On October 20, after accusing CNN of showing an Iraqi insurgent propaganda video “in an attempt to influence the election in favor of the liberals, and to increase their TV ratings and the number of website visits they get,” Newsradio 850 KOA host “Gunny” Bob Newman asked his listeners to respond to his daily online poll question: “Do you think radical liberals get a kick out of watching our soldiers get shot on the CNN videos?” Newman then clarified the question: “Normal liberals, like [Sen.] Joe Lieberman [CT], you know, middle-of-the-road liberals, they will not get a kick out of it. But the radical liberals, will they?” On October 23, announcing the results of the unscientific poll, Newman reported that 96 percent of respondents answered “Yes” to the question of whether “radical liberals get a kick out of watching our soldiers get shot.”

Newman also asserted on October 20, “CNN is having a good laugh and believes it has found a way to make more money and get more liberals in power. And if that means exploiting our wounded and killed-in-action troops then so be it, they say. I mean, my God, do radical liberals have any sense of morality and decency at all?”

The CNN video to which Newman referred first aired on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 during an October 18 report on insurgent sniper attacks in Iraq. According to an October 19 statement by David Doss, the executive producer of Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware received a videotape, apparently “through intermediaries,” from the Islamic Army of Iraq that “documented 10 incidents of insurgent snipers attacking U.S. military personnel.” During a portion of the tape aired on CNN, a U.S. soldier was shown sitting in a vehicle while insurgents discussed an imminent sniper attack. As a gunshot was audible, CNN briefly blacked out the video feed. The soldier then was seen slumping over, apparently having been struck. Cooper and others repeatedly referred to the video as “propaganda” during the program. Brief segments of the video subsequently were replayed on the October 19 editions of Anderson Cooper 360, American Morning, CNN Newsroom, and Your World Today; and on the October 23 edition of The Situation Room.

From the October 20 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: CNN under fire for heavily promoting its terrorist-produced sniper videos of terrorist snipers shooting U.S. soldiers. CNN claims that such videos are needed to show naïve, ignorant, stupid, uncaring Americans that our troops are under fire in a war zone. As if we had no clue that gunfire is part of war. I mean, how stupid does CNN think we are? In reality, of course, CNN is showing the videos in an attempt to influence the election in favor of the liberals, and to increase their TV ratings and the number of website visits they get, which means they can charge more money for advertising. It's a business decision, and a political decision. Make no mistake, CNN is showing you these videos for, well, political gain and monetary gain, nothing else. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to buy any product or service advertised on CNN. This is a matter of principle. I mean, you do what you want, I don't care. CNN is having a good laugh and believes it has found a way to make more money and get more liberals in power. And if that means exploiting our wounded and killed-in-action troops, then so be it, they say. I mean, my God, do radical liberals have any sense of morality and decency at all? And why won't CNN -- if their claim is true: “Oh, we just want everyone to know the truth” -- well then, why won't CNN show videos of the good guys whacking the bad guys? Why won't CNN show, as they claim is their intention, the unvarnished truth about -- oh, I don't know -- abortions by showing videos of babies being yanked by forceps out of wombs piece by piece? I was just thinking [unintelligible], why not show that?

NEWMAN: Today's poll question: Do you think radical liberals get a kick out of watching our soldiers get shot on the CNN videos? Go to the Gunny Bob pages on 850KOA.com. Normal liberals, people like Joe Lieberman, you know, middle-of-the-road liberals, they will not get a kick out of it. But the radical liberals, will they? Go to the Gunny Bob pages on 850 KOA to vote.

NEWMAN: What do you do, [Caller]?

CALLER: What I do? Emergency power.

NEWMAN: Oh, really?

CALLER: So, I handle police departments; I do FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency], Department of Homeland Security, FBI. Umm --

NEWMAN: Mm-hmm --

CALLER: -- a lot of radio stations, 911 centers --

NEWMAN: [Caller], in my view, CNN is having an emergency right now. And they're having an ethics-and-judgment emergency. They're saying that, “Oh, we're just showing these terrorist-produced sniper videos so that Americans can see the, quote, 'unvarnished truth,' close quote, of war. As if Americans don't know that in war, people get shot. And what CNN is trying to do, of course, is to tilt the election a little more and also trying to increase their ratings, because if they increase their ratings, they make more ad money. And they're also trying to get more people to go to their website, because the more hits they get on the website -- of people going to watch Marines and soldiers and sailors and airmen getting sniped by terrorists -- the more hits they get, the more they can charge for advertising on that website.

CALLER: Hmmm. I see. Wow, so, ”Oh no, are they doing this for profit?" Heh, heh.

NEWMAN: No. Oh -- they wouldn't think of anything like that.

[...]

NEWMAN: You have to be very naïve to believe that CNN released these videos now as purely coincidence. They did it intentionally -- it was specifically timed for this to play and interact with the upcoming election, and I am hoping that most Americans will see very clearly through this, that it is a disgusting, unethical ruse by radical hate-mongers on the left. And hopefully it will, in fact, blow up in their face. Thank you, [Caller]. 303-713-8585. Gunny Bob, 850 KOA. I mean, let's not be naïve. Let's not do that. This was a timing thing, and CNN actually has the temerity to defend themselves, saying, “Oh no, this is just a hard-news story, and we want everyone to know the truth.” Yeah, you're right. No Americans -- who knew? None of us knew that in war, people get shot. We had no idea. “I didn't know what was happening in war.” No Americans did. 303-713-8585. It's pure hate, is what it is. And they're trying to throw the election. Imagine World War II and, let's say a film crew in World War II, in the war in the Pacific, that they filmed only Japanese snipers shooting Marines on islands like Tarawa and Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima and Okinawa. And then they brought that film -- the film reel -- back, or sent it back by plane, and one of the news networks just played that. And the news network said, “Oh, no, we're only doing this to let Americans know that our guys are getting shot in the war.” What would their reaction have been then? Well, it would have been very different than what we're seeing today. Of course, the network would have never have thought of doing something like that, because back then, networks weren't trying to throw elections and were not as interested in making extra money off of dead Americans.

From the October 23 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: And Friday's poll question: Do you think radical liberals get a kick out of watching our soldiers get shot on the CNN videos? Four percent of you said “No,” 96 percent said “Yes.”