Former CNN Anchor O'Brien Attacks 'Nutbag' O'Donnell on Twitter
![](http://cdn.mrc.org/archive/biasalert/uploads/2007-10-19-CNN-Obrien.jpg)
[Update, Thursday, September 16, 10:25 am Eastern: O'Brien apparently pulled his Tweet, as the link "doesn't exist," according to Twitter. A screen cap of the Tweet in question can be seen below.]
Former CNN anchor Miles O'Brien (no relation to current CNN special correspondent Soledad O'Brien) slammed Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell as a "Tea Party nutbag" in a Tweet on Wednesday evening. O'Brien continued that he "forget [sic] her ignorant nonsense," referring to her defense of the creationist viewpoint during a 1996 appearance on his former network.
O'Brien, who was let go by CNN in 2008 after they closed their science unit, linked to an article on the left-wing website Talking Points Memo after his attack on O'Donnell. The article, by Eric Kleefeld, highlighted an item by Dan Amira of New York magazine,
who "dug up" the Republican's March 1996 appearance with O'Brien and
Dr. Michael McKinney of the University of Tennessee-Chattanoga. During
the panel discussion, O'Donnell defended the creationism. Kleefeld
labeled it as just another part of the social conservative's "religious right work," citing her apparent "long career in anti-sex and anti-masturbation activism."
The
former anchor's Tweet is not surprising, gives his record of liberal
bias when he was at CNN, particularly on the issue of climate change. On February 9, 2006, O'Brien accused scientists skeptical of the theory of manmade global warming as being "bought and paid for by the fossil fuel industry." Over two months later, he suggested raising gasoline taxes to "help pay for these alternative fuels." During 2007, the then-CNN anchor insisted to former Republican Congressman J. C. Watts that the "scientific debate is over" on the climate change issue. O'Brien also dismissed critics of Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" later that year.