CNN claims 'career ender' chyron targeting Marco Rubio a 'joke'

After flashing a chyron asking if Marco Rubio's now-famous drink of water was a "career-ender," CNN claimed it was just a joke, Dylan Byers wrote at Politico on Wednesday.

"We are joking, it was a tease," CNN told Politico via Twitter.

Newsbusters' Matt Hadro said that Wolf Blitzer wondered on Wednesday's edition of the "Situation Room" if the drink would break Rubio's career.

"The CNN chyron flashed 'Career-ender?'" Hadro added.

"So can a drink of water make or break a political career?" the CNN host asked. "A U.S. Senator, possible presidential candidate. We're going to find out, whether he likes it or not."

But Byers said that CNN spokesperson Edie Emery told Politico in an email that it was "simply a tease" leading into another segment "when Wolf [Blitzer] specifically said no one thinks this will be a career ender."

But Breitbart's Ben Shapiro said that CNN wasn't the only network to obsess over Rubio's drink of water.

"It permeated television throughout the day," he wrote.

Twitchy noted that many conservatives responded to the media focus on Rubio's water.

"Media won't let a collapsing economy distract from Obama's message, but a sip of water will be used to define Rubio thru 2016," tweeted John Nolte.

"MEDIA: Substantively, Rubio is attempting to draw a distinction between the GOP vision and Oba....WATER!!!!!" added John Podhoretz.

"Breaking: Marco Rubio is so extreme he quenches his thirst with Dihydrogen monoxide," said Jonah Goldberg.

Breitbart's Ben Shapiro castigated the media's obsession with the televised sip of water, observing that for many in the so-called "mainstream media," the antics of liberal politicians like Teddy Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barney Frank weren't career-enders.

"Sipping water," he wrote, "now that’s the end of the world. After all, when all Democrats walk on water, sipping it just seems sacrilegious."

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