NewsBusters column on Republican You Tube Debate

As all of us know, the much watched You Tube debate with the Republican Presidential Candidates was so far the most watched debate of the season. I read a number of blogs that thought that this debate went quite well and showcased the real differences in the two parties, with the Republican candidates actually answering the questions that were asked rather than using each question as a platform to bash President Bush. I agree though with Rush Limbaugh and others who noted that the debate also showcased the actual "moderate" nature of most of the leading candidates and when I hear that each candidate is looking to be the "conservative" in the race, my feeling is that each of them have a long way to go before the mantle is bestowed on them (if at all). I have long maintained that the current administration is not really conservative but more moderate in many things and quite liberal with its spending policies - which any real conservative needs to make policies away from the current Governmental largess.

So it is looking like CNN has egg on their face again as many of the supposed undecided Republican voters have ties to the various Democratic Presidential Campaigns (Edwards, Obama, Clinton) and some of the others have dubious Republican credentials (one was a former CAIR intern, another questioner worked with Dick Durbin's staff). See Michelle Malkin's excellent write up on this here and here. It seems Michelle is getting some flak for daring to type in a questioner's name in a search engine and seeing what pops up. And CNN didn't do this why? Also the blog "Nice Deb" has a great article on the retired General who had the question about Gays in the military. BTW I have a response for him. It is never a question of the professionalism of the military that is in question, it is the avoidance of the United States Military openly endorsing a deviant human behavior and being used as a way of social promotion of the gay lifestyle with the military as a conduit. But as usual I digress. What I would have loved for one of the candidates to have the guts to say something like that!! We don't have to accept every sort of strange behavior that individuals decide is their choice or "orientation" and elevate that to the level of normal.

I also find it interesting that the Republicans will go on CNN and have "activities" like the ones these bloggers have uncovered occur but the Dems will still avoid Fox News. Which group shows more leadership and courage? I will leave it to the reader to decide.

Finally Newbusters has a great post about looking at this issue from a "what if" perspective. Can you imagine the lefties uncovering that during one of the debates, a questioner was revealed to have ties to the Fred Thompson campaign? The post writer Tim Graham quotes Eric Deggans (a reporter/blogger from the St. Petersburg Times) who states:

And even though some liberal bloggers are saying the political background of questioners shouldn't matter, I have a hard time believing they would have tolerated seeing Hillary Clinton asked a tough question on an issue important to conservatives by someone with hidden ties to Rudolph Giuliani or George W. Bush.

It's an ironic turn, given that so much initial concern about the CNN/YouTube debates centered on whether the questions would be good enough. Turns out, we all should have been playing closer attention to who was asking the questions -- especially CNN.

Mr. Deggan is right. The political background is not important if it is stated as such but this was supposed to be a debate to help undecided Republican voters get the answers that they need to make their decision as to who should they support. It was not supposed to serve as a forum for any crank to get a microphone and try and either cause a rift between candidates and their supporters or to showcase how potentially "nutty" Conservatives are. If the shoe was on the other foot (and this was done at Fox News) the left would be in a virtual meltdown and there would be plenty of condemnation to go around (and rightfully so). Shame on CNN who I think is better than this. Or CNN can check this site out (again h/t to Michelle Malkin).

Original Newsbusters Story below.

Would Liberals Tolerate Hillary Questioner With 'Hidden Ties' to GOP? | NewsBusters.org

Outspoken Roman