I’m typically more inclined to defend CNN these days than Fox News, but mainly because Fox News has now fashioned itself into this shrill, mindless caricature of state-run media, more beholden to a corrupt man than our nation.

That being said, I’ve never suggested that the rest of mainstream news are without fault, and in fact, the reason Fox News has done markedly better in ratings, through the years, is because most every other network – including CNN – has been agenda-driven, in their own right.

For that matter, for 8 years of Obama, most were just as bad as Fox is about Trump, now.

Tribalism has overtaken honest news reporting, with only the occasional bright spot, in the way of a newsman [or woman] who seems to take the job for what it was meant to be.

Now, that being said, it’s time to slap at CNN for the town hall spectacle of Wednesday night.

How dare you.

I get that emotions are raw, and the knee-jerk reaction, every time there is a tragic event, like the death of 17 people in a mass school shooting, everybody wants something to be done. What that “something” should be tends to vary.

What can’t happen is what CNN hosted on Wednesday night, under the guise of a “town hall,” featuring students and parents affected by school shootings, asking questions of politicians (Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson), along with the Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, and Dana Loesch, representing the NRA.

They could call it a town hall, but it was basically an event to allow children with no concept of why our nation has a Bill of Rights, our Constitutional Amendments, or anything other than their shock and other lingering emotions to shout and be disrespectful to adults.

Want to know why this nation is going to hell in a handbasket? Start there.

It was an event perfectly harnessed by the left, and it was so wretchedly disrespectful to those like Senator Rubio and Dana Loesch, who agreed to come and represent the political right on this issue.

I have no doubt that CNN pretty much planned to see Rubio and Loesch humiliated.

First things first. Nothing that went on last night was humiliating to either of them, no matter how it has been spun. They had the guts to do it. They likely knew how it would go. They’re not whining about it today. Rubio, in particular, was the epitome of cool under pressure.

Now, this:

Colton Haab, a student of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and a member of the Junior JROTC who shielded students during the February 14 shooting spree of Nikolas Cruz says he was approached before the town hall and asked to be one of those to present a question.

The thing is, it was to be their question.

According to Haab, he wanted to ask about the possibility of putting armed, retired veterans in schools as security guards, but CNN had specific questions that they’d crafted for him, so he chose not to participate.

Said Haab:

“CNN had originally asked me to write a speech and questions and it ended up being all scripted,” Haab said. “I don’t think that it’s going get anything accomplished. It’s not gonna ask the true questions that all the parents and teachers and students have.”

Smart kid.

It would have been smarter if he’d agreed to their terms, but flipped once he had a mic in his hand and had given the speech he wanted to give and asked the questions he wanted to ask.

That’s how I would have handled it, at least.

CNN released a single sentence statement after Haab’s story aired, and it’s what you’d expect.

CNN did not, and does not, script any questions for town hall meetings, ever.

Ok. So let’s not use the word, “scripted.”

Does CNN “make suggestions” about what to ask?

Did CNN “help craft” questions?

I’m not sure there’s a way to prove who is telling the truth in this instance, but why would this kid just make up such a thing?

I mean, they allowed somebody to stand up and equate Senator Rubio to the murderer. Some smug kid said that the crowd would give the same amount to Rubio as he received from the NRA, if he’d back a gun ban (Rubio got a rather paltry $9,000 and change from the NRA, actually). It seemed pretty clear that there was an agenda at play.

You can listen to Haab’s version of events and decide if he’s believable, for yourself: