The Elephant In The Room

The GOP You Tube debate, broadcast on CNN Wednesday night, was a bit more restrained in its use of citizens asking questions of the candidates than the one involving the Democrats. Most were straightforward, but some--including videos of guys waving rifles, Bibles and the Confederate flag--were on the scary side.

All the candidates who showed up--Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and two other guys who liked to wrap themselves in the flag--tried to answer the video questions as honestly as their spinmeisters would allow, but none gave the impression that they are ready to lead.


Is it any wonder why CNN (which bills itself as "The Most Trusted Name In News") is losing ground to the partisan hacks over at Fox News? One video questioner, openly gay retired Brigadier General Keith Kerr (who also happened to be in the audience. How convenient.) asked the candidates--white, male and presumably heterosexual--what they were going to do about the military's policy of "don't ask, don't tell". It turns out that Kerr works for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Apparently, fact-checking isn't CNN's strong suit. Oh, by the way, all the candidates said they supported the current policy.

For all the finger-pointing concerning the issues and general agreement that the war in Iraq is going well (buying into the White House propaganda), the Republican candidates refused to acknowledge the elephant in the room (so to speak): President Bush's and Vice-President Dick Cheney's record, and why folks don't want to make the mistake of voting for someone like them a third time. Couldn't CNN have found anyone with a video question about that?