On CNN, informal Obama adviser, professor claims Fox News audience is ‘ignorant’

With just two weeks till the election, the left is doing battle with … Fox News. Professor Drew Westen decided to bash those who watch the network, calling them “people who are ignorant.”

In a Oct. 22 CNN segment called “Swaying the Undecided,” host Carol Costello’s lengthy introduction described Westen as “a psychology professor at Emory University and author of "The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation.’” She added, “he was also an informal adviser to the Obama campaign.” Shocker.

Costello was incredulous that anyone could be undecided, pointing out that “Mitt Romney has been running … forever” and “the two men are as different as men can be.”

Westen said both sides were getting out their base to try to win. “Romney's base is now excited. I mean it’s so interesting, because he's moved FAR to the left of everything that he said during the primaries,” he said, adding a kicker. “I mean you have to do that because you have to please the Fox News listeners in order to win the Republican primaries, which means you're getting, you're working with people who are ignorant.” Naturally, Costello laughed in response, saying “Oh, Drew!”

Westen added, he didn’t “mean to be partisan towards CNN but you know the reality is they have a point of view.” Of course, he just happened to be on CNN, again.

He then continued to bash Fox “listeners.” (News flash to Emory: Fox is on TV!) “And they've been taught a series of things, which Mitt Romney is smart enough to know isn't true. So you know, (chuckles) what he had to do is get through that.”

Oddly, Westen’s political brain rationalizes a lot about CNN, noting that “you’d be surprised how much people will hear while they’re making dinner, of CNN, out of the corner of their ears.” Apparently, Nielsen would also be surprised, since Fox typically crushes its cable news opponents.

Attacking the right wasn’t exactly new for Westen who has criticized the GOP and Tea Party before. In a 2010 appearance with Costello, he sounded similar. “Republicans used the president’s strategy to create fear and confusion among voters. It also fueled the tea party movement,” he claimed.

It sounds like Westen needs to use his next book to analyze his own emotions and why he thinks people who disagree with his mighty self are “ignorant.”

This article is part of our ongoing series of "bias alerts" which focuses on calling out bias in the media. For additional bias alerts click here