Cable news has many impressive capabilities. It can dumb-down just about any issue. It can provide excellent coverage of breaking news situations. It can light up the Internet with a well-articulated attack line or two in one of those panel discussions.
And now: This unpredictable medium has accomplished something heretofore thought metaphysically impossible — a politician conducting simultaneous live interviews with separate anchors at separate cable news networks. There was Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.) chatting with host Katy Tur at 5:11 p.m. Eastern time on Monday afternoon (note the “Live” designation):
And there was Castro, at the very same moment, chatting with Wolf Blitzer of CNN (note the “Live” designation):
A CNN source tells the Erik Wemple Blog that the network’s “live” designation was for real. An inquiry to MSNBC is awaiting a response.
Oh, and by the way, Castro managed to address quite a range of issues — immigration, the Russia investigation, the Justice Department, human rights, foreign relations and other stuff — during his simultaneous “live” appearances. What other lawmaker can challenge that credential?
