It’s official: According to CNN there is nothing else going on in the world but Pat Robertson’s comment that the United States should assassinate Hugo Chavez — a man whom I seriously doubt even a small fraction of Americans could identify.

Right now I’m totally amazed at CNN’s Kyra Phillips, who just dismissed an e-mail from a viewer who said CNN was using “slanted language” to describe Robertson by disagreeing but thanking the viewer for the comment. CNN anchors have been bashing Robertson all day, dredging up anything controversial he’s said over the past few years and not just criticizing but ridiculing it.

Now I’d probably join them in ridiculing some of Robertson’s past statements, but I wouldn’t then have the gall to say that I was giving Robertson fair treatment. I would say, “Sure, I disagree with Robertson and I think he’s wrong about a lot of things, and that’s my opinion.” CNN is pretending to play it straight. More distressingly, it’s covering the Robertson story as if Robertson’s opinion on foreign policy actually mattered. It doesn’t. Enough already.