Why is CNN giving Falwell a podium?

Seriously. Jerry Falwell today hosted CrossFire on CNN, opposite James Carville. Not a guest. He HOSTED it. Yet, Falwell is not a conservative counterpoint to James Carville, somehow on the same plane as your typical outspoken Democratic political consultant. Falwell publicly blamed gays and lesbians, feminist, and pro-choicers for CAUSING September 11.

Falwell is a hatemonger and a bigot. His bimbo eruptions put our lives at risk - God only knows what his gun-toting red state supporters thought of us when Falwell told them, only a few days after September 11, when the entire nation wasn't just grieving and out for blood, but nearly out of our collective minds, that WE WERE TO BLAME FOR THE DEATHS OF 3,0000 AMERICANS.

It's bad enough for the media to turn to Falwell for a quote every time they do a story on gay rights - since they don't turn to the KKK or David Duke every time they do a story on affirmative action - but what more does Falwell have to do to delegitimize himself so completely that CNN and the rest of the media will finally understand that it is morally wrong to give this man a microphone?

But hey, sure Falwell preaches hate and bigotry, blames entire classes of American citizens for mass murder, but I mean, it's not like he was ever so crass as to ever want to go on TV and preach a message of love and inclusiveness in the name of God. THAT, we now know, goes one step too far in today's America.

Check out video of Falwell's appearance on CrossFire via Crooks and Liars.