Jake and the gay General
Per Jake Gibson, Fox News Political Field Producer
So I’m hanging out with some political types in the hotel bar after the debate tonight and who do I see? Brigadier General Kerr, the man who posed the question CNN ended up apologizing for at the end of the broadcast.
done
CNN STATEMENT at 1:03 AM
Following the debate, CNN learned that retired brigadier general Keith Kerr served on Clinton’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender steering committee.
CNN Senior Vice President and Executive Producer of the debate, David Bohrman, says, “We regret this incident. CNN would not 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.
CLINTON CAMPAIGN OFFICIAL @ 1:17 AM
“HE IS NOT A CAMPAIGN EMPLOYEE AND WAS NOT ACTING ON BEHALF OF THE CAMPAIGN.”
Tags: cnn, Debate, gay general, GOP
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I don’t entirely understand the controversy over the question. Democrats are asked about the “don’t ask / don’t tell” policy at every single debate. Is finding out how a candidate stands on that issue just a question for a potential Democratic Commander-in-Chief, but not a Republican one?
Sorry, but I must disagree.
But, in addition, now that we have this:
CLINTON CAMPAIGN OFFICIAL @ 1:17 AM
“HE IS NOT A CAMPAIGN EMPLOYEE AND WAS NOT ACTING ON BEHALF OF THE CAMPAIGN.”
… it seems like even LESS of a big deal,
Are Republicans so stuck in the Red State - Blue State divide, that someone who has some direct and personal experience with an issue can’t ask a question to Republicans because Hillary Clinton asked the general for some advice on the same topic??? How brave!
So, what will be the fall out from this for both CNN and Hillary? Is this an issue of “planting questions” for Hillary? And how is it possible that CNN had no idea BG Kerr was not linked to any party affiliation?
Thank you, it is good to know there are “hard working” producers putting in extra time after the debates at the local watering hole getting the news out to the public.
To say that CNN did not know that this guy was on a Hillary committee is probably a lie — especially given (1) the prominence that this question received, (2) the fact that other questioners were supporters of other democatic candidates (http://michellemalkin.com/2007/11/29/digging-out-the-cnnyoutube-plants-abortion-questioner-is-edwards-supporter/) and, (3) the obvious anti-Republican bias in the overall question make-up (http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/CampaignStandard/2007/11/barnes_two_hours_of_humiliatio.asp).
The real problem here is that CNN’s blatant dishonesty undermines the credibility of presidential debates. Too bad. At one point they served a useful purpose.
So, “riddle me this Batman,” what is the fallout for CNN and Hillary. I don’t buy the fact that BG Kerr did realize it would be a conflict of interest for him to ask a question at a Republican debate. Is this another Hillary planting a question bit??? And how is it possible that CNN didn’t realize BG Kerr’s party affiliation????
Thanks so much, its nice to know that there are good field producers and reporters that are more then willing to be at the local watering hole getting the scoop. That’s dedication.
It was abundantly obvious by the tone and wording of the questions that there were a number of non-Republicans participating last night. Officially CNN may have been unaware but I’m not going to believe they were surprised to find out as much after the fact.
That said, so what? It’s not like there were any questions that a candidate shouldn’t be prepared and expected to answer on the campaign trail. In addition, they knew going in that the questions were coming from YouTube. Having seen how that format played out previously and knowing that the Clinton News Network would be selecting which questions to use they should have been ready for anything.
Besides, the candidates all come into these things with 8-12 prepared responses covering a variety of issues. When asked a question they just go to the response for the question’s topic and throw in one or two pre-prepared jabs at opponents that seem like they’ll fit at the moment.
Anybody is entitled to ask a candidate a question, but what was exciting (to me) about these debates is that (I thought) it gave ordinary folks direct access to political candidates in a kind of spontaneous way that demanded immediate, unscripted and unrehearsed responses. I really thought this format would change the way presidential debates are conducted, to something far more challenging and interesting than the usual well-groomed talking head asking all the standard election year (and easy to prepare for) questions. But now I see that somehow, out of something like 5000 questions submitted, 3 just happened to come from liberal political activists. Silly me. I actually thought it would be worthwhile (and fun) to submit a question but now I realize this all just an engineered farce. How disappointing.
I also noted the liberal slant to all of those questions posed in the CNN YouTube Debate. I mean geewhiz, where was all of the hard hitting questions that a FOX reporter, like Carl Cameron, would have asked? I mean the stuff us Red Staters really want to know. I wanted questions that really cut to the chase and give us an idea as to how Republican these guys are. No one asked any of the following questions and that’s when I knew the Clinton’s had rigged it:
1. What’s your favorite Bible verse and why?
2. Will you re-institute prayer in public school?
3. How many countries will you invade in your first term?
4. Would you be in favor of repealing the 1st Amendt. and doing away with free speech for good?
5. Will you finally totally eliminate taxes for the rich?
6. How can we, as rich white Americans, convince hyphenated Americans that it is their duty, not ours, to join the military and die while our children enjoy college?
7. Senator McCain and Congressman Paul, why did you join the military and serve when the draft was so easy to avoid? Compared to Romney & Rudy, you guys, quite frankly, look stupid for risking your necks when you really could have just skipped it like those guys and our current VP and Pres.
I truly don’t understand the controversy. Does it really matter if some of the questions were from people who support Democrats? The last time I checked these individuals are still Americans and they deserve the right to ask questions. FOX News created this ’scandal’ in order to smear its rival. Who cares? The Republican nominee will have to answer similar questions in the general election. Conservatives are such a bunch of whiners.
nah, CNN’s not biased, anybody remember CBS and Rather
On Nov 28 2007 CNN & Youtube sponsored a debate between the Republican candidates, but the questions that were supposed to come from average citizens really came from KNOWN Democrat operatives yet CNN claimed it didn’t know these people worked for the Democrats. (Yeah riiiight…& yet they are “investigative journalists”???)
Watch & share this 51 second response to CNN’s Fake Debate
Fake CNN Debate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN1NkR_8KBM
A response to the Fake CNN debate