CNN has reported at length on the rise and fall of Elizabeth Lauten, the Republican congressional aide who resigned Monday after criticizing the first daughters in a weekend Facebook post.
But CNN has yet to address one of its own anchor’s gleeful handling of Bristol Palin’s alleged assault earlier this year by a male attacker.
Lauten resigned as communications director for Rep. Steven Fincher, R-Tenn., after she came under fire for criticizing Sasha and Malia Obama for their appearance at the White House’s annual turkey pardon.
“Rise to the occasion,” Lauten wrote in the now-deleted post. “Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”
The now-former GOP staffer apologized a few hours later, saying in a subsequent post that she understood “more clearly just how hurtful my words were.”
Lauten’s resignation was portrayed Monday morning on CNN as inevitable, the disgraced staffer’s remarks completely unacceptable.
“People like to say there’s an unspoken rule that you don’t criticize the children of politicians,” CNN’s John Berman said after news of Lauten’s impending resignation broke. “It’s really not unspoken.”
“We say it out loud,” CNN’s Michaela Pereira agreed.
“We talk about it on both sides of the aisle here: Kids are off limits in politics. That’s almost always the case here,” Berman added.
However, on Oct. 22, 2014, CNN’s Carol Costello with a wink and a smile teased audio of Bristol Palin, daughter of former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, tearfully recounting a physical assault she suffered during a party earlier this year.
“I’m just going to come right out and say it: This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across — well, come across in a long time, anyway,” she said.
“So sit back and enjoy!” the anchor added.
Costello eventually offered an apology for her off-note introduction of the Palin audio, telling Politico: “Over the past few days, I have been roundly criticized for joking about a brawl involving the Palin family. In retrospect, I deserve such criticism and would like to apologize.”
The CNN anchor, however, has not offered an on-air apology for her handling of the audio segment.
CNN did not respond when asked Monday by the Washington Examiner to clarify its position on when the children of politicians are considered “off limits.”
