kerry would actually sit down with reporters in a relaxed setting, he and Crowley met for breakfast at the Holiday Inn in Dubuque, Iowa. "I'd like to start out with some green tea," Kerry told the waitress, who stared at him for a moment before responding, "We have Lipton's."

Lipton's would be fine, Kerry said, but the memory stayed with Crowley. "There were many green tea instances," she told the sell-out crowd of 450 at the Kravis Center's Cohen Pavilion. "There's a very large disconnect between the Washington politicians and most of America and how they live. Bush was able to bridge that gap, and Kerry was not."

From the 8 p.m. ET hour of Fox News' February 9 presidential primaries and caucuses coverage:

COLMES: What's going on with the state of Washington and why has it not yet been called?

BARONE: Well, it hasn't been called yet -- we got reports showing 37 percent of the precincts reporting. We don't know which precincts, and that makes a lot of difference in Washington state. If you've got the latte liberals in King County, you know, going only lukewarmly for Barack Obama, you would -- he might be ahead, but you might suppose he would be behind when the eastern precincts in Spokane County, which is a lot more conservative, east of the Cascades, comes in and vote. So when we don't know what it is, we're not able to say for sure who's going to win that race. The initial things show Obama ahead. We'll see where that vote comes from and what it means as the night goes on.

COLMES: All right, Michael, we'll be following you throughout the night as well. Is there -- are there latte conservatives? I'm just curious. Do they -- conservatives may like that drink, too. It's a very lovely drink.

BARONE: Well, I think it seems to be a pretty universal drink these days, but it really got its start in Seattle, you know, the first Starbucks. I've been there.

COLMES: That's right. All right, all right.

From the February 11 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

CROWLEY: One hundred sixty-eight delegates are at stake Tuesday in the Potomac primary: Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. All have sizable African-American populations, as well as significant numbers of affluent, well-educated white voters -- the so-called "latte liberals" -- who, along with young voters, form the core of Obama's voting bloc. The momentum for the moment is his, built in part on wins in all five weekend contests: caucuses in Washington state, Nebraska, Maine, the Virgin Islands, and a primary in Louisiana.

—B.J.L.