Here's the transcript of Patriot Editor-in-Chief Sexton's appearance on CNN yesterday. Word from the Patriot's camp is that CNN ambushed them. My initial reaction was that the Patriot was used to fawning O'Reilly coverage, so I'd bet hard questions would be unexpected. But it is a bit of an ambush, in the sense that CNN is using the oddest, smallest parts of the Patriot cast in the worst possible light. CNN tried to latch onto a humor piece-- the tongue-in-cheek Valentine's Day Economics piece that few really read deeply-- as an example of sexism.

LIN: Well, let me ask you this. There is -- I don't know if he's a columnist or just one of the contributors, Seth Norman, who in the February edition here, writes about Valentine's Day Econ 101. I wouldn't say it's exactly the most politically correct article, but he states, for example, when he talks about "diminishing marginal return," he actually goes through the effort to draw out this graph, and basically saying the law of diminishing marginal returns states that increasing the amount of one's input will ultimately lead to lower marginal returns and the expanding input. OK, more simply put, he says, "you start out spending X number of hours a week with your lady, catch a movie, et cetera. She starts demanding your input and for more time into the relationship, and before you know it, you're helping her pick out drapes, letting her know that she doesn't look fat and carrying her shopping bags through the mall." And his theory is the less time you spend with the girl, the more you're going to get in return. I mean, what kind of a message is that?

SEXTON: Well, I mean, that's a satire piece, and part of what we do is we do humor and satire, and Seth writes that column on a monthly basis, and a lot of it is kind of tongue-in-cheek humor. And it's not really representative what we're trying to do at UC Berkeley. It's just -- you know, we don't censor our writers. So it's not politically correct, but we don't try to be politically correct.

Out of the blistering response from Berkeley Bloggers, none cared about the Valentine's Day piece. That's because it's a humor piece. Do your homework, CNN. They also spin Bruce Cain's 'chip on their shoulder' remarks as a condemnation of the Patriot, which is silly. That infers that there's something wrong with being proud about being a Republican. Professor Cain clearly meant it as an observation of how unusual it is for Republicans to be acting like an inflammatory minority group, not as an attack.

The insuiation that Mr. Sexton shouldn't attend Berkeley if he disagrees with its politics is also fairly revealing, both about media bias and popular views of Berkeley. There's such an assumption that campus politics, Berkeley in particular, are inseparable from academic instruction. But except for a few departments, they mostly are. Even if that were true, CNN is assuming you'd be better off in a University where the majority automatically agree with you.

LIN: But you know, you knew the reputation that Berkeley had before you even applied. So why did you even decide to go to school there?

SEXTON: Because it has a reputation of being a very good school academically, and that was really the sole decision or the sole reasoning behind my decision.

I think I'm mostly disappointed because it would be interesting to see some hard-hitting questions about the Patriot and its role on campus. Does it aspire to be as respected as the Daily Cal? What's the long-term plan for Republicans? How can you maintain the fire of 'minority group' when you've made strides to becoming part of the establishment? How about the National plan for winning back the Campus? Or at least criticize the substantive editorials and articles, not this claptrap.

Kudos to Mr. Sexton for holding his own under odd fire.Email This Post!