CONFIRMED! Student Says CNN Forced Her to Ask Frivolous Question

As expected, it has been confirmed today that some of the questions posed to the Democratic Presidential candidates in Thursday night's debate in Las Vegas were planted by CNN. It is not clear to what degree, if any, Mrs. Clinton had to do with the planted questions.

We do know that the audience at the debate was stacked in favor of Mrs. Clinton. We know she has planted questions in the past during her personal appearances. We know that CNN's commentators without exception praised her debate performance.

The student in question, Maria Luisa, the UNLV student who asked Mrs. Clinton if she preferred 'pearls or diamonds,' wrote in her MySpace entry this morning that CNN forced her to ask the frivolous question.

Her original question, which she had planned in advance, pertained to Yucca Mountain. But when the time came for her question, the CNN 'reporter' pulled the plug on the question and told her to go with the frivolous question.

Both CNN and MSNBC have been notorious for asking at least one, if not more, stupid question unworthy of a serious debate during the events they have aired. Thus far, only Fox News has succeeded in producing a debate that was on a par worthy of a major, serious discussion of the issues facing the nation. The trouble is, the Democrats refuse to appear on Fox-sponsored debates, choosing instead to go with their advocates at CNN and MSNBC, both of which have dubious reputations.

In addition, Ms. Luisa also maintains that CNN required that all questions from each participant be submitted for pre-approval.

As expected, CNN caved to Mrs. Clinton's demands, despite the network and the Wolfpack's (Blitzer and his pack of wolves) staging an apparent ambush at the beginning of the debate. Once that was out of the way, the entire thing was 'The Hillary Show,' complete with cheers and applause from the so-called 'undecided voter' audience and the jeers leveled at other candidates such as John Edwards.

CNN's credibility as a news organization has been teetering on the edge of extinction for years. News story after news story, reported by non-mainstream media sources, have blown the whistle on CNN's penchant for slanting its news and engaging in outright deception in reporting.

With Thursday night's debate, the network has just about doomed itself to tabloid status, deserving to be relegated to the ash-heap of untrustworthy and unreliable sources of news.

Planting questions in what is supposed to be a serious and honorable discussion of the issues facing our nation is a most despicable practice. It is to be condemned harshly.

Both CNN and Hillary Clinton should from now on be on notice that the electorate is watching closely, not because we like her but because we don't trust her or her mouthpieces in the mainstream media such as CNN.

For the entire story on the planted question, click here:
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/11/diamond_v_pearl_student_blasts_1.php