Another Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

Well, our pals on the far Left have yet another gleaming example of liberal media bias to scoff at or ignore. As you undoubtedly know by now, dear reader, CNN flew in a fellow named Keith H. Kerr to ask a question about gays in the military at the recent CNN-Youtube Republican presidential debate.

And, as it turns out, Mr. Kerr is something of a shill, since he had been part of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s steering committee on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. Thus he wasn’t exactly the sort of undecided Republican who ought to have been asking questions of the prospective Republican presidential nominees.

Nor, as it turns out, was Mr. Kerr the only ringer. According to Michelle Malkin, pretty much every questioner was either a John Edwards operative or Dennis Kucinich. One of them might even have been Joe Biden’s hair plugs.

Now, don’t get us wrong, dear reader. We, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” consider ourselves firm supporters of gay marriage, and believe that gays and lesbians should be able to serve openly in the military. In fact, we’d even contemplate a special draft exclusive to lesbians, if they’d allow it. As such, we’re sure entirely agree with Mr. Kerr’s perspective on these matters.

Yet he obviously ought not to have been asking a question at a Republican primary debate. Such an event, after all, offers an opportunity for registered Republicans to get a sense of the candidate they most esteem for the presidency. It ought to be geared toward those who would actually plump for one of the men on the stage.

The same is true of a Democratic debate. At a Democratic debate, Alan Keyes shouldn’t be asking questions about “Castro’s tyrrany” or “the radical homosexual agenda.” Ann Coulter ought not query candidates on “treason,” or whatever silly topic gets her dander up.

How can a reputable news network not do a little Googling before allowing this to happen? More to the point, how in the good Lord’s name did they think they could get away with such sloppiness?

We’re fully prepared to buy the notion that the lefty CNN folks picked out questions that suited their anti-Republican prejudices. Yet we didn’t think they’d be so stupid as to fail to discover whether these “gotcha” queries stemmed from real undecided Republicans or not.

“The most trusted name in news”? Oh, puh-lease.

Sure, Fox News is horribly titled to the Right. Worse yet, they simply won’t own up to it. But clearly CNN doesn’t shoot straight either. Eric Alterman may never admit it, but that shouldn’t stop sane people from doing so.