Ace of Spades:

CNN "Reporter" Fareed Zakaria Secretly Advises Obama But That's Not A Conflict of Interest Because We Said It's Not

ConflictiN' iNtrests.

Spinning furiously for Fareed is one Howard Kurtz, who previously worked at CNN with a strong conflict of interest -- he was supposedly the Washington Post's media reporter, but he didn't have a conflict of interest also working for one of the organizations he was supposed to cover.

Why? Because we said so.

Zakaria maintained that all he’s done is “had a couple of conversations with the President, off-the-record. At no point did President Obama ask me for advice on a specific policy.” Apparently, “conversations” that are “off-the-record” do not constitute “advising.”

The next day, on Sunday’s Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz accepted Zakaria’s explanation and only offered a gentle reprimand for not making the meetings known. Kurtz relayed how Zakaria claimed “that the two meetings he's had with Obama in recent months give him a sense of the President's thinking, and that he used to have the same kinds of meetings with, for example, Condi Rice.”

Kurtz decided: “I agree with Fareed's last point, that part of what he's getting at the White House is high-level spin. That's why I think the fact of the meetings should have been disclosed. Zakaria says that's not part of the arrangement, but it should be. Otherwise, people will inevitably have doubts when word leaks out.”

I think we're getting high-level spin from Zakaria and Kurtz.

Previously Zakaria dropped any pretense of being a reporter and simply declared his endorsement of Barack Obama, at Newsweek:

John McCain represents the best of America's past, and Barack Obama the hope of the future -- the hope of a country that can make big changes and live out one of its greatest promises, of equal opportunities for all Americans, of every caste, creed and color. And America has always been a country that looks forward. So, I will be voting for Barack Obama on election day this year.

CNN's Jack Cafferty and Paula Zahn previously scolded FoxNews' Roger Ailes for writing private advisements to President Bush.

[CAFFERTY:] Woodward reports that the Fox News chief, Roger Ailes, has been secretly sending advice to President Bush and the senior aide, a guy named Karl Rove. Woodward writes that Ailes sent a confidential memo to Rove who then took it to the President. The Ailes memo reportedly said that the American public would be patient about Iraq, but only as long as they were convinced Bush was using the harshest measures possible. Ailes is also said to have warned that support would weaken if the public did not see Bush acting harshly. Roger Ailes was a media coach for President Bush's father and he's had a number of other assignments as well. Any comments?

PAULA ZAHN: Does that shed new light on "we report, you decide" Jack?

CAFFERTY: "Fair and balanced" [laughter] We better leave that alone.

Zakaria has the worst conflict of interest possible -- ego. If an egotistical, ambitious "reporter" thinks his opinions are being considered by the president (and no, I don't believe this was just the White House telling Zakaria stuff; I think they flattered him by asking advice), then he's flattered, and he thinks he's on the team, and therefore he is invested in His Team's success (or perception of such).

The acronym in espionage for compromising an agent in your favor is MICES, standing for money ideology coercion ego and sex. (Sometimes it's just MICE, since the sex is included in "coercion" and maybe "ego.") Almost everyone in the media is an agent for the Democratic party because of the ideology prong; some, like Zakaria, are compromised by ego as well.

It's called Pride of Authorship, CNN. Look it up. Everyone likes their own stuff.

Gee, no wonder Zakaria thinks that every move of Obama's is brilliant. Obama's got him thinking he's implementing the Zakaria Agenda for Success. Of course Zakaria approves of Zakaria.