Anderson Cooper Shutdown Smackdown! ‘You’re Not On Fox’ [Video]

CNN’s Anderson Cooper schooled GOP Rep. Raul Labrador in old-school journalism today, lambasting competitors Fox News and MSNBC in the process.

Idaho Republican Labrador was speaking with Anderson Cooper about the government shutdown today on CNN, when the pair began to disagree over the facts of the situation.

It looked like Rep. Labrador was about to start spinning… and Cooper firmly asserted his role as a journalist and not a megaphone as the conversation got heated.

Cooper queried Labrador, asking to the House Rep. about Speaker of the House John Boehner’s claim that the Democrats would not “negotiate” to end the shutdown — the anchor said:

“Congressman, you and many House Republicans have been saying that the Democrats have refused to negotiate… Harry Reid said that Boehner promised he wouldn’t attach demands to the Senate funding bill if it was brought in at the Republican level. Wasn’t that a negotiation?”

Labrador tried to dance around the line of questioning, later saying that Cooper simply didn’t like Republican control of the House. Cooper then challenged the Representative, saying that the Affordable Care Act was the law of the land, to which Labrador countered that he hadn’t been in office when the legislation was passed.

Cooper stepped to him again, saying:

“So you’re nullifying two presidential elections and you’re nullifying the vote of Congress because you don’t like it… and I get that and your district is placed well.”

Labrador again accuses Cooper of bias in favor of the left, to which the anchor finally loses it and explains how journalism works to the congressman.

Cooper replies:

“Look, I don’t have a stake in this. This is the way it works in journalism. When you’re not on Fox News, you get contentious interviews. When you’re not on MSNBC and a liberal, you get contentious interviews… My job is to ask you questions.”

He concludes:

“Just as my next guest who is a Democrat, I’m going to ask the same kind of questions and push back on their positions. That’s what a journalist does.”

Watch above as Anderson Cooper and Rep. Labrador get into it over the government shutdown, journalism, and softball questions.