The Ballad Of Edith And Carolyn

I don’t have much of a tolerance for political coverage on cable news. If I wanted to hear people speculate and yell at each other, I would just go hang out outside The Deb at my local mall and eavesdrop on all the hot gossip. (At least then I’d be near a Cinnabon.) But one thing I DO have a high tolerance for is bonkers television spinning out of control right in front of my eyes, and on a night that featured the premiere of “Work It,” the wives of Gary Busey and Ted Haggard swapping places, and the most Leno lineup of guests imaginable, CNN took home the blue ribbon in that category in a landslide.

A quick primer: The numbers coming in live from last night’s Iowa Caucus weren’t quite definitive, so CNN tried to contact local Iowa GOP officials to clear it up. What they got were two spunky ladies named Edith Pfeffer and Carolyn Talett. From Mediaite:

Talett explained that she had “received a call at about 12:20 from state central committee asking if I knew how to get a hold of someone from 2-2.” This made her call Pfeffer, who didn’t answer her phone, so Talett “came to Edith’s home and pounded on her door and got her up.” After getting her up, CNN called.

Their phone calls with CNN (yes, calls, with an “S,” implying more than one) were an absolute absurd delight. At one point John King said something about the numbers not being right, and one of the ladies exclaimed “WHADDAYA MEAN THE NUMBERS DON’T MATCH?” like King was her backtalking grandson. This is what we need, America — sleepy old ladies holding the media’s feet to the fire. It’s what the Founding Fathers would have wanted.

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