Scarborough: 'Total Crap' CNN Didn't Know Gay Questioner Is Clinton Campaigner

News Busters ^ | Nov. 29,2007 | Mark Finkelstein

[COUNTrecount]

Update | 8:05 AM: Hillary's Howard tries to weasel out. See update at foot.

Like Rudy and Romney going after each other over immigration last night at the GOP debate, MSNBC was taking some jabs at rival CNN this morning on the issue of the gay questioner who turned out to be a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign.

"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough scoffed at the notion that no one at CNN was aware of retired Brigadier General Keith Kerr's involvement with the Clinton campaign.

View video here.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: This is twice now in a couple of weeks that CNN has been ensnarled in a Clinton controversy. Before with James Carville sitting there giving his opinions despite the fact that he's contributed to Hillary Clinton, obviously worked for Bill Clinton, he sent out letters saying we really need to fight hard for Hillary Clinton. They didn't even mention it. And again, the damndest thing.

And last night, not only do they have this guy delivering a YouTube video, they also had him there sitting in the audience, they had a shot with him [more than a shot. Anderson Cooper asked whether he was satisifed with the answers he had received and grilled Romney over his answer. Kerr himself made an extended comment from the floor]. It's Bill Bennett [who was a CNN post-debate panelist], it is up to Bill Bennett to explain to CNN, and don't tell me that CNN didn't know, that some people at CNN did not know, that he was part of the Clinton campaign. Don't lie to me. Maybe Anderson Cooper didn't know, but somebody at CNN that put this guy in the video knew that.

And a bit later:

SCARBOROUGH: I'm not blaming Anderson Cooper. He can't do everybody's work for him. But it is total crap to suggest that nobody in CNN knew that this guy was from the Clinton steering committee, and that somehow Bill Bennett, a conservative that -- let me tell you -- does not check the Hillary Clinton gay and bisexual and transsexual Americans for Hillary Clinton steering committee list every morning. If he knows, don't tell me that somebody at CNN doesn't know, and don't tell me that Hillary Clinton's campaign didn't know.

Neither of the other panelists were inclined to bail out CNN or the Clinton campaign.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I guess the real troubling thing here is that first of all Hillary Clinton doesn't need, it's the second time now a planted question is making that campaign look bad, and it's not something they need to do.

WILLIE GEIST: Let's say it was a plant. Let's say Hillary Clinton's campaign called him and said "put your question up on YouTube." Hillary Clinton's campaign isn't the one picking the questions for the debate. So they can put all the questions they want up there. But isn't it up to the group putting the debate on to vet those questions?

SCARBOROUGH: Well it certainly is. And again, my point is this. I believe Anderson Cooper did not know. And I'm sure a lot of people at CNN did not know. But if Bill Bennett, while on the air, gets an email that says that this guy is a member of that task force, then they should have known. And I'll tell you why this bothers me. It bothers me because these are the type of questions that people love asking Republicans. They love getting [adopting a deep, serious voice] a strong military guy who's gay, God bless him, I love him, and then vilifying the Republican party. How in the world can you not want gays and lesbians and transgender, transsexual Americans in the military? And it was a clear set-up question, and I agree with you, Mika, I don't think it helps the Clintons: they don't need it. Hillary Clinton doesn't need it.

BRZEZINSKI: I can't imagine people high up in the campaign would support something like this. I actually emailed sort of two high-ranking members of the campaign at five this morning. So hopefully we'll hear something back.

My take:

There are two possibilities as far as the involvement in this plant by "high-ranking people" in the Clinton campaign:

a. they did know, and thus violated their pledge not to let anything like this happen again in the wake of Plant-gate in Iowa;

b. Hillary's campaign is out of control, its senior people unaware of rogue operations being carried out by low-ranking aides.

Neither possibility paints a flattering picture of the woman who would be Commander-in-Chief. As for CNN, I'd say it's time to invoke the "two strikes and you're out" rule. For that matter, throw in Wolf Blizter's abject failure to question Hillary on her licenses-for-illegals flip-flops, and you have three examples of CNN being in the tank for Clinton.

Note: Michelle Malkin has the goods on no fewer than four plants among the YouTube questioners.

Update | 8:05 AM: Hillary's Wolfson tries to weasel out.

View video here.

At 7:51 AM ET, Mika announced that she had received a reply from head Hillary honcho Howard Wolfson. As displayed on screen, Wolfson stated [emphasis added]: "Keith Kerr is not a campaign employee and was not acting on behalf of the campaign."

Chris Matthews, a guest during the segment at the time, was unimpressed.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Well "employee" could be a weasel word, too. I mean, he's not being paid? Well that's not the question that was asked.

Note also what Wolfson didn't say. He didn't claim the Clinton campaign was unaware of what Kerr was up to, nor did he say that the campaign hadn't encouraged him to do this. "Not acting on behalf of the campaign" is a meaningless non-denial denial.

Editor's Note (Ken Shepherd 08:18): It should be noted that CNN's Anderson Cooper quipped in a recent interview with Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham that "campaign operatives are people too," justifying political hacks posing questions at debate forums.

[3AngelaD]

BRZEZINSKI: I can't imagine people high up in the {Clinton} campaign would support something like this. I actually emailed sort of two high-ranking members of the campaign at five this morning. So hopefully we'll hear something back.

In which parallel universe is this person living?

[AU72]

Begs the question about the MSM been pulling this crap before blogs, IM, and the Internet were around to call them out instantly.

[3AngelaD]

Also, from CNN website: David Bohrman, CNN senior vice president and executive producer of the debate, said, "We regret this incident. CNN would not have used the general's question had we known that he was connected to any presidential candidate."

[Munson]

Yes, but for objectivity people’s background should be checked so they would be a man or woman on the street, not just someone with a vested interest. Such as the woman with her two children, who was really just a labor union activist. I bet people would go just as batty if she was an executive for Mattel.

I think the CNN YouTube debate will be torpedoed for the general election. Yes Rush Limbaugh was right. The Republicans should of just ditched it, like how the Democrats ditched FOX news.

[padre35]

For Anderson Cooper not to have known strain believability, he was ranked the #2 Out in the Open Gay in the media/US, and somehow he missed the small detail of this guy being a homosexual activist?

Especially when the man appeared on CNN in 2003 to speak about this exact issue?

I’m calling Bull..

[capydick]

I actually emailed sort of two high-ranking members of the campaign at five this morning. So hopefully we'll hear something back.

Now theres some hard hitting, investigative journalism for ya.

[Billthedrill]

Of course CNN knew. They did it and got away with it. And they’ll do it again given the opportunity.

[kenth]

“I don’t think it helps the Clintons: they don’t need it. Hillary Clinton doesn’t need it.”

Sure she does. How else is the shrew going to get elected? By being honest and spontaneous? Not possible.

[O6ret]

As the daughter of Zbignew you might well imagine what universe she lives in.

[jennyjenny]

It wasn’t just this guy. The entire debate was staged from start to finish in an attempt to make the candidates and party look bad. It was so obvious, it backfired.

[NonValueAdded]

Scarborough: 'Total Crap.'

CNN Didn't Know Gay Questioner Is Clinton Campaigner???

(there, I fixed the punctuation.)

[NonValueAdded]

According to Limbaugh, Kerr appeared on CNN about 4 years previously. CNN cannot check their own archives??? Wouldn’t a Lexus / Nexus search turn up this stuff? Let’s have CNN come clean as to their vetting process for the questioners. This is supposed to be a first class news organization? Is this the best that Columbia and the other J-schools can produce? Is fact-checking-101 even part of the curriculum any more?

[chimera]

I said a long time ago that the media was going to pull out all the stops to get Hillary! elected, and we’re seeing that coming to pass in all of these staged events. They’re backfilling like crazy now because Hillary! imploded in the one debate. Everything from here on out will be to repair that damage and put her in the best light possible, especially by making any and all competition look as bad as possible.

[McGruff]

BRZEZINSKI: ...I actually emailed sort of two high-ranking members of the campaign...

As I heard her say this it sounded like she was going to say "two high-ranking friends in" but caught herself.

[bahblahbah]

“””””
Campenni told HUMAN EVENTS that Kerr is not even a retired Army General.

“He retired as a California Army National Guard colonel,” said Campenni. “It is common at Guard retirement ceremonies to give an honorary promotion to colonels to the STATE rank of Brigadier General…[but] it has no meaning other than a fancy certificate for the wall and use of the title at local Guard functions.”
“””””

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=23698&page=1#c1