CNN’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy
I wrote a piece for the NYPost published today on CNN’s horticultural journalism (reprinted below). Filed it before we learned about the CAIR intern. CNN host Howard Kurtz quotes CNN senior veep David Bohrman bleating that they “bent over backwards to be fair.” I quote him below, too. Glenn Reynolds notes that CNN used Google…to buy plane tickets for Plant Number One Keith Kerr and other questioners.
Which ones, I wonder?
I’ll be talking about the debacle this morning on Fox and Friends around 8:15am. (Update - Video here.)
***
IF any more political plants turn up at CNN’s presidential debates, the cable-news network will have to merge with the Home and Garden channel.
At CNN’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas two weeks back, moderator Wolf Blitzer introduced several citizen questioners as “ordinary people, undecided voters.” But they later turned out to include a former Arkansas Democratic director of political affairs, the president of the Islamic Society of Nevada and a far left anti-war activist who’d been quoted in newspapers lambasting Harry Reid for his failure to pull out of Iraq.
Yet CNN failed to disclose those affiliations and activism during the broadcast.
Behold - the phony political foliage bloomed again at Wednesday night’s much hyped CNN/YouTube GOP debate.
Oh, CNN did make careful note that Grover Norquist (who asked about his anti-tax pledge) is a Republican activist with Americans for Tax Reform. But somehow the network’s layers and layers of fact-checkers missed several easily identified Democratic activists posing as ordinary, undecided citizens.
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.
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.
Alternative media platforms - talk radio, the Internet and this op-ed page - have spread these 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.
Whether through, as one blogger put, “constructive incompetence” or “convenient ineptitude,” CNN has committed journalistic malpractice under the guise of “citizen” participation.
In a now richly ironic interview with Wired.- com before the debate, David Bohrman, a CNN senior vice president, explained why videos were picked not by popular vote, but by supposedly seasoned CNN journalists: The Web is still too immature a medium to set an agenda for a national debate, he claimed. “It’s really easy for the campaigns to game the system.” “You’ve seen how effective the Ron Paul campaign [supporters] have been on the Web,” he noted. “You don’t know if there are 40 or 4 million of them. It would be easy for a really organized campaign to stack the deck.”
What does Bohrman have to say about his crack staff now?
malkinblog@gmail.com
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- CNN’s Debacle « Truthseeker
- CNN Seeding GOP Debate For Harvesting « Waste Of My Oxygen
- The GOP is Getting Overly Paranoid « Roadkill Refugee
- CNN, YouTube, and the GOP Debate « Cogitation Carnival
- LA Times Slams CNN as “Corrupt, Incompetent” « American Elephants
- Bigotry and the You-Tube Debate | More About Politics
- Bigotry and the You-Tube Debate | More About Politics
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Categories: Media Bias, YouTube
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Right on course the Dems shady antics and the publics view of them is worsening on schedule. When the debates reach FOX News and they will one on one debate will be down in flames for them. RIP Dems, lying crapweasels doesnt cut it with Voters, Dem or Rep.
I originally bought the Anderson Cooper mea culpa, and believed that this entire episode was about incompetent. I now believe that CNN, working with liberal Democrats, hijacked yet another Republican Primary event. CNN should be investigated for election campaign violations.
good job Michelle…
mirror mirror on the wall .. cnn was the
worst;it was first to crawl towards their commie goal..
of the same for all…
.. lying and decit galore; I will watch/listen no more…
aj hows about dallas! eh
It comes down to this:
1. They are exceptionally lazy and incompetent.
2. They are skilled and diabolical liars.
Either way, the press (especially CNN) is now the biggest suspect in election fraud in recent history.
The GOP should ban all debates that are not Oxford-style. No “town-hall, whiny, what-will-you-promise-me, and how-much-will-you-spend” meetings. No YouTube/WeBloviate parades. No audience. No media.
A pair of cameras and a debate referee.
That’s it.
Stand on the issues or fall by them.
I have to agree with publiuswarmac9999. Personally, I think someone should start the ball rolling for the FEC to investigate the last two debates at CNN.
It is amazing that CNN allowed their skirt to fall down so easily but, really was any body surprised?
When it was first suggested, I was strongly opposed to the YouTube debate concept. This is what we get when we let children play with the controls.
Too late; Jim Lynch at bRight & Early is “reporting” the Home and Garden Network is hosting the next debate, with Martha Stewart and some mustachioed gardening guy.
The producers at CNN are beginning to make William Randolph Hearst look like a “Boy Scout” when it comes to journalistic misconduct. Hearst brand of “yellow journalism” inflamed American opinion to start the Spanish-American War (remember no blood for sugar) now we have CNN trying to sabotage the American electoral process. The FEC needs to have a nice quiet chat with the gardeners of the Clinton News Network. This is no longer snort worthy it is approaching criminal activity.
OT-
ew, Dallas… lol, I watched a better game looavull vs rutgers… 41-38 louisville… NFL Network and time warner can kiss my rump.
I think they have proven themselves to be one part of the media wing of the Democrat Party.
I thank you and all the other bloggers Michelle for reminding “rubes” like me how wonderful new media is.
Old media is dying and within ten years there will be no MSM because their decline is caused by themselves….no one will be able to trust anything they have to say.
I never take my news from anyone but the internet anymore because if I read something and I find it fishy ie: AP, Reuters, CBS etc. I just go out and find the truth elsewhere. I have choices and I am grateful for that.
Touche`, MM.
This is true-to-form typical, loon toon leftist hypocrisy which is the bread & butter blatant bias of the msm. Witness the lack of variety & row crop of (D) plants in CNN’s garden. The memory hole is full of such msm/democrat collusion.
But true-to-form typical, loon toon leftist hypocrisy, the deflected focus of outrage won’t be media bias or shoddy journalism, but that conservatives don’t like homosexuals!
Mark my words.
And the band played on…
There she is,,, fox on fox…
OH REALLY!!! It’s even easier when they have a willing accomplice.
Since when has a debate meant that the debaters fielded questions from an audiance? None of the so called debates have been that as of yet. We have seen the candidates field soft ball questions.
I hope that now, since we are closer to the primaries we can see the candidates face off and debate the issues instead of just answering questions.
Will CNN and the MSM admit that they are for the most part frauds? Not in my life time.
Just saw MM on fox. Awsome job as always, and massive kudos to those bloggers who are on top of this. Bringing the truth out for us to see and hear.
If Al Gore really invented the internet I bet he is sorry for it now.
aj…I was afraid to say it here… but
BRAVO.. I totally agree she is the Fox
of Fox….
Maybe Michelle would forgive him if he picked up one of those cool rugs for her… nah, he’d still be a jackass.
Agreed. It is incredibly satisfying watching the Democrat- MSM complex dissolve, largly due to the power of the internet. Almost like watching the Soviet empire crumble. While it may never completely vanish (like the communists) their absolute control of information is broken. And to think we have Al Gore to thank for this!
aj
Goraldo= mute button…dont want to hear
his crap… its all about him… its
not that the surge is working….
It is time to confront David “Boreman” big wig at CNN. As I said in another post, they don’t care and the “vast left-wing conspiracy” is flipping the bird to the USA in a blatent dirty power grab. There is no shame, no guilt, no conscience with these evil people. The leftys better remember the 2nd Amendment is still alive and well, although there are efforts to remove that threat to their power grab as well.
OK,Michelle…let me see if I have this right….when Democrats debate on CNN,they get asked questions by Democrats in the audience…and when Republicans debate on CNN,they get asked questions by Democrats in the audience…..well that certainly seems ‘fair and balanced’,doesn’t it?
Jsr
‘great post… you sir “get it”
I want people to mention where they are seeing this covered on CNN and other MSM sources. I would like someone to keep track of the weeds in this garden they have planted. Not mentioning it at all is leaving a field fallow. Dismissing it is sowing more weeds. Either way it adds to the case for burning the overgrowth and starting over next year!
They may be dying in some markets but they are killing the culture, belief system of this country in their dying gasps. What do I see in all the airports, restaurants, US State Dept, local govt buildings: CNN. So the people out there are marching to a different drum beat than the pajama gang. Don’t think the MSM hords are not influencing vast voting blocks–they are and we cannot be complacent.
Fox on FOX…Yep
FOXY Fox….Yep
Brightest Fox in the Den…Yep
CNN–Currently Not Newsworthy…Yep
CNN + Scotts…Republican debate
Conniving
New’s
Network
it F I T S
For all the incompetence or poorly disguised ill will shown by CNN in the vetting of YouBoob questioners, let’s not forget they also threw in commentators like Jeffrey Toobin, who thought Ron Paul was a conspiracy nut looney for suggesting someone was trying to build a super highway from the Mexican border to Canada. Um, we just had a big fight about that in Texas in the last legislative session, so it isn’t exactly fantasy. That doesn’t make me a Ron Paul supporter, but it does serve to illustrate the quality of analysis one can expect from CNN. Oh, and I still would like to know how a John Edwards supporter got into the focus group of “undecided Republicans” — another gardening mishap.
Indeed. Jsr mentioned the USSR, and it made me wonder. Reading a book right now by Natan Sharansky about Democracy. He talks about free societies and fear societies. A free society, he determines is where anyone can go to the town square and say any damn thing he wants without reprisal. In a fear society, that person is arrested by the state for saying certain things.
Further, people who are aware of, and against the state, but who remain silent, are engaged in doublethink. As opposed to true believers in the state, and at the other end, the open dissidents. Now, at CNN, I have to say that CNN resembles a “fear” society. I think there are parallels from top to bottom. There are the true believers there, who may have pushed the sham debate 100%, there were probably dissidents who may have spoken up, and surely the majority were the doublethinkers (Cooper?) who knew this was unethical to the bone but stayed silent for fear of reprisal from the CNN Secret Police. One has to believe there is a pretty strong culture of fear at CNN that no one blew the whistle on this joke of a debate. They’re gonna pay now, this was a killer blow Michelle landed, it’s got mileage, and it’s left a very embarrassing mark.
—-
“Giving politics a lift:Trading Viagara for votes” was the Fox segment title just now. Sorry, that was hilarious, had to mention.
JSR Said: Agreed. It is incredibly satisfying watching the Democrat- MSM complex dissolve, largly due to the power of the internet. Almost like watching the Soviet empire crumble. While it may never completely vanish (like the communists) their absolute control of information is broken. And to think we have Al Gore to thank for this!
Sadly, a lot of people won’t see this, or believe what the Clinton News Network said.
almeehan
Good point. The MSM won’t go down without a fight and I think we are only seeing the beginning of the break-up but it is a positive trend. Twenty years ago these plant would never have been exposed or any doubts even brought to light.
The key is getting more people to look at non-MSM news sources. When people suggested to me 10 years ago that people would start reading internet instead of newspapers I scoffed and said “Not me. Never!” Now I rarely, if ever buy a newspaper.
It is quite satisfying watching the liberal media get hoist on their own petard.
Schweggie #31
thanks for the post… very informative
and I especially like this part
quote
They’re gonna pay now, this was a killer blow Michelle landed, it’s got mileage, and it’s left a very embarrassing mark unquote
#33 agreed,,, although I personally
have’nt used nbcbs, abcbs,cbsbs, msnbc bs,pbs bs.. when Laura interviewed brokaw the other day I wanted to vomnit..I dont like how she cowtows to these lying sob’s….e.g. we love tom brokow but …..
This just in…..apparently the quid pro quo between the Rodham campaign and Anderson Cooper was that if he agreed to spotlight General Kerr as an ‘undecided voter’ at the debate the other night, then if Rodham is elected,Cooper gets to spend the night in the Lincoln bedroom and perform a ‘Lewinsky’ on the First Rapist like he has been fantasizing about
Just payback to the Republicans for Wolf asking Hillary Matters a real question. Shows CNN knows how to be Fair and balanced.
Where are all the Democratic apologists?
They seem to be able to defend the indefensible. Well, let’s hear it?
_______________________________________
CNN has alot of splannin’ too do.
Whose going to hold their feet to the fire? The blogosphere, of course. FoxNews? Sure. MSM? Fat chance.
I’d be interested to see the other 4000 some entries in the youtube “debate”, to believe that the 24 chosen were the main issues addressed would be the willing suspension of disbelief.
Big props to MM,her keeness on this is all over,I mean all over the net.These are great post from all on this blog.Let them keep doing this crap because it is going to come back on them.We must encourage them to continue.
CNN and Hillary obviously don’t have enough respect for the power of the internet. Not long ago, they could have got away with the plants.
Usually the dimocrats can out maneuver the Republicans with dirty tricks. It seems to me that it was a dumb idea in retrospect. David Limbaugh has an interesting way of looking at the questions of the plants. The dims think that they’re being shrewed, but it looks like a big time backfire to me.
The trolls have been very quiet about this haven’t they? I guess you can’t spin this no matter how hard you try. This thing is really starting to grow legs I hope it runs the Democrats and their MSM operatives into the ground.
#43 yeh Boomer, they have been quiet.
I’ll note that the MSM now likes Huckaby.
his position on illegal immigrants is
going to mccain him to the dung pile
of political has beens…..
Boomer, please dont wake the ignorant beasts up.
Well, now, here we go again.
What’s the flagship of American journalism? Columbia University.
Should we really expect anything better from a “profession” that’s been inundatd with stenographers for the American Left?
Nope. Nice work, MM.
Here is the danger and why the Republican candidates need to avoid letting this happen again. Last night on H&C Frank Luntz, the pollster, showed the effect of the answers to the questions on Republicans that favored one candidate over the other. CNN obviously tried to frame the debate by using questions from liberal plants. The people that changed their minds based on this debate was stunning. In that sense CNN was successful. If the candidates fall into this kind of trap again, they have only themselves to blame. With the outcome of this next election being so vital to the direction and survival of this country we need to stay alert and informed.
Sorry didn’t mean to throw down the gauntlet. It has been quit peaceful this morning.
aj, unfortunately it was I who called for someone to let the down the bridge and let the trolling commence.
The issue is, that the only traction this is getting is here on the blogs and FOX. This should be unsettling for CNN, as their main competitor is FOX. MSNBC just exists. But, hearing the other Dems saying well these were good questions makes me want to vomit. The Dems just don’t see anything wrong with it; and that leads me to believe that CNN will continue to operate in this way. I wonder if there is a Dem out there with any conscience? Doubtful very doubtful.
I trust that strongly committed GOP folks can set the agenda and questions for the next democrap debate?
We can ask about immigration = motor voter fraud, tax policy, economy, border security, fair tax, and of course why they don’t support the troops - ending with a question on gender preference for Hillary.
CNN playing dumb. It was obvious to me when these people were asking the questions…they were arrogent and some were angry. The Bible guy is the next one to go done. He was an atheist.
The bug problem is that I still don’t have a canidate. I believe Rudy is out for the childess attack on Mitt for the illegal working at his home…and then wouldn’t drop it. The only reference to it should have been in a joke. I wonder how many he had working directly for him in NY.
Lets fill there email box at:
CNN@MoveOn.org
I don’t think it’s either sinister or incompetence.
I found Bernard Goldberg’s book BIAS to be extremely interesting.
They simply don’t see anything wrong. They don’t think they’re biased, and if they are, so what, because they think they’re doing good anyway.
Yes, the end justifies the means. Ask Dan Rather…’well, its still true’.
I’ve seen it over and over again just hand them the gun and they will shoot themselves in the foot every time.
With you 30. Rusty, RUSTY. YoooHooo!
I guess he can’t argue his “only one plant” tripe.
I suppose Rusty will have to make this thread about gays - again.
Michelle doing the CNN slap-down. Almost as good as her Spitter slap-down.
Exactly, Soap. Everything is soooo interconnected.
This is the same CNN which had a “special” with Christine Amanpour that blamed Israel for the 1967 war. It is the same CNN that did a “special” claiming that US soldiers in VietNam murdered Americans and others with poisonous gas because the American “defectors” chose to live in Laos and Cambodia. CNN only reluctantly admitted that this was a forgery.
It is the same CNN whose founder, Ted Turner, said only a few years ago that “Israel is a terrorist nation”. It is a network that basically supported the Palestinian terrorism over the last four years. Should anyone be surprised that CNN worked as hard as it could to sabotage the Republican debate? CNN’s reporters and anchors do not have to collaborate with Democratic party officials. CNN’s staff can do it all by itself.
As I said on my blog, I knew Michelle was good, but not that good..
CNN claims she is spying and they did nothing wrong..
I bow to you Michelle!
CNN is not believable if for no other reason than they had the General in the audience and were prepared for him to speak in addition to his YouTube appearance. If they were that prepared, then they were prepared enough to know who he actually was.
And, just as an aside, I worked for the company shown on your graphic above, and it might be wise to take down this graphic before they “ask” you to do it, Michelle.
John Roberts was just on Laura Ingraham trying to defend CNN’s “lapse” in research. It was laughable.
I am still waiting on Michelle News Network myself.
On-my-soap-box#62 Then she would have to be “fair and balanced” and that wouldn’t work!
Laura Ingraham wondered on her show Thursday when Stupid Party operatives would be allowed to ask the Dems how they feel about “committing infanticide by ripping 8-1/2 month old babies from the womb”.
Just as Leno’s “Jaywalking” deliberately omits the people who know that the Civil War didn’t happen “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, CNN deliberately chose questions that reflected their view that Stupid Party voters are slack-jawed, Jesus freak, redneck, racist, gun-toting Neanderthals.
I missed the debate, but were any questions which reflected what real conservative voters are concerned about allowed?
C Commit
N NewCommunists
N Now
C Completely
N Naked
N Narcissists
C Corrupt
N Nazi
N Newscasters
Publius, these guys also need to provide equal time for Republican questioners. Frankly, I think someone needs to go to jail.
American Thinker has discovered that undecided Republican voter Mark Strauss was also an undecided democrat voter and had a video aired at the Dem debate as well.
But CNN didn’t know. Talk about incompetent. The guy was just on your network a few weeks ago…
MagicalPat - I just read that too and email it to MM. He also brags about kicking Mitt out of his yard.
There’s some people who don’t think that this kind of “horticulture journalism” is a big deal. It’s dishonest to plant a political operative in the Q&A. All it does is prove just how desperate the Democrats are to slant the tone instead of having an open and free debate across the board. CNN knew exactly who these hacks were, from the gay phony “former General” to the muslim female working for the terrorist front known as CAIR. I haven’t watched the Communist News Network in years, and this only re-affirms my reasons.
Rodha,Rodham,Queen of Sodom
How does your campaign grow?
With audience plants
And mindless rants
And syncophants all in a row
#70 ROFLMAO ON THAT ONE,Armgerous!!!
We can’t debate on Fox News. They’re “biased”.
For the first time in History, the MSM is actively trying to rig a election. They no longer are even trying to hide the fact that they are trying to elect Hillary Clinton and are rigging Presidential Debates to that end.
If CNN and MSNBC are going to campaign for their candidate, they should have to register with the FEC and the campaigning should have a dollar value ascribed to their efforts. That way every thing can be out in the open instead of hiding behind the first amendment.
This is no longer just a left right bias issue, it has become interference in the election of the President of the United States.
IMHO-They have already exceeded any financial limits that would apply to rigging the debates.
I am stunned that people do not see this as a violation of campaign laws and do not see this as criminal act.
People keep saying we should just change the channel or call them out on their misrepresentations.
Attorneys, What say you?