CNN hit for planted questions at GOP debate

[Regis Philbin]

Whatever shreds of credibility and honesty CNN had left have been destroyed now...


http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071130/NATION/111300093/1001

CNN hit for planted questions

By Christina Bellantoni
November 30, 2007

Not only did CNN include a question from Clinton supporter retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr in its debate, but the network also brought him to the forum for a follow-up.

CNN intended for political sparks to fly during Wednesday"s Republican presidential debate, but outrage and accusations of partisanship were directed at the network instead.

The backlash started after it turned out that a homosexual retired soldier asking about "don"t ask, don"t tell" has an affiliation with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton"s campaign. The network was forced to apologize and scrubbed the exchange from its repeat of the two-hour debate, :hah:even though the Clinton campaign says retired Brig. Gen. Keith H. Kerr was not acting on behalf of the Democratic presidential front-runner.

But things spiraled downward for CNN yesterday as bloggers — a more natural audience for a debate co-hosted by YouTube — held each questioner under a magnifying glass and found anti-Republican links ranging from the Council on American-Islamic Relations to a pro-Democratic labor union. The network defended its choice of questioners and noted that it drew 5 million viewers — the most-watched primary debate ever.

Reports flew on the Internet that at least nine of the 34 questions posed via YouTube videos — on topics ranging from corn subsidies to Social Security reform — came from voters who have ties to Democrats or a vested interest in asking the Republicans to go on record.

[ConnieB]

not surprising...I actually thought that about many of them. I watched the whole thing and not many questions were about the things that mattered...it was more about beliefs and controversal issues such as guns laws, the bible, and abortion. How about Social security, the schools, economy, health care, illegal immigration and so on...that is what I want to know about. I don't care if they believe so much in every word of the Bible, or if they own a gun and what kind it is. If a network is going to do a debate like this, then have the real public ask real question about what matters...

[LesterX]

If a network is going to do a debate like this, then have the real public ask real question about what matters...

So someone who asks a question that isn't of interest to you can't be part of the "real public?" Give me a break. Maybe some of the questions you would have asked wouldn't have been of interest to everyone else. The "real public" isn't exclusively made up of people who think exactly like you do.

[LesterX]

Whatever shreds of credibility and honesty CNN had left have been destroyed now...


CNN responds:


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The man who put together Wednesday night’s CNN/YouTube presidential debate said “there’s no way” that a retired general who asked Republican candidates a gays-in-the-military question was a plant by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“It’s hard to imagine that that was a plant. He had no idea — none — that his question was going to be used,” said David Bohrman, senior vice president for CNN and executive producer of the Florida debate.
...

Kerr said he was acting on his own initiative when he submitted the question, and had done no work for the Clinton campaign other than lend his name to a press release issued last June.

Early Thursday morning, over Bohrman’s name, CNN issued an apology for the situation. “We regret this incident. CNN would not have used the General’s question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate,” he was quoted as saying.

...

“There’s no way that was a plant. There were 5,000 questions. There were many gay questions. This was a very good one.

“If you’re going to go into the topic of gays in the military, where there’s some interesting nuance among these candidates, it’s a pretty good way to do it — through a brigadier general with 43 years of experience,” Bohrman said.
...

“To make sure that he wasn’t an obvious campaign supporter, we took the next step of looking in the FEC records, to make sure he hadn’t contributed, which I think is the best way to make sure someone’s not in a campaign. People who really are give money,” Bohrman said.

But Bohrman also conceded that if you “google” Kerr’s name and Hillary Clinton, the press release naming him to the steering committee pops up.
...

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/politicalinsider/entries/2007/11/29/no_way_was_the_general_a_clint.html


This is manufactured controversy. There's no evidence that these questions were "planted" by CNN. Why would they do that? They have already sponsored numerous debates in which their own journalists ask the questions. If they wanted to "plant" questions from the Clinton campaign or anyone else's campaign, that could be easily accomplished. There's no need to use the YouTube format for that purpose.

[pinky]

The "real public" isn't exclusively made up of people who think exactly like you do.
Thank God for that!

[tiger_rascal]

I think Connie has a point.

[Sunflowergirl]

not surprising...I actually thought that about many of them. I watched the whole thing and not many questions were about the things that mattered...it was more about beliefs and controversal issues such as guns laws, the bible, and abortion. How about Social security, the schools, economy, health care, illegal immigration and so on...that is what I want to know about. I don't care if they believe so much in every word of the Bible, or if they own a gun and what kind it is. If a network is going to do a debate like this, then have the real public ask real question about what matters...

The Republican party has based their entire platform on their beliefs and those controversial issues. It's perfectly reasonable for their constituents to ask them questions about their platform. Sounds like you just don't agree with the majority of the Republican voting base, so you're blaming CNN. Does that mean that conservatives are not a "real public"?

[DoubleEdgeSword]

Oh snap!

[DoubleEdgeSword]

I think Connie has a point.

Okay, I'll bite. Which point was that, Chad?

[tiger_rascal]

Questions during debates should be more well rounded for everyone, not just about controversy or personal beliefs.

Dull and typical.

[db44]

There's a large chunk of this country that wants to know about the candidates' stances on homosexuality Chad, straight and gay.

Eight years ago, Cheney showboated his daughter as a pawn to try ad gain the homosexual vote. Four years later, he acted fabergastic that the Democratic candidate would mention her. Now the Republicans are going to act that homosexuality doesn't exist? Ignore it if it comes up on the campaign trail or in a debate? Maybe they shouldn't discuss it... Silence can be thunderous.

[Venisenvy]

Some of the questions were obviously biased...the best example was the person asking if the candidates believed every word in "this book" a disrespectful reference to the bible. Yet CNN let it through. But in the end the debate I think was very good and out of all the candidates on both sides I think I have made my decision. Huckabee is the candidate that has my full support right now. I would also love Dodd or Richardson as president but that will never happen.

[DoubleEdgeSword]

Yeah, I have to agree with you on the Bible question, Venis. If this debate had been held on Fox, we would have seen worse, I would imagine. When you have a handful of corporations owining 90% of the media, how can bias and/or controversy not creep in? That stuff sells.

[Sunflowergirl]

Yeah, I have to agree with you on the Bible question, Venis. If this debate had been held on Fox, we would have seen worse, I would imagine. When you have a handful of corporations owining 90% of the media, how can bias and/or controversy not creep in? That stuff sells.
Might that be a bit of sarcasm? :p On a tangent, I have to say that everyone should read Alternatives to Economic Globalization. They have quite a bit to say about the oligopolistic media...

[CAStyle]

I remember watching part of it and one person asked what the candidates thought of the Confederate Flag. How was that relevant to the debate?

[db44]

The Bible question was in poor taste, the way it was presented, but the issue is very important... Or, whether every word should be taken as divine law.

I think the Confederate Flag issue is important too: Do people see it as a historic symbol of the south or of hate? The Swatztika is pretty much banned throughout the world, although its history is tenfold longer than that of the Nazi party... If memory serves, it was a Greek symbol for the sun. I'm glad it's banned. But the Flag, it's 200 years old at that, and those who support it say they do because its a symbol of the South, and they are proud of serving the south... Which essentially became the south because of slavery and oppression. There's no history there, and what little there is stems from hatred, fear and death. I don't want my next president catering to hateful voices of the south's past, I want him (or her) to alleviate the fear some people feel becuase of that symbol.

[DoubleEdgeSword]

I think the Confederate Flag issue is important too: Do people see it as a historic symbol of the south or of hate?

Hard to say. In my neck of the woods, house after house still displays the Confederate Flag. You'll see it in vehicle windows and in front of businesses. Does this mean that every person who flies that flag is a bigot? I don't know. Does it mean that they are either insensitive, ignorant or defiant to the connotations of flying that flag? Probably. Do some see it as simply an historic symbol of the South? Possibly. But, as a community, there is no public outrage, that's for sure.

[tiger_rascal]

I never see the Confederate Flag in my neck of the woods. Even though we are part of the south, I guess we are far north enough not to be too deeply rooted in some southern culture.

[pinky]

Pssst, Chad, West Virginia was a Union state. ;)