I’m old.

Old enough to remember when CNN was the pioneer in 24-hour cable news. 

Old enough to remember when MSNBC veered hard left and Fox veered hard right, and CNN was the place to go for more neutral coverage of events.

Old enough to remember when John King’s wonky CNN precinct maps were the best part of Election Night coverage on any network.

That was a long time ago. Now CNN is MSNBC-lite and the ratings show that viewers have tuned out. The network consistently finishes in third place. And if it weren’t for CNN’s near-monopoly at airports with its Airport Network, its viewership would barely register.

Don’t take my word for it. Here’s an excerpt from a recent Pew Center for Research piece on cable news: “CNN, which now ranks last among the big three cable channels in both daytime and nighttime viewership, has traditionally been plagued by prime-time programming problems and constantly shifting lineups. Of the current hosts and anchors, only two—Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper—were on the air in 2007.”

Wolf Blitzer. I’ve never understood how this bearded bore managed to last at CNN. He’s been there since 1990. Blitzer’s never been a great interviewer, and he’s getting worse.

Case in point: Wolf Blitzer conducted what may be the most embarrassing interview in the world last week, when he attempted to humiliate Trump aide Kellyanne Conway by playing a clip of Conway’s husband blasting the president. Blitzer spent what seemed like at least a full minute clearing his throat and explaining that what was coming was a legit question, lest anyone watching notice that it was a cheap shot.

Yes, yes , I know. Conway works for Hitler. She deserves to be treated like a hausfrau on TV. If this happened to a woman on the left by a Fox News personality masquerading as a political expert, there would be outrage. And I’d be writing about THAT.

First of all, who prefaces a question with lengthy gibberish insisting that what’s coming is a legit question and not a hit job?

Ask your freaking question, Wolf. That’s your job. If you have to explain that this really is a “substantive question,” perhaps it’s not.

When Kellyanne calls him out, someone on Wolf’s earpiece clearly urges him to invoke the political odd couple of James Carville and Mary Matalin. Hilarious. Those two were political activists on both sides of the divide and they took their marriage schtick on the road. 

While Kellyanne Conway was a well-known pundit, pollster and personality long before she reluctantly signed on with Donald Trump, her husband is a lawyer. Period. He’s hardly a “legal scholar.” He’s riding his wife’s fame to a short-lived career as a professional Trump critic. If Kellyanne left the White House next week, you’d never see George Conway again. 

The only reason Mr. Kellyanne is being interviewed by MSNBC is to titillate the Trump haters who watch that network.

See! Even Kellyanne’s husband despises the president. If she doesn’t ditch her boss and get back in the kitchen, she’s going to be divorced!

Love her or loathe her, Conway held her own during that interview. She correctly pointed out that if Blitzer wanted her to react to criticisms of the president he could have pulled tape of any number of critics on CNN. Lord knows, there’s no shortage of Trump detractors.

Chances are you didn’t see Blitzer’s gotcha cheap shot live because like most of the rest of America, you were watching something else.

 If nothing else, seeing the clip of the Conway interview ought to remind you of how smart you are to avoid CNN.