Daily Beast's Avlon Slams Tea Party on CNN; Praises GOP Establishment as 'Sanity Caucus'

On Wednesday's New Day on CNN, The Daily Beast's John Avlon and his wife, Margaret Hoover, gloated over the recent defeats of Tea Party-backed candidates in Republican primaries. Avlon strongly hinted that the grassroots conservatives movement was full of crazy people: "Don't call it the establishment. It's the sanity caucus."

Anchor Kate Bolduan wondered if former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's loss earlier in June was a "one-off." Hoover rattled off a list of prominent conservatives who apparently defeated in the wake of Mississippi Republican Senate candidate Chris McDaniel's defeat on Tuesday: [MP3 audio available here [1]; video below]

MARGARET HOOVER, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Yes. You do not have – we do not have a story of Dave Brat's last night. You know who lost last night? Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin-

KATE BOLDUAN: Ted Cruz-

HOOVER: All of the Tea Party folks – they lost. You know why? All of these incumbents – they took their races very seriously and the insurgents took it seriously; and that's why you have Charlie Rangel here tonight, and Eric Cantor is nowhere to be found.

Co-anchor Chris Cuomo replied to the socially liberal political consultant's analysis with a faux lament: "Poor Margaret Hoover – she's got two enemies now. She's got half her own party, and she's got Democrats." Hoover then boasted that "reformed Republicans are taking it back."

Bolduan added her own positive remarks about her guests just before Avlon made his "sanity caucus" jab at conservatives:

BOLDUAN: Margaret woke up with a smile this morning.

JOHN AVLON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: Exactly. Don't call it the establishment. It's the sanity caucus.

BOLDUAN: (laughs) There are some great one-liners coming out of this discussion this morning.

Oddly, the CNN anchors never mentioned Avlon and Hoover's marital status during the segment.

Nearly two weeks earlier, the Daily Beast editor-in-chief likened Hillary Clinton to Margaret Thatcher [2] on CNN Newsroom:

AVLON: I think because she's so unruffleable and so professional– sort of presenting herself as our version of the Iron Lady in some respects, that because we got a really authentic push-back, that’s one of the things that made news. But I think it's also fair to say that she for the last four years has been almost entirely focused on foreign policy...Very much above the domestic political fray and now with this book tour we're starting to see those domestic issues that come up in presidential campaigns intrude and she–she probably doesn't have her full judo back on that sort of footing.