CNN having a really bad week

CNN really isn’t having a very good week, thanks to the government shutdown and the opening of the ObamaCare insurance exchange websites. While the headlines have been full of unintended consequences of both of these events, from WWII veterans “storming” the monument to their service, to complaints about glitches on the ObamaCare websites, CNN has been forced into a corner over both of these stories.

Normally the network is extremely friendly to the Obama administration, so when the news is full of situations that are less-than-flattering for the president and Democrats, that spells trouble for CNN. Third quarter ratings put CNN between Fox News and MSNBC, but it’s not an enviable situation, given that MSNBC has been struggling to keep even a small share of viewers interested in viewing a 24/7 cable news source. Beyond the ratings issue, there is the news of the day dogging the network.

The Weekly Standard‘s Bill Kristol went after CNN’s Piers Morgan and Mark Lamont Hill over the government shutdown. Liberals have been trying to maintain that the shutdown is purely the fault of “Tea Party radicals” in the GOP, however those claims are going at least a little flat in the face of the fact that the GOP has been repeatedly making new offers and legislation to resolve the issues, and offering to sit down Democrats to negotiate a resolution. The primary bone of contention is ObamaCare, which the GOP is determined to halt, or at least slow down severely. And the ObamaCare system itself seems to be conspiring against liberal politicians and media like CNN in that battle. Attempts to access the ObamaCare website on-air at CNN and MSNBC failed, leaving anchors with no choice but to give up trying. But maybe those anchors should be happy they failed – McAfee, the internet security giant, issued a warning about potential phishing scams on the government websites. Their glitches make them a prime target for hackers, in the opinion of McAfee’s vice president, Gary Davis. All in all, it’s not a good week for CNN.