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.

1. The question I always ask in situations like this involving the MSM is simply this:

   Journalistic sloppiness/laziness or agenda-driven bias…and is either more acceptable than the other?

   Comment by crushliberalism — 12:03 pm
   

2. At least the debate wasn’t on Fox. Fox might have asked them questions that concern conservative and/or Republican voters - who knows what could have happened.

   At least on CNN the questions forced the candidates to answer to the stereotypes that Democrats have for Republicans (phobic, rascist, war-mongers).

   Comment by SouthernRoots — 8:32 pm
   

3. The media as a whole is a complete joke and has been for a very long time. The media, who everyoone from every party, denomination, and nearest bridge club all have complaints about. It affects many things in our society. It is high time they start paying the price for their almost college prank type of antics.

   The media doesn’t report anymore. A journalist asking a question of a politiian, have to hack up an opinion or sway a direction before they even ask the question. The media morphs itself into the story rather than just reporting it.

   The media throws crap out there and tells us that that’s the news and the “story du jour”. They create their own money. Too many falsehoods and sweaty palms in that business. They disgust me.

   Gimme the news and shut the hell up! They are like the Umps in Baseball, they call the game. That’s all! They are not supposed to be players. CNN needs to fry. But they won’t because these kind all protect each other…. Being a Clinton bootlicking station will get them by..

   Thx LT

   Comment by Lt. Listener — 9:45 pm
   

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