None of this is should come as a surprise. Tuesday, CNN came out of the closet with an open declaration that “The Most Trusted Name In News” would use two full days of programming as a propaganda push for legislation tightening background checks. CNN has been so good about keeping that promise that, this morning, a pro-gun control Senator thanked a CNN anchor for his support.

Wednesday morning on “Starting Point,” anchors John Berman and Christine Roman hosted Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), one of the two senators responsible for the compromise legislation on background checks.

The segment was disgraceful.

Neither anchor challenged the Senator about a single concern Second Amendment activists have with the legislation. Instead we saw clips of Newtown families (on Piers Morgan, naturally) pleading for gun control and Roman using the old “some say” ploy to claim the legislation wasn’t tough enough. The only mention of the NRA was their opposition to the bill.

And then, appropriately enough, the segment ended with Manchin thanking Berman for his support:

Berman: Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia, you’ve been working around the clock for a compromise deal. I think you have a very busy few weeks ahead of you still.

Manchin: We appreciate your support, too, this is very, very important.

Or maybe Manchin was thanking the CNN network as a whole?

What an indictment of “The Most Trusted Name in News” that we will never know.

How shameful that an entity that describes itself as a “news” network would create the kind of environment where a Senator involved in controversial legislation would feel so much love and support he felt the need to say thank you.

By the way, Berman didn’t even flinch after being thanked for taking a side.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC