I Have Officially Lost All Respect for CNN as a Network

Don't get me wrong, I've long been frustrated with CNN ever since it moved its headquarters from Atlanta to New York and started drifting to the left to counter Fox. Anyone forced to watch "debate" shows like Lou Dobbs Tonight or Crossfire for more than, say, 30 seconds, will know what I'm talking about. But last night was the last straw; I simply can't watch this network anymore.

For those of you out of the loop, CNN hosted a "Youtube" debate last night for the Republican candidates. A month ago or so, they used the same format for the Democrats, and it worked well: undecided liberal/Democratic voters would submit questions via Youtube for the Democratic candidates to answer, with CNN selecting the "best" questions, thus helping Democrats decide who to support.

Last night, one would think an equal format would be followed: undecided conservative/Republican questions would be used to help distinguish the Republican candidates on their positions, which is really the whole point of the primaries. One small problem: many of the the questions chosen by CNN were from Democratic supporters, not Republican ones.

So instead of helpful questions meant to evaluate each candidate's conservative credentials (some examples: "who has the best plan to overhaul the tax code?," "who's the most pro-life candidate?," "how will you reform Social Security?" or "do you think free trade is good or bad for America?"), we got a slew of planted non-questions meant to take a general swipe at the GOP as a party and that served no journalistic purpose: "Do ya'll really believe every word of the Bible?", "What do you think of the Confederate Flag?", "I'm Gay. Why should I support Republicans?", "The Death Penalty: What Would Jesus Do?", "You want to spend tons of money on national defense but what are you gonna do for black neighborhoods?", "I'm a retired general, and I'm gay. Why can't gays serve in the military?", "Would you sign a federal law that would criminalize all abortions and force young women to go to prison?" These were just some of the "questions" posed last night, all by individuals who turn out to be supporting various Democratic candidates.

The most frustrating aspect of all of this is the Democrats weren't subject to near the same standard. All of their questions actually came from their supporters. The question remains whether CNN was just lazy in screening the clips or if they intentionally chose them.