Posted on 11/30/2007 5:49:39 AM PST by libstripper
The president of CNN said yesterday that the cable channel would redouble its efforts to vet the campaign affiliations of questioners at open-forum debates, after a retired brigadier general was permitted Wednesday to ask the Republican presidential candidates about gay men and lesbians in the military without CNN’s knowing that he was listed on an advisory committee of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign.
“I think it’s pretty obvious, in retrospect, our search should have turned this up,” Jon Klein, the president of CNN’s domestic networks, said in an interview. “It’s in the nature of doing something that hasn’t been done before — you’re going to try to anticipate everything, and you’re going to fail at that.
“Had we known ahead of time,” Mr. Klein added, “we would probably not have used his question. It raised too many flags, in terms of motivation.”
The retired general, Keith H. Kerr, was one of 5,000 people who had uploaded videos of themselves asking potential debate questions to YouTube, which organized the debate with CNN. Several dozen questions were selected for use.
Mr. Klein said that a small group of producers had conducted basic searches on the questioners picked as finalists, including whether they had made donations to any presidential campaigns. There was no evidence Mr. Kerr had, Mr. Klein said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
And yet, as of yesterday, someone typing “Hillary Clinton” and “Keith Kerr” into Google was prominently directed to Mrs. Clinton’s media site. There, a press release dated Nov. 11 identified Mr. Kerr as one of four dozen national co-chairmen of Veterans and Military Retirees for Hillary.
Things are getting bad for CNN and the Witch when even the Slimes doesn't believe CNN's excuses.
Your failure was getting caught - you CNN POS.
They should have known that Anderson Cooper would pull a stunt like that.......
But this article doesn’t mention the other nine (?) plants uncovered by the blogosphere - they want to pretend that the surgin’ general was the only one.
Wow. The slimes reported it and doesn’t buy the excuse.
They are terrible people.
Unknowingly? Yeah, right.
I didn’t watch this fiasco because I know what to expect out of CNN. Were there any questions asked that an undecided Republican primary voter would find useful, or were they all Democrat planted questions and whining morons?
But, you know, he's just a guy who slipped through the cracks of their vetting process ...
2 * 0 = 0
There, fixed it.
CNN tried like heck to turn the Republican debate into a Democratic debate: gays in the military, abortion, and toys from China. Was there a single question about judges, the War on Terror, or what to do with Iran? I didn’t think so!
Not one question on the WOT!
They’ll follow cBS’s template on this: Deny until the the story won’t go away... then fire a few toadies.
Are gays allowed to vote? If so, this needs to be changed.
What a bunch of Pinocchios.
Takes 15 seconds to Google General Turdpusher and he was busted, but CNN couldn’t manage that?? Right, if you believe that I have some Dotcom stocks I want to sell you.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Atlanta has like San Francisco, has an enormously wealthy, well positioned, and entrenched assexual machine. Confront them at your peril. Socially they are widely supported under new social standards of diversity and tolerance.
CNN is an incubates useful idiots like K. Kerr to be soldiers of their world view.
They didn’t just use the question. the ensured the guy showed up in erson at the debate AND gave a two minute politically artisan speech.
The “vetting” failure referred to about simply using a question among hundreds is hogwash. They guys was flown there and purt on the air live following his question. That takes time, plannaing and premeditation. They don’t let just anyone given speeches on air without knowing fullt welll what they are doing.
CNN cannot even admit “failure” honestly it seems.
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