Erick Erickson, former Macon city councilman and editor of RedState.com, announced Tuesday he’s leaving CNN for a new job at Fox News.
“I can confirm I’m a Fox News political contributor effective today,” Erickson said in an e-mail to The Telegraph. “I’ve loved and continue to adore my friends at CNN, but after three years I thought it time to move on.”
Erickson announced his departure on RedState at 12:18 p.m., describing it as “a very, very difficult decision.”
He said working at CNN brought him “unmitigated hate and loathing” from both ends of the political spectrum.
“About the only thing the far right and far left could agree on was that I did not belong at CNN,” Erickson wrote.
But in that time, he’s learned how to converse with and befriend those with whom he disagrees, he said.
“I’ve learned that some of the people I grew up thinking were in the enemy’s camp, so to speak, are spectacular people who share many of the same interests and opinions I do,” Erickson wrote.
His announcement came on a day when many changes were announced as part of new CNN President Jeff Zucker’s reorganization. Commentators James Carville, Mary Matalin, Bill Bennett and Maria Cardona are all leaving, as is executive vice president and managing editor Mark Whitaker. Cardona will remain at CNN Español, according to Mediabistro’s Fishbowl D.C. blog.
To contact writer Jim Gaines, call 744-4489.
