CNN politics reporter Chris Cillizza proudly announced Wednesday that he kisses his sons on the mouth. His blue eyeglass frames are enough of a reason to mock him, along with the blathering on CNN panels, the irritating folksy rise of his voice and banal points he makes in his daily “On Point” newsletter. Cillizza is widely known for being on the receiving end of a lot of general ridicule among Washington’s mouthy media class.
But kissing your kids on the lips? Who opens himself up to this?
The issue arose from ex-CNNer Piers Morgan, who now works as a columnist for the Daily Mail and a co-host of Good Morning Britain. Morgan is also no stranger to mocking — it’s a rare day when Morgan isn’t called a “cunt” or worse. (By the way, the c-word isn’t nearly as rough as it is in America, so just relax.)
Staggering how many people on here kiss their kids on the lips.
Weirdos.— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 28, 2018
This is when Cillizza felt the need to get all autobiographical.
I kiss my kids on the lips https://t.co/IxwHvv8oqS
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) November 28, 2018
“I don’t think it’s weird for infants,” a coworker confided. “But anything older than that is fucking strange.”
Chris White, an energy and environmental reporter for The Daily Caller News Foundation, made his feelings known in a single word: “Gross,” he wrote on Twitter.
But astonishingly not all journalists in Washington find the phenomenon odd.
“I have no fucking idea what this is even about and I’d like to keep it that way but I’ll just say that, however deserving of ridicule Cillizza is, I think it’s totally fine to kiss your kids on the mouth and anyone trying to make it seem weird is probably in fact weird themselves!” a journalist told me.
In a moment of solidarity, another member of the D.C. media jokingly wrote, “We all kiss Chris Cillizza’s children.” (Of course, the person quickly retracted the thought, envisioning the worst, even from an anonymous remark.)
Asked “What do you think of Chris Cillizza kissing his kids on the lips?” another journalist replied, “Literally unimaginable.”
“I would say it is suspicious,” said another.
Cillizza appears to take the inordinate amount of taunting he receives in stride. His Twitter bio consists of insults from President Trump and Roseanne Barr.
“‘One of the dumber and least respected of the political pundits.’ — Donald Trump; ‘A f*!-ing mouth breather.’ — Roseanne Barr”