CNN frustrated, angry after far-reaching Democratic voting bill blocked: 'Hit to democracy,' 'rigged'

CNN's liberal opinion programs and newscasts alike vented frustration over the Republican filibuster of the Democratic For The People Act, with even an on-screen graphic declaring it a "hit to democracy."

Senate Republicans Tuesday blocked sweeping, nearly 900-page legislation on election and campaign finance reforms that Democrats said S.1 is crucial to ensuring voting rights but the GOP blasted as a partisan, unconstitutional federal power grab that would usurp state rights.

Left-wing host Chris Cuomo, a scion of the Cuomo political family who frequently advocates for Democratic policies on the program, fumed at his family's party Tuesday to fight harder after the bill was blocked.

"So, how about now?" he asked with an edge in his voice. "How about now, Democrats? Are you ready to play to win, now? Have you had enough? McConnell and Co. did exactly what we knew and you knew they would do. They tanked even the suggestion to debate the need to curtail state efforts to send voting rights back 50 years. They won't even allow debate."

PROGRESSIVES FUME AFTER REPUBLICANS USE FILIBUSTER TO BLOCK DEMS' S.1 ELECTION REFORM BILL

Cuomo complained to left-wing CNN commentator Van Jones that Democrats weren't playing hardball, with Jones replying they got "steamrolled" and claiming progressive activists had "bled and died" to stop GOP state voting bills.

He added Republicans did not have a "strong case" against the legislation. Cuomo and other left-leaning media pundits have eagerly repeated Democratic talking points against the filibuster, despite Democrats in the Senate minority using the procedure hundreds of times during the Trump era.

Fellow left-wing host Don Lemon also vented Tuesday after the bill was predictably filibustered, portraying the legislation as meant to protect "our most precious rights."

"Come on, guys," Lemon said. "They couldn’t even find ten Republicans who were willing to stand up and make their case. Every single Republican in the Senate filibustering to block debate on the For The People Act … A divided Senate can't even muster the 60 votes needed to allow debate on protecting one of our most precious rights as Americans."

CNN's morning show "New Day" was unsubtle, proclaiming the filibuster a "hit to democracy" in an on-screen graphic on Wednesday. Co-host John Berman launched into an extended "Star Trek" riff that declared the process "rigged" unless Democrats were willing to nuke the filibuster.

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"Mitch McConnell is Kobayashi Maru on voting rights. Democrats can’t get past him no matter what," Berman said, and explained "Kirk, what he ultimately did, was he changed the programming. The only way to get beyond the Kobayashi Maru test is to change the programming. And unless Democrats, and I’m not saying they should, but unless they’re willing to change the programming, which is to change the filibuster rules, this is a moot point. It’s done. It’s rigged."

Liberal CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin applauded the analogy and lamented what he called Republican efforts around the country to "limit voting." Co-host Brianna Keilar thanked him for the analogy, saying, "You have to break the system is the lesson … We'll see if Democrats are learning a lesson."

Toobin also bemoaned that the voting bill was a matter of "life or death for the democracy," contrasting that with the debate over a broad infrastructure package.

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"The voting rights is very different. This is life or death for the democracy," he said. "This is about whether the people are going to control their government or the government is going to decide how the democracy works or doesn’t work. And I just think one of them is an existential crisis for the United States, and the other seems like it’s going to be worked out."

While the vote was celebrated among Republicans who blasted the bill as a "partisan power grab," news publications adopted Democrat messaging with slanted headlines that largely cast the Republicans against "voting rights." Last year, Senate Democrats used the filibuster to block Republican Sen. Tim Scott's, S.C., police reform bill. News publications failed to mention the Democrats' use of the filibuster in headlines and often labeled the legislation as a Republican bill. When it came to Republicans blocking Democrats' voting rights bill, news publications didn't give the same party identifier to the legislation. 

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There has been relentless media pressure on moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin, W-Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, Ariz., to embrace eliminating the filibuster, despite the two not giving any sign this year they will change their minds. Sinema angered liberal media and Democrats anew this week when she reiterated her position in an op-ed for the Washington Post.

Fox News' Andrew Kugle, Marisa Schultz, and Yael Halon contributed to this report.