Well, at least the candidates were probably all Republicans. As for the questioners, that’s a different story.
At least 4 of the questioners from last night’s CNN/YouTube Debate were Democratic party supporters and activists including one gay general who worked for John Kerry’s campaign and is on Hillary Clinton’s LGBT Steering Committee.
The information confirming these facts was ferreted out by Freepers and bloggers within minutes of the debate’s ending.
This raises several interesting questions, not the least of which is who at CNN is going to get fired over this rank stupidity? Or perhaps they plan on promoting the buggers. Here’s how they wash their hands of the gay General Kerr imbroglio:
CNN Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of the debate, David Bohrman, says, “We regret this, and apologize to the Republican candidates. We never would have used the General’s question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate.”Prior to the debate, CNN had verified his military background and that he had not contributed any money to any presidential candidate.
Following the debate, Kerr told CNN that he’s done no work for the Clinton campaign. He says he is a member of the Log Cabin Republicans and was representing no one other than himself.
I would say that’s a crock. The General has lent his name and rank to the campaign of a Democrat. Are we supposed to believe that just because he hasn’t been “working” at outreach for the Clinton campaign (which is basically what steering committees do) that he hasn’t contributed anything? I would say a retired general’s name is worth a helluva lot – especially when we’re talking about gay outreach to the military and national security conscious gays.
Of course, the General is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Democratic supporters and activists who somehow managed to slip by CNN’s army of editors and fact checkers to ask questions of Republican presidential candidates.
Michelle Malkin has the whole story told best in pictures. There’s the Log Cabin Republican, David Cercone, whose YouTube page clearly identifies him as an Obama supporter, asking a question about gay marriage. There’s the petite young girl asking an abortion question whose YouTube profile shows her proudly sporting a “John Edwards ‘08” T-shirt.
And the mother with two kids asking who’s going to protect her kids from products that contain lead is actually an American Steel Worker union activist – an aide to the union president Leo Gerard and a John Edwards booster.
We were told that there were 5,000 videos submitted for this debate. Are we supposed to believe that CNN couldn’t find actual, like, you know, REPUBLICANS TO ASK THEIR OWN GODDAMN CANDIDATES A QUESTION?
If life were fair and the press unbiased, this would become a huge media scandal – perhaps the biggest in a while. You and I both know that will not happen. So what if Republicans get short changed in a debate by having a shamefully incapable cable news network allow supporters and activists from the other party to ask questions designed not to elicit information from the candidates but to try and trap them and make them look bad?
Of course, the entire affair makes the Democratic Party’s boycott of Fox News look pretty silly – if it wasn’t pretty laughable already. They’re worried about some imagined bias at Fox while CNN provides all the evidence necessary to convict them of being either incompetent boobs or rabid partisans.
For some, it might be easier to believe CNN to have it in for Republicans. But outside of the normal bias found in any large media organization, I believe the CNN debate showed the network to be lazy, unconcerned, and in the end, spectacularly inept.
ONE GREAT BIG IN YOUR FACE, SCREW YOU UPDATE FOR MY CRITICS:
From the Executive Producer of the debate quoted in the NY Times Caucus blog last week:
With only a week to go before the Republican CNN/YouTube debate next Wednesday, voters are lighting up the video site with serious and not-so-serious questions for the eight candidates.David Bohrman, CNN’s Washington bureau chief and executive producer of the debate, spoke to The Caucus from “an undisclosed location†where he and a team of six others were pouring over the entries.
So far, about 3,000 questions have been posted to YouTube, Mr. Bohrman said, and he expects to have about 5,000 videos at his disposal come Sunday, the contest deadline. That beats July’s Democratic YouTube debate, which pulled in about 3,000 videos.
Most questions online have been pulled from public viewing for review, but many of the remaining posts involve asking the candidates to defend their opposition to gay marriage and abortion. Those kinds of “lobbying grenades†would be disqualified by the CNN selection team, Mr. Bohrman said.(THEY WEREN’T, OF COURSE)
“There are quite a few things you might describe as Democratic ‘gotchas,’ and we are weeding those out,†Mr. Bohrman said. CNN wants to ensure that next Wednesday’s Republican event is “a debate of their party.â€
A “debate of their party.” And now the number of Democrats who asked questions is up to 6.
This was not a debate for Democrats to try and trap Republican candidates. And despite the promises of CNN one has to wonder; what are the odds of putting on a Republican debate where 20% of the questions come from the opposition party?
Most of you have the intellectual honesty of a jackal so I don’t expect you to do anything except ignore the above and pretend it doesn’t exist. That’s the way you people deal with contradictory information – you just keep mouthing your talking points mindlessly.
But I publish the above with IMMENSE satisfaction.
9:42 am
The Eason Jordan ethos persists at this joke of a cable operation. Why not do Fox debates? They couldn’t handle the situation worse than CNN did.
9:58 am
CNN/YouTube Debate..Candidates and Controversy (So What’s New?)...
Wouldn’t it have been nice to come away from last nights CNN/YouTube debate with a clear winner and strong GOP candidate for the 2008 presidential race?
For what it’s worth, I thought Mike Huckabee ws the only person who acquitted himself…
10:47 am
Seems to me like this whole thing makes the Dem boycott of Fox Network’s debates seem like a pretty damn smart move. If you believe CNN is Dem biased, then you now have proof that the bias of the network impacts how they run the debate and what questions they allow to be asked.
. . . unless you think CNN is more biased than Fox is? I mean, I respect that the FCC wouldn’t allow them to copyright “Fair and Balanced” unless it were true, but still . . .
Just checked their headlines for today . . .
“Flasher to Jury: Genitals Too Small to Be Exposed”
God, I miss Cronkite.
11:17 am
This kind of thing still surprises me when I hear about it!
I think its just the idea that CNN believes they could get away with it without really trying to cover their tracks.
Anyways, this idea that the states ought to decide whether or not to legalize the killing of innocent babies is inherently vile and evil. Anyone who makes such an argument (like Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, etc.) is by definition a bad person.
To get a better idear of what I’m talking about check out this analysis of Ron Paul’s response to a question asked on YouTube about abortion a few months back.
http://www.kgov.com/bel_56kbps/20071016
12:09 pm
It bothers me more that we had no questions on health care. Six on illegal aliens and none on health care? None on Iran? The dollar? Privacy? The mortgage meltdown (as far as I recall, I may have missed it.)
And why were none of these eight guys able to move the answers onto those more important topics? Hillary could turn a question about her favorite cheese into an answer about health care. These guys stood passively while CNN dictated the terms of the debate.
12:18 pm
What I am waiting for is the cellphone pics of the General and Andy holding hands at a gay meetup event.
12:26 pm
Can anyone explain to me why if gays occupy 2 or 3 % of the people space we have to have an obligatory member of that group on every show on TV or we have to listen to their viewpoint 24 to 36% of the time that the TV is turned on or heaven forbid you just turn on what passes for being the news.
Damn the KKK never had such a following and auto immune syndrome.
1:15 pm
[...] Rick Moran says: Well, at least the candidates were probably all Republicans. As for the questioners, that’s a different story…We were told that there were 5,000 videos submitted for this debate. Are we supposed to believe that CNN couldn’t find actual, like, you know, REPUBLICANS TO ASK THEIR OWN GODDAMN CANDIDATES A QUESTION? [...]
1:30 pm
since when did it become forbidden for democrates to ask republican questions during debates and vice versa? can these debates become anymore homogenous by inviting only people of the same political party? is american politics only about finding support only from your party? is nonpartisanship impossible?
Hunter’s reply to General Kerr’s question was disgusting. He said, “They have conservative values, and they have Judeo-Christian values. To force those people to work in a small tight unit with somebody who is openly homosexual goes against what they believe to be their principles, and it is their principles, is I think a disservice to them. I agree with Colin Powell that it would be bad for unit cohesion.” Some people in this country hate blacks and other people of color but yet we have, or we like to appear to have, moved passed the color of our skin. but there are closet racists in the army and would serving next to different races be “going against what they believe to be their principles”? This is a bad argument. For people who profess to be followers of Christ, they are hypocrites; they do not love their neighbor as they love themslves. instead they discriminate and judge others.
this debate was a waste of time not because most of these candidates did not answer ANY question directly but it was a display of bigotry. i hold america to a higher standard than that.
1:51 pm
I don’t understand the premise of the complaint. Shouldn’t any American be able to ask questions, as long as they’re reasonable and factually accurate?
This whining diversion reminds me of the Bush policy of excluding non-Bush supporters from attending his speeches and the VA GOP policy of requiring a loyalty oath and vote pledge.
Has the GOP become so partisan and fragile that their candidates can’t even handle questions from people who aren’t approved Party Members?
1:54 pm
Are you two seriously trying to make the case – I mean, are you actually saying that if Republicans had asked questions at the Dem debate that you wouldn’t have been outraged?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
Yeah sure. Get off your soap box and stop lying through your teeth.
2:00 pm
What an idiotic whine! Let me see if I have this straight. These men are candiadates for president of the United States but only certified party members are allowed to ask questions? How ridiculous!
2:03 pm
Anyone who complains about this post being a “whine” or that the GOP shouldn’t be “afraid” of taking questions from everyone, I am calling a liar and a hypocrite.
No one believes that if the shoe were on the other foot, you wouldn’t be screaming like a stuck pig and comparing the damn thing to Watergate.
So STFU and recognize the fact that CNN blew it – period.
2:10 pm
The point about having political parties is that they are supposed to work out positions inside their parties. They can, indeed, field questions from a broader field, including those of other parties. This is done so that each party can utilize its internal workings to arrive at what it thinks the best decisions are on matters of outlook and policy. CNN had put forward that this debate would have ‘undecided individuals’ who were just ordinary folks asking questions.
If you take a look at the last Democratic debate that CNN hosted it, also, had partisan activists that were, decidedly, not undecided in their issues or their support. By winnowing the audience and removing participation by the host organization, a university, and limiting ticket sales to students, it was pre-decided to shift the demographics of a venue away from candidates that might have some appeal to that demographic (younger voters of college age). CNN also pre-screened individuals and found, strangely, party activists and folks committed to candidates.
At that point I must ask: is that deceit or just incompetence?
Last night Anderson Cooper answered that in favor of incompetence.
And it shows, and clearly. If the candidates wanted a rip-roaring, no-holds-barred INTERparty debate, then go for it! Put up the venue, the agenda and such and invite them on in… do not put forth that this is about ‘undecided voters’ asking questions when you then select partisans who announce same on their YouTube accounts or that your own network has previously interviewed and identified them as partisans.
I would enjoy just Democrats and just Republicans answering questions within their own parties, so that we can get a better view of how the ideologies of each are represented in the form of their candidates. In the general election they answer to the People of the Nation, and we will have seen just where they are coming from due to publicized intra-party work. Unless, of course, you don’t like the two party system and want it homogenized… which is one possible result of putting interparty plants in such venues.
I don’t like this being done to any political party. I like differences between them to give the Nation the greatest interplay of ideas worked out as best as possible by their supporters. You want to ask questions in those venues? Join that party and push for your ideas and ideals. That is why we have political parties.
2:15 pm
Mr. Moran:
Quite a tribute when the NYT recognizes your work and that of Kevin at Wizbang and the good Captain.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/out-of-left-field/index.html?ex=1354078800&en=61eb663a0611f68d&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
2:26 pm
Mr. Moran,
I’m beginning to understand your mentality. It’s not the content of the question that matters, but rather the party of the questioner.
While we’re at it, perhaps only card-carrying Party Members should be able to be in the audience, work the cameras, do the catering and do the commentary afterwards. It would be very biased if the candidates were exposed to questions from people who hadn’t been properly loyalty-tested (to the Party, that is). If only we could prevent Americans who aren’t Party Members from seeing the debate—that would be the most fair of all!
No wonder the GOP is sinking so fast. Their core supporters (not to mention Justice Department appointees) view everything through a party-first lens.
P.S. Would you also like to require that all visitors to your website have their Party registration papers in order before they ask questions?
2:29 pm
You’re a lying hypocrite.
2:39 pm
So you honestly believe that didn’t happen?
And I’m certain it was a Democrat who asked “I’d like to know, if the Democrats come into office, are my taxes going to rise like usually they do when a Democrat gets into office?”
And of course if was probably Nancy Pelosi’s son who asked “To all the candidates: Tell me your position on gun control, as myself and other Americans really want to know if our babies are safe. This is my baby, purchased under the 1994 gun ban.”
Because if so, well I’m speechless.
2:42 pm
Wow!
If he’s a lying hypocrit I’ll probably be labeled the Anti Christ!
Because calling someone a lying hypocrit for pointing out what can be either your own hypocrasy or blatant ignorance can’t really be rebutted that way.
Or perhaps it can. I mean, if handing standards is good, having lots of standars must be great, right Rick?
2:46 pm
Are we supposed to believe that CNN couldn’t find actual, like, you know, REPUBLICANS TO ASK THEIR OWN GODDAMN CANDIDATES A QUESTION?
Maybe they couldn’t. Did you submit a question? Did any Republican you know submit a question?
This past month, the National Republican Congressional Committee had a contest asking anyone to submit a short campaign video to YouTube advertising the ineffectiveness of the current Democratic Congress. After the full five weeks of the contest, there were only five submissions to be found on YouTube! Hillary got a dozens of times that number of submissions for a mere campaign theme song.
If you wanted more questions from Republicans then, perhaps, as a Republican you should have submitted some.
2:51 pm
Were they Republicans? Didn’t see any proof. Meanwhile, 5 minutes of checking proves that 4 questioners last night were Democrats – asking questions not to elicit information but to play “gotchya” with their political foes.
And I simply refuse to acknowledge you have any point whatsoever. I’ve been blogging for 4 years and if there had been a GOP questioner at the Democratic debate there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it would have elicited the exact same kind of outrage you see on righty blogs today.
Anyone who tries to say it would happen differently is a lying sack of sh*t and a hypocrite.
3:02 pm
Mr. Moran,
You nicely summarize the essence of the thinking on your side when you say:
STFU
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
I simply refuse to acknowledge you have any point whatsoever
lying through your teeth
a liar and a hypocrite
You’re a lying hypocrite.
lying sack of sh*t and a hypocrite
I’ve learned a lot about how people like you reason from this visit to your your aptly-named site.
Thank you.
6:16 pm
Elbows out for GOP YouTube debate…
The Sunshine State takes center stage Wednesday night in the race for the White House as eight Repub…