A Powerful Fraudulent Moment

Jonathan Martin at The Politico got pwned – badly - by a very badly rigged question – and question asker – at the CNN/YouTube debate.

A retired Army general, Keith Kerr, just listed all his military credentials and then left the crowd silent by saying at the end of his video that he is "an openly gay man" and wants to know why gays can't serve in the military.

Romney was hit by Anderson Cooper with a past statement (imagine that) saying that he "look[ed] forward" to the day gays could serve. Pressed hard by Cooper about whether he had changed his mind, Romney plainly looked displeased. "This isn’t that time," Romney first said, noting the national security threats.  He said the "don't ask, don't tell"  policy "seems to have worked" and, toward the end, even drew some boos (it was tough to discern exactly why).

Kerr, present in the audience, was then introduced by Cooper and said he didn't feel as though he got an answer.  Explaining why, he got his own boos (partially snuffed by some shushing).

Here's the problem. Kerr happens to be a consultant to the Hillary Clinton campaign. CNN either did not practice due diligence or rigged this question in an intentional fraud.

 On the eve of the 38th anniversary of Stonewall, Hillary for President announced the formation of "LGBT Americans for Hillary," a national steering committee of over 65 leaders in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Members of the steering committee include LGBT elected officials, activists from national LGBT and Democratic Party political groups as well as leaders from the worlds of business, entertainment and sports. This leadership committee will work with the campaign on several areas including political outreach, communications, policy advice and counsel, and fundraising.

The steering committee lists the following member:

Keith Kerr, retired Colonel., U.S. Army; retired Brigadier General, California National Reserve

This is a scam, not a "powerful" question. And the Clinton campaign should rightfully take serious heat for it. Plants are dirty tricks and should be called for what they are.

UPDATE: CNN claims it never knew.

UPDATE: CNN later 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."

This is a basic matter of research that bloggers found in about three seconds on Google. This is not rocket surgery, for Pete's sake. Kerr was not "connected" HE WAS AN OPERATIVE. CNN either actively collaborated in a loaded scam question from a rival campaign or is too stupid to claim a mantle of professional journalism.

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  By Jaxebad, November 28, 2007 @ 10:47 pm

  You know what, in the big picture, the nondisclosure of support for Clinton isn’t a big deal in the big picture. What’s more important is that Kerr deserves the right to ask this question; he earned it. He is in the right, and Hunter/McCain/Huckabee/Romney are all in the wrong.

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  By Quilly Mammoth, November 28, 2007 @ 11:01 pm

  I think that should be “California State Military Reserve”.
  http://www.calguard.ca.gov/casmr/Pages/default.aspx

  Not really part of the United States Military, strictly a State militia.

  He retired from the U. S. Army Reserve in 1986 with the rank of Colonel and was commissioned in the California State Military Reserve (California National Guard) on 15 March 1986, where his assignments were Inspector General and later, Chief of Staff. He was appointed Commanding General, Northern Area Command, CSMR, with headquarters at Alameda Naval Supply Depot, Alameda, CA and promoted to Brigadier General on 21 February 1991. He held this position until reassigned to State Headquarters on 31 July 1995. General Kerr retired on 1 June 1996 after 43 years of service to the United States and the State of California.

  http://www.sldn.org/templates/about/record.html?section=81&record=1151

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  By Gaius, November 28, 2007 @ 11:10 pm

  Wrong, Jaxebad. If he was a private citizen he would have the right. As an operative of the Clinton campaign he does not. That is over the line and is nothing more than a dirty trick. If the same thing had been done to the Democrats, I rather suspect the howling outrage would reach the level of pain threshold.

  This is a complete and utter failure on the part of CNN and a stone-cold setup by the Clinton campaign.

  And I think it was a serious overplay of a hand. People will not be amused by this.

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  By martian, November 29, 2007 @ 3:52 pm

  As it turns out, there were actually a number of Democratic Party plants among the questioners at the debate. Michelle Malkin has a breakdown at her web site: http://michellemalkin.com/2007/11/29/digging-out-the-cnnyoutube-plants-abortion-questioner-is-edwards-supporter/

  Not only do they plant questioners at their own debates (there were at least 6 Democratic operative questioners represented as “uncommited voters” at the Blitzer Democratic debate), now they’re planting them, apparently with the willfull cooperation of CNN at Republican debates, too.

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1. Blue Crab Boulevard » Shillgate — November 28, 2007 @ 11:47 pm