In last night’s CNN/YouTube debate, Anderson Cooper took a question submitted via YouTube from Brigadier General (retired) Keith Kerr without mentioning that Kerr is a member of Hillary Clinton’s LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee.

Cooper: All right, let’s get back to the debate. Another question from a YouTube viewer. Let’s watch.

Brigadier Gen. Keith Kerr (Ret.): My name’s Keith Kerr, from Santa Rosa, California. I’m a retired brigadier general with 43 years of service. And I’m a graduate of the Special Forces Officer Course, the Commanding General Staff Course and the Army War College. And I’m an openly gay man.

I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.

And this wasn’t just a random question submitted by an unknown user of YouTube… CNN had Kerr in the audience and got him directly involved in the debate.

Cooper: I want to point out that Brigadier General Keith Kerr is here with us tonight. I’m glad you’re here.

(Applause)
[…]
Cooper: All right. General Kerr is — as I said — is here.

Please stand up, General. Thank you very much for being with us.

Did you feel you got an answer to your question?

Kerr: With all due respect, I did not get an answer from the candidates.

(Applause)

Cooper: What do you feel you did not…

Kerr: American men and women in the military are professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.

For 42 years, I wore the army uniform on active duty, in the Reserve, and also for the state of California. I revealed I was a gay man after I retired.

Today, “don’t ask/don’t tell” is destructive to our military policy.

Every day, the Department of Defense discharges two people, not for misconduct, not for the unit cohesion…

Cooper: Wait, the mike is — you’ve lost me. Is the microphone not working? Please, just finish your — what is your question?

Kerr: Not for the unit cohesion that Congressman Hunter is talking about, but simply because they happen to be gay.

During the post-debate analysis, one of the panelists mentioned getting emails from people about Kerr’s position on the Clinton Steering Committee. Anderson Cooper responded by saying CNN was unaware of this and had they known, they would have acknowledged it (or not used the question at all).

I don’t buy Cooper’s claim that CNN didn’t know. A simple Google search not only revealed his ties to the Clinton camp, but also revealed that he’d been on CNN itself before discussing the issue of gays in the military.

Now the real question is whether the Clinton camp and CNN cooperated on this endeavor or was this just a case of CNN independently campaigning for Clinton?

UPDATE:
Looks like the answer to my question above may have been answered. Now comes word that other questioners were declared Edwards and Obama supporters.

UPDATE 2:
Kerr is not only a member of the Steering Committee for Hillary, but apparently was also a member of the Veterans for Kerry-Edwards National Steering Committee. Shocker.

A publishing company has reportedly offered Ted Kennedy $8 million for his memoirs… assuming he can remember those things that occured between drunken binges.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the most prominent surviving member of the Kennedy family, has agreed to sell his memoirs for an advance of more than $8 million, people with knowledge of the negotiations say.

Rumor has it, each copy will come with a free shot glass…

Here’s a proposed cover for the new book:

Bryan wonders how many chapters will be devoted to his opposition to alternative energy solutions or his advocacy for the Soviets during the Cold War.

Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment.

Take it with an ounce of campaignism, but here’s what a fellow Democrat has to say about Hillary’s claim of having the kind of experience needed to be President:

“There is no doubt that Bill Clinton had faith in her and consulted with her on issues, in the same way that I would consult with Michelle, if there were issues,” the Illinois senator told “Nightline” co-anchor Terry Moran.

“On the other hand, I don’t think Michelle would claim that she is the best qualified person to be a U.S. senator by virtue of me talking to her on occasion about the work I’ve done,” he said.

And he’s got a point. I guess with Hillary’s rationale, Melinda Gates could sit down and pound out the next version of Microsoft and Deanna Favre could lead the Packers to the next Superbowl.

Of course, as Obama points out, she’s selective in which of her husband’s accomplishments she’s claiming for her own experience.

I think the fact of the matter is that Senator Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn’t work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it.”

Sounds like even some on the Left understand what Clinton is all about. But it will be interesting to hear how he feels about her “experience” when she becomes the party’s nominee.

Thank you to all the troops who will be spending this holiday away from your families. You’re in our hearts and prayers. God bless you for your service.

Another day, another Clinton campaign election law violation:

Guess who is coming to dinner in Dublin?

None other than former US president Bill Clinton, who is mingling with a host of Ireland’s elite at a fundraising bash on Saturday night.

The 1,600 euro (£1,145) a head dinner is in aid of his wife Hillary’s presidential campaign fund - and the places have been much coveted.
[…]
The paper said that some Irish people who were so desperate to attend the fundraiser have been seeking out US citizens through whom they can channel the $2,300 (1,600 euro) admission charge.

Federal election laws clearly state that not only is it illegal for these Irish people to be contributing (directly or indirectly) to the Clinton campaign…

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly.

…but it’s also illegal for the Clinton campaign to be soliciting such contributions as well:

It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them.

The potential punishment?

Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment.

But then again, these are Clintons we’re talking about. They can violate every law known to mankind and they’ll serve less time than Paris Hilton.

To Democrats, the average citizen (and in some cases, non-citizen) is just a political pawn to advance bad policy. But don’t take my word for it, listen to Iowa’s Democrat Governor and 2008 Presidential Candidate, Tom Vilsack, admitting the SCHIP campaign was all about using kids and seniors to sneak socialized medicine into American healthcare policy like a Trojan Horse:

“I think there is going to be a commitment to universal coverage. I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be a sector by sector process. I think you either need to go in whole hog or not. We tried to sort of squeeze the middle here with doing children and doing seniors, and trying to squeeze it. If anything happens, it would more likely look something like this: you would extend eligibility for children from 200% of poverty to 300% of poverty, and create resources to insure the parents of those children.”

I guess deception is the only option when you’re trying to promote bad policy.

CNN has decided they no longer need to be subtle about campaigning for the Democrats.

Trying to pass off the 2003 Arkansas Democrats’ director of political affairs as an “undecided voter” is outright fraud. AllahPundit reminds us how Wolf Blitzer introduced the debate:

Did he offer any details on who’d be doing the questioning? Why, yes. After mentioning that the debate was sponsored by the national party — something likely understood by most viewers as a mere formality — he described them as “ordinary people, undecided voters.” Note: not even “undecided Democrats.” Just undecided.

And to show that CNN was trying hard to protect the Democrat candidates from having to answer anything but softball questions… look at what they did to a UNLV student in the audience:

Maria Luisa, the UNLV student who asked Hillary Clinton whether she preferred “diamonds or pearls” at last night’s debate wrote on her MySpace page this morning that CNN forced her to ask the frilly question instead of a pre-approved query about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

“Every single question asked during the debate by the audience had to be approved by CNN,” Luisa writes. “I was asked to submit questions including “lighthearted/fun” questions. I submitted more than five questions on issues important to me. I did a policy memo on Yucca Mountain a year ago and was the finalist for the Truman Scholarship. For sure, I thought I would get to ask the Yucca question that was APPROVED by CNN days in advance.”

It’s as if the DNC and CNN have finally recognized the Democrat base is too dumb to know what’s happening. Joseph Goebbels would be proud.

The liberals just never seem to get enough when it comes to fantasizing about the death of the President of the United States. Whether it’s a liberal protestor fantasizing about murdering him or a political candidate favoring the death penalty for him or artists memorializing assassination in print or entrepreneurs trying to sell merchandise endorsing his assassination or the latest example… right from one of our own American newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle:

Bush Death Watch: Countdown!

It’s just that kind of feeling, that sense of hesitant, embryonic optimism, the sense that says, oh my God, we as a culture and a smash-mouthed, war-hammered society really are fast approaching something possibly, potentially, heart-achingly new and different and — because it cannot get any worse — just a little bit better.

Here is my suggestion: Mark your calendars, set your watch, program a celebratory ringtone well in advance, because the countdown has officially begun.

Al-Qaeda thanks you for your support.

Here’s the author’s email address in case you’d like to share your views with him.

The director of the national automobile association declared, “When it comes to foreigners, we’re a little more strict here.” A manager of a driver’s license office said, “Our constitution has certain restrictions for foreigners.”

Think they’ll get called “bigots” for their tough stance against illegal aliens? Of course not… because they’re in Mexico.

MEXICO CITY - The question of whether to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants ignited a national debate in the United States. But in Mexico, the largest source of U.S. immigrants, there’s no question: Here, you must be a legal resident to get a driver’s license.

All of Mexico’s 31 states, along with Mexico City, require foreigners to present a valid visa if they want a driver’s license, according to a survey of states by The Arizona Republic.

Mexico, the country that accounts for more than half of the illegal aliens that cross into the U.S. requires a valid visa before issuing a driver’s license.

And what does Mexico think of the U.S. trying to employ the same policy?

Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat declined to comment on the controversy this week, but the Mexican government has fought U.S. restrictions on licenses in the past.

In 2004, the former Mexican consul in New York, Arturo Sarukhan, called such rules “a policy without a purpose” during a hearing in the New York State Assembly.

Yet, licensing offices in all of Mexico’s 31 states, along with the Federal District, where Mexico City is located, said they require applicants to prove their citizenship.

Viva la hipocresía.

Just when you thought the arguments couldn’t get any lamer, along comes a group of students at the University of New Mexico to blame the federal government for not funding their ability to have casual sex on demand… or at least for not providing the funds to help them escape the responsibilities that may result from a sexual relationship.

ALBUQUERQUE - University of New Mexico students are worried the federal deficit is going to cause a boom in unwanted pregnancies.

UNM is now feeling the affects of the Deficit Reduction Act passed in 2005 whose funding cuts reduce money used by universities to subsidize birth control.

The price of birth control on campuses and family planning clinics has more than doubled. Today students at UNM encouraged their peers to call and ask lawmakers to cosponsor a bill that would return the funding for birth control.

Has it gotten this absurd that people are now blaming the federal government for conception?

“Birth control is probably the largest preventative measure of abortion and unwanted pregnancies, just because it’s safe, it’s affordable,” UNM Molly Maguire-Marshall said. “Sometimes it’s accessible, and we want to keep it that way.

Actually, Molly, abstinence is the largest preventative measure. Maybe if they could control their hormones they wouldn’t have to worry about how they’re going to fund their next abortion.

Restoring the funds will reduce the squeeze on cash-strapped students, added Ambrosia Ortiz.

“So they don’t have to make a choice between their birth control and their cell phone bill or their birth control and their gym membership and their birth control,” Ortiz said. “These are choices that women shouldn’t have to make.

Yes, actually they are. It’s called personal responsibility. How about instead of crying for the federal government (aka we taxpayers) to bail you out everytime you hook up at a kegger, you start learning some personal responsibility and make the choice to skip the sexual activity if you can’t afford a child or to fund your own birth control practices.

Then again, considering the completely ridiculous line of reasoning from these folks, maybe I should reconsider helping fund their inability to procreate. The world needs fewer idiots.