No one is ever going to book me to opine on a news show, so I'm just going to flat out say it: Our mainstream media is the goddamned laziest bunch of bozos to ever be complicit in destroying our democracy.

Case in point: Jake Tapper, who is by all accounts, a smart guy who likes to fancy himself a serious journalist above partisan bickering. Perhaps he decided to butter up the Trump administration since they backed out of appearing on his Sunday show on the pretense that the entire channel is "fake news". But there really is no reason why he should grab up and run with a talking point coming straight out of the White House Comms Office.

While speaking to Senate Intel Vice Chair Mark Warner, Jake Tapper wanted to know if the indictments this week of 12 Russian GRU intelligence agents for hacking into our election systems really means that President Obama is to blame for this hostile foreign power interfering in our democracy.

"Now, Senator Warner, obviously, the Russians are responsible for Russian actions. But looking at the indictment and everything we know now about the Russian election interference, in retrospect, shouldn't President Obama and his administration have done much more?"

Gosh, where have we heard that?

How nice of Tapper to promote the White House's spin on it.

Now Tapper will probably say that the question is credible on its face. Hell, he'll probably think that to be criticized by the left as much as CNN has been criticized by the right proves he's above such petty partisan bickering. Of course, that's predicated on assuming that retaining facts to be a Democratic bias.

But maybe retaining facts is just too much to expect from a television journalist.

Because the facts are that Obama did act very strongly, against the blatant obstruction of Mitch McConnell and the GOP.

The Obama administration today announced new sanctions against Russia in response to the country’s widely reported role in hacks meant to influence the US presidential election.

The sanctions include penalties for five entities and four individuals. Included on that list are multiple officials from Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate, the country’s military intelligence unit tied to this year’s hack of the Democratic National Committee. Top officials from the Directorate, known as the GRU, are also listed for sanctions, as are two individuals with several digital aliases. Russia’s Federal Security Service, another intelligence agency, has also been sanctioned.
Three companies, which the White House says “provided material support” to GRU operations, were included in the sanctions as well.

As part of today’s action, 35 Russian officials who “were acting in a manner inconsistent with their diplomatic status” in the US, according to the White House, will be ejected. Two compounds, one in New York and one in Maryland, used by Russia for intelligence purposes will also be shut down.

Previous reporting this week also suggested the US will also take long-expected, unspecified covert action against Russia, likely using cyber techniques.

And I'm sure it's not a bias that Jake Tapper forgot that President Obama called on the bipartisan "Gang of Four" to issue a condemnation of the interference. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell--with full knowledge of this intelligence AND knowing there was an open SCOTUS seat--absolutely refused.

There’s certainly room for debate about whether Obama could have gone further, but it’s factually wrong to say he “did nothing.” What the Democratic president did was try to generate bipartisan support for an American response to a foreign attack – which did not happen in large part because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn’t want it to.

Republican strategist John Weaver, who helped run John McCain’s and John Kasich’s presidential campaigns, said over the weekend that it’s time to “revisit why [McConnell] refused to join [Obama] in warning America the Russians had attacked us.” Former Vice President Joe Biden recently raised related concerns.

Former Vice President Joe Biden says he and President Barack Obama decided not to speak out publicly on Russian interference during the 2016 campaign after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to sign a bipartisan statement condemning the Kremlin’s role.Speaking on Tuesday at the Council on Foreign Relations, Biden said the Obama administration sought a united front to dispel concerns that going public with such accusations would be seen as an effort to undermine the legitimacy of the election.However, McConnell “wanted no part of having a bipartisan commitment saying, essentially, ‘Russia’s doing this. Stop,’ ” he said.

And McConnell was rewarded for this obstruction by retaining his Senate majority spot as well as a cabinet post for his wife.

Meanwhile, the current GOP-controlled Congress has openly admitted Russian interference since the election and has done exactly NOTHING to address it, either in 2016 or for future elections.

But sure, Jake, let's reach back and blame Obama.