So CNN plants numerous, known, Democrats/anti-Republicans as though they are common ordinary unaffiliated questioners in the GOP debate, then gets outed for it, then accuses its critics of stalking them.
Don't that beat all. No wonder I thought there were so many "trap questions" in that debate.
The best thing about Republicans agreeing to do the CNN/YouTube debate is that it created yet another invaluable opportunity to expose CNN's abject incompetence.
Alternative media platforms - talk radio, the Internet and this op-ed page - have spread these [the following] facts like kudzu. But the persistent media double standard is obvious to everyone but the manure spreaders at CNN: Had GOP candidates somehow been able to insert their operatives and supporters into a Democratic debate, and had, say, Fox News failed to vet the questioners and presented them as average citizens, both Fox and the GOP would be treated as the century's worst media sinners.
Damn straight. Oh, the howls we would have heard from the left. The tar and feathers would have been airborne for months.
The uber-liberal media-bias proof train just gets longer and longer:
The tallest plant was a retired gay vet, one "Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr," who questioned - or rather, lectured - the candidates on video and in person about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that bans open gays from the military.It gets even worse--or laughable, depending on your mood--than that: CNN turns around after all this omelet-for-thirty on its face and accuses the conservative and/or Republican bloggers of "stalking" CNN!!
Funny. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was exactly the policy CNN adopted in not telling viewers that Kerr is a member of Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual- Transgender Americans for Hillary.Sen. Clinton's campaign Web site features a press release announcing Kerr and other members of the committee in June. And a basic Web search turns up Kerr's past support as a member of a veterans' steering committee for the John Kerry for President campaign - and his prior appearance on CNN in December '03.
CNN's moderator, Anderson Cooper, singled out Kerr (who'd been flown in for the event) in the vast audience, giving him a chance for his own filibustering moment. Marvel at it: Not one CNN journalist uncovered the connection or thought it pertinent to disclose that Kerr's heart belonged to Hillary.
When righty commentator Bill Bennett pointed out the facts to Cooper after the debate, a red-faced Cooper feebly blubbered: "That was something certainly unknown to us, and had we known that, would have been disclosed by us. It turns out we have just looked at it."
Cluelessness doesn't absolve CNN of journalistic malpractice. Neither does editing out Kerr's question (as the network did on rebroadcast, to camouflage the potted plant).
The story is far from over: Cooper and CNN still owe their audience - and the GOP candidates - a bouquet of mea culpas for due diligence and disclosure lapses. Beyond Kerr, Internet sleuths have uncovered several other Democratic activists lurking in the YouTube garden:
* A young woman named "Journey" questioned the candidates on abortion. On her blog (easily accessed from her YouTube channel), she declares herself a John Edwards supporter. Post debate, she immediately posted a video wearing . . . her John Edwards '08 T-shirt.
* David Cercone of Florida asked a question seemingly on behalf of the Log Cabin Republicans. He had declared his support for Obama on an Obama '08 campaign blog back in July.
* Concerned mother LeeAnn Anderson asked about lead in toys with her two children in her lap. She is actually a staffer and prominent Pittsburgh union activist for the United Steelworkers - which has endorsed Edwards.
On other questioners, elementary Google searches show that:
* Ted Faturos, who asked about ethanol subsidies, had served as an intern for Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.).
* Adam Florzak, who asked about Social Security, quit his job as a welder and is working with Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-Ill.) staff on the issue.
* Mark Strauss, who urged Ron Paul to run as an independent, had publicly supported Gov. Bill Richardson in July.
CNN gets a good switching with this YouTube reminder, as plucked from Michelle Malkin's post:
So. CNN objects to others doing simple journalistic vetting and research, work that CNN itself either a) failed to do, or b) did, but lied about.
Why am I not surprised.
Hey, CNN, I hear Dan Rather's available.
For even more in the ever-growing, leftist-media proof train, see AbortionPundit's very own "SKEWS REPORTING" summary, here.
Other HT's to:
FreeRepublic
Cross-posted on Abortion Pundit
Most Startling Admission in the CNN YouTube Presidential Debates
30 seconds says it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mALpnSTGAQs