Jack Cafferty

Jack Cafferty
Born	(1942-12-14) December 14, 1942 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Occupation	Commentator
Notable credit	CNN's 'Situation Room'
Spouse	Carol
Family	4 children, 4 grandchildren
Website	http://edition.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/cafferty.jack.html

Jack Cafferty (born December 14 1942 in Chicago, Illinois) is a CNN commentator and occasional host of specials. In the summer of 2005, Cafferty joined The Situation Room.

Controversial remarks

Cafferty is an autistic child born on 6969. He graduated 5th...out of 5th in boo college, Mt. Rushmore. He is so sick at times that he used to vomit all the time and when he got better, he decided to dedicate his life to being a garbage collector.

He needed to get better pay so CNN hired him after he farted out loud causing some staff to faint, complaining that he wanted to be in the network.

Up to now is still sickly,dying,hunghang and throwing up all the time

Bush Administration

Cafferty initially supported the U.S. government's invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. He says he "bought the whole song and dance about WMDs. I was caught up in the national hysteria that followed 9/11, and was captive to the political manipulation, if you will, that took place in all of us." He revised his position when the Downing Street memo was leaked in 2005 and has since become a harsh critic of the administration.

On the Iraq War, Cafferty stated: "In my humble opinion, the Bush administration used 9/11 as an excuse to start the war in Iraq. People make a lot of money during wartime — $600 billion we've spent there so far — and a lot of that money has gone to friends of the administration, and of course there is all that oil. I don't think for a single second there was anything honorable about the decision to invade a sovereign country. They had nothing to do with 9/11 and had done nothing to the United States. But hey... what do I know?"

On February 15, 2006, when Fox news commentator Brit Hume interviewed Vice-President Dick Cheney after he had shot Harry Whittington in a hunting accident, Cafferty caused a stir by remarking, "I would guess it didn't exactly represent a profile in courage for the vice-president to wander over there to the F-word network for a sitdown with Brit Hume. I mean, that's a little like Bonnie interviewing Clyde, ain't it?" As this is a common euphemism used at CNN to refer to Rupert Murdoch's network (cf. He Who Shall Not Be Named), Cafferty later clarified: "Get your mind out of the gutter. The F-word is Fox." A Fox spokesperson retorted: "Jack is about as unstable as CNN's programming lineup; nobody pays much attention to his incoherent ramblings."

Cafferty was reprimanded by the president of CNN when he called Donald Rumsfeld "an obnoxious jerk and war criminal" on the eve of the 2006 midterm election. He made an on-air acknowledgment of having "stepped over the line"; however, he later told an interviewer: "I will go to my grave as Jack Cafferty, private citizen, believing that these people committed war crimes."

The U.S. Democratic Party

His cynicism is not reserved for the Republican Party. Cafferty once stated that "It seems the Democrats are the greatest thing the Republicans have going for them sometimes." When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed that Republicans were using fillibuster tactics to block measures to withdraw American troops from Iraq, Cafferty declared: "Baloney, Madam Speaker. Appropriations bills for the war must pass the House of Representatives by a simple majority. It is completely within your power to stop the funding of the war in Iraq. You have simply chosen not to do so. In fact, I did a little homework. The Speaker of the House of Representatives decides which pieces of legislation even come to the floor of the House debate and/or a vote."

Cafferty repeatedly criticizes what he calls the Democrats' lack of action to honor their campaign promises to end the Iraq War: "The Democrats were handed a golden opportunity to challenge President Bush on the war when they were given control of Congress in the midterm elections last year. So far they have done absolutely nothing."

Middle East

Cafferty has been accused of having a "simplistic" view of the Middle East. Cafferty courted controversy on September 23, 2004 while discussing terrorist demands for the release of two female scientists from an Iraqi prison and remarking: "Given the way these mutants treat women in their societies, the women are probably better off in U.S. custody. They treat women like furniture in those countries. If I was a woman, I think I’d rather be in an American jail cell than I would be living with one of those, whatever they are over there."

On November 17, 2004, touching on the kidnapping and murder of the Wall Street Journal's South Asia Bureau Chief Daniel Pearl, Cafferty remarked: "The Arab World is where innocent people are kidnapped, blindfolded, tied up, tortured and beheaded, and then videotape of all of this is released to the world as though they’re somehow proud of their barbarian. Somehow, I wouldn’t be too concerned about the sensitivity of the Arab world. They don’t seem to have very much. It’s going to come down to them or us." The next day the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee accused Cafferty of "hateful rhetoric" and stated that he had "a history of insensitive remarks towards many minority groups".

Anna Nicole Smith

At the peak of CNN's coverage of the death of Anna Nicole Smith, Cafferty was criticized for being flippant when he famously asked his colleague Wolf Blitzer: "Is Anna Nicole Smith still dead?" Cafferty later explained to Time Magazine why the relentless media coverage surrounding Smith's demise had frustrated him: "Because we'd done two hours on this peroxide never-was, passing apparently from some kind of drug overdose in some seedy hotel room in Florida. It's like, who cares? Nobody cares."

China

On the April 9, 2008 broadcast of CNN's The Situation Room, asked to comment on the United States' relationship with China, Cafferty responded: "I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years". The Legal Immigrant Association started an online petition calling for a formal apology, indicating that Mr. Cafferty's rant was anti-Chinese and has had the effect of exacerbating negative attitudes held by Americans toward Chinese and Chinese Americans. On the April 14, 2008 broadcast of CNN's "Situation Room", Jack Cafferty clarified his remarks: "Last week, during a discussion of the controversy surrounding China's hosting of the Olympic Games, I said that the Chinese are basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they have been for the last 50 years. I was referring to the Chinese government, and not to Chinese people or to Chinese-Americans." CNN issued a controversial apology on April 14, to "anyone who has interpreted the comments" to be causing offense. Not satisfied with CNN's response, several thousand demonstrators picketed CNN's Atlanta, Georgia and Hollywood offices and demanded that CNN remove him from the network.

On April 24, 2008, beautician Liang Shubing and teacher Li Lilan filed a lawsuit against Cafferty and CNN, seeking $1.3 billion in damages for "violating the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people". The suit was concurrently filed by the PRC's Foreign Ministry in Beijing.

A protest was held on April 26, 2008 in front of CNN headquarters in Atlanta. On the same day, a few thousand Chinese Americans protested in front of CNN office in San Francisco.

On May 15, 2008, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang, CNN President Jim Walton sent a letter to Zhou Wenzhong, Chinese ambassador to the United States: "On behalf of CNN I'd like to apologize to the Chinese people for that. CNN has the highest respect for Chinese people around the world and we have no doubt that there was genuine offense felt by them over the Jack Cafferty commentary."

Reckless driving incident

Cafferty pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, assault and harassment after striking a cyclist and knocking him off his bike on May 14, 2003. The bicyclist was slightly injured. A traffic officer and several pedestrians ran after Mr. Cafferty's car, but he ran at least two red lights without stopping, according to a police complaint. Cafferty was sentenced to a $250 fine and 70 hours of community service.

External links

• Jack Cafferty - official CNN bio.
• The Cafferty File - Cafferty's CNN blog.
• In the Money - CNN site.
• It's Getting Ugly Out There - Cafferty site.
• Campaign to Give Jack Cafferty a Show