You've got to hand it to CNN.com for scheduling savvy — on Saturday it tailgated an excerpt from the cable TV network's highbrowed GPS program with a flaming-car pursuit down Orange County freeways, taken from KABC. Colin Powell had just concluded a sober postmortem on the Republican party's 2008 performance, diplomatically chiding the GOP's padded-cell wing embodied by Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh. The segment wound down with Powell telling interviewer Fareed Zakaria, “These kind of spokespersons seem to appeal to our lesser instincts, rather than our better instincts.”

law logo2x b

The clip ended there — and was immediately followed by one titled, “Car Chase Ends With Fire.” Originally accompanied by insipid, action-news type commentary, the clip (which ran twice as long as the Powell excerpt) would afterward appear without audio. CNN.com further changed the sequence of its Web clips, so that Powell was then followed by a more staid segment on school lunch programs. Still, does anything appeal to our lesser instincts than a car chase?

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.