[See NewsBusters for more.] In a discussion over whether to rename the Richard Russell Senate office building in favor of John McCain, CNN on Tuesday managed to blame the original honoring of the segregationist Democrat on... Republicans. In a segment that never once mentioned which party Russell belonged to, Newsroom host Brooke Baldwin and historian Tim Naftali instead singled out Richard Nixon’s GOP. The segment went through the long history of the Georgia Senator, his role on the Senate Armed Services Committee and as a “quiet critic” of Vietnam. After his death in 1971, the Senate named a building after him. Eventually, the host and guest got around to Russell's history of fighting civil rights legislation and opposing anti-lynching legislation.
