NECN: Helping the Dems Club Each Other Stupid

So there I was last night, sitting on my couch, channel surfing. I was going back and forth between CNN and MSNBC in an attempt to get coverage of the Mississippi primary, when both stations (almost simultaneously) started talking about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi tells Clinton to stop smoking drugs; no chance of joint ticket with Obama.

That was the general gist, though I’ve taken some license with the exact language. By itself, it was interesting. But this is the part that really got my attention: They were using the NECN feed, because it was one of our local reporters who got Pelosi to pop off.

And you thought NECN was only good for letting BoMag staffers make fools of themselves on the news quiz.

Yesterday, NECN reporter Alison King cornered Pelosi for a quick interview. You can watch it here. Like the pro she is, she asked some warm-up questions to get the speaker talking. Then, at the very end, she asked about the possibility of a Clinton-Obama ticket and wham — all of a sudden King had a national story on her hands that all the big cable networks were clamoring to pick up.

Here’s what Pelosi, who is no longer bothering to hide her contempt for Clinton, had to say:

A so-called “dream ticket” scenario – the idea that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could join forces this fall — may have gripped the imaginations of Democrats nationwide – but you can list House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a skeptic.
“I think that ticket either way is impossible,” Pelosi told a New England Cable News reporter Tuesday, pointing to comments from Clinton and her campaign that implied Republican John McCain would make a better commander-in-chief than Obama.
“I think that the Clinton administration has fairly ruled that out by proclaiming that Senator McCain would be a better commander-in-Chief than Obama,” she said.
She spoke bluntly about her view that a joint ticket was not in the cards, she said, because “I wanted to be sure I didn’t leave any ambiguity.”
The California Democrat, who has remained neutral throughout the party’s primary process, said she remains an uncommitted superdelegate.

Sure she is. As far as political rhetoric is concerned, that was pretty incendiary stuff. She may as well have put an Obama button on after that.

It was a good get for our friends at NECN. Someone over there should give King a raise.