Apparently, CNN’s latest efforts for their Democrat masters involved stacking the Republican debate with questions from full-time Democrat activists.

According to internet research as compiled by Michelle Malkin and others, they so far include:

“Concerned Undecided Mom” LeeAnn Anderson, who is an activist for the John Edwards-endorsing United Steelworkers union.

“Concerned Undecided Log Cabin Republican” David Cercone, who is an avowed Barack Obama supporter.

“Concerned Undecided Young Person” “Journey,” who is an avowed John Edwards supporter.

“Concerned Undecided Young Farmer” (from Manhattan Beach, CA) Ted Faturos, who is a former intern for Democrat Congresswoman Jane Harman.

“Concerned Undecided Young Black Man” David McMillan, who is an avowed Republican hater and John Edwards supporter.

And lastly but not leastly, this mother of all ringers, “Concerned Undecided Retired General” Keith H. Kerr:

Mr. Kerr is in fact a top Hillary Clinton supporter who is even on her Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered “steering committee.” (Which, as we noted previously, is headed by Hillary’s Wellesley roommate, Eldie Acheson.)

Mr. Kerr is also a member of the Veterans and Military Retirees for Hillary Committee.

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HIDE your children! An other journalist is eng aging in PDCA - Public Display of Clinton Affection.

Not since 1998 - when women’s magazine writer Nina Burleigh told The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz that she’d be happy to give President Bill Clinton oral sex to "thank him for keeping abortion legal" - have we seen such open and obsequious Clinton worship as ex-ABC newswoman Carole Simpson gave to Hillary last month.

At a Clinton campaign stop in New Hampshire, Simpson stood up and declared: "I want to tell you tonight, because I happen to be here with my students, that I endorse you for president of the United States. It’s very freeing now that I’m not a journalist and I can speak my mind. I think you are the woman, and I think this is the time." The crowd erupted in applause.

Sen. Clinton immediately issued a press release about the "eloquent," unsolicited endorsement and featured the audio clip of Simpson’s grandstanding on her campaign Web site.

Geez, Professor Simpson, get a room already.

Yes, Professor Simpson. You see, Simpson felt free to gush because she’s "not a journalist" anymore. But, as a faculty member at Emerson College’s School of Communications in Boston, she is training the next generation of Serious Media Professionals.

Weeks after joining the Hillary bandwagon, Simpson admitted to The Boston Globe that she "made a mistake." But there will be no repercussions. Despite telling BlackAmericaWeb.com earlier this year that "I still think of myself as a reporter who is now teaching about reporting," Simpson is now "considering an offer from the Clinton campaign to stump for the candidate" in front of black Southern audiences. In exchange, the college asked her not to teach "political journalism courses."

But what journalism lessons wouldn’t be political in Simpson’s hands? "I anchored for 15 years," Simpson snorted, "and I defy anyone to have determined my political feelings from that." Oh, Professor Simpson, you make this too easy.

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What Clintons (through Bill’s buddy Ron Burkle) were about to gain effective control over the nation’s major tabloids? Seems like a big story. Well, it’s happening–or sure looks like it.

Ron Burkle and American Media Inc.’s David Pecker are said to be meeting with banks to finalize the financing for Source Interlink Co., controlled by Burkle-owned Yucaipa Cos., to acquire AMI [of which the tabs are part]

After all, why would "the allegedly press-shy" Burkle, who has denounced tabloids, "tabloidism," and "tabloid-style journalism," suddenly want to own them?

His interest appears mainly to be in AMI’s magazine distribution company DSI, the purchase of which would make Source Interlink one of the largest magazine distributors in the country.

Hey,that could be the explanation! I don’t buy it. Look at it from Burkle’s point of view: Soon he’ll presumably have the power to kill any scandalous story in the Enquirer or Star that might hurt his friends (the Clintons). And he’ll have the power to run the stories that will hurt his enemies. And for those who might help the Clintons now (by, say, splitting the anti-Hillary vote) but hurt them later–well, he’ll be able to choose the timing of any further exposes. … Look at it from the point of view of the aptly-named David Pecker, head of AMI: If you assume Burkle wants AMI’s publications in order to gain political influence, when is the time at which Burkle would pay the maximum price? Right before the campaign starts in earnest. In fact, you might pinpoint Pecker’s maximum leverage as coming a couple of months before the Iowa caucuses. Just a thought. … Oh, by the way. When the two companies are merged:

Sources close to the deal expect Pecker to become head of the new company, despite a very rough patch over the last few years that included falling rate bases and restated financials at AMI.

Source: Slate

Don’t look now but there’s another Clinton scandal brewing! -
It must be a new month.
Hillary Clinton’s Media Matters may be breaking the law. The liberal watchdog group Media Matters was already accused of being Hillary’s pitbull. Now, it looks like there is much more in Hillary’s Media Matters. Media Matters claims it is not, as the National Review noted, "an avowedly political institution," but a nonpartisan, progressive nonprofit that is unaffiliated with any political party or candidate. Hah!

But, after doing a bit of research, Let Freedom Ring reported that Media Matters is the Clinton War Room on steroids! LFR reported this after looking at the long list of Clinton lackeys that make up the staff. Let Freedom Ring also wonders if Media Matters is violating its 501c3 status.

Sweetness and Light reported more on this illicit Clintonian outfit. MM is getting a huge amount of financial support from Democracy Alliance, a self-described “liberal organization” whose long-term objective is to raise $200 million to develop a funding clearinghouse for progressive groups. Political operative Rob Stein, who served as chief of staff to Commerce Secretary Ron Brown during the Clinton administration, conceived of the project and is directing it.

Discover the Networks reported this on Soros-backed Democracy Alliance:

Democracy Alliance was forged from the remnants of the Phoenix Group, an assembly of financiers who backed pro-Democratic 527 organizations such as MoveOn.org during the 2004 election cycle…

According to author Joseph Klein, Democracy Alliance has also "received significant support from some of Hillary Clinton’s most important backers including Susie Tompkins Buell and her husband, Mark Buell, and financier Alan Patricof." Moreover, Democracy Alliance reports that one of its officials, Jonathan Adler, served as Regional Campaign Coordinator for Senator Clinton’s successful 2006 Senate re-election campaign. The current Managing Director of Democracy Alliance, Kelly Craighead, is, according to Newsday’s Glenn Thrush, "one of the Clintons’ closest friends." In the 1990s Craighead worked as an assistant to President Clinton and as director of the advance team for Hillary, who was then the First Lady. The depth of the friendship between Craighead and Mrs. Clinton is evidenced by the fact that Hillary, acting as a justice of the peace, performed Craighead’s 2001 marriage ceremony to political consultant Erick Mullen, a former aide to Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York and a former informal advisor to Mrs. Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign.

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Reid urges public to complain to Clear Channel, force apology

In a prelude to likely efforts to legislate the Fairness Doctrine in 2009, Democratic Party leaders in the Senate, including the party’s likely presidential nominee next year, Sen. Hillary Clinton, are turning up the heat on Rush Limbaugh’s network, attempting to force him to apologize for maligning anti-war soldiers as phonies – something he didn’t say.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter, signed by 41 Democrats, to Clear Channel Chief Executive Officer Mark P. Mays demanding he repudiate Limbaugh’s comments and extract an apology from him. Mays responded the same day in a letter to Reid defending Limbaugh’s right to express his opinions openly on the airwaves.

But Reid is not dropping the matter.

In an e-mail to Democrats today, he urges the public to inundate Mays with similar demands.

"I normally ignore Rush Limbaugh, but his comments last Wednesday went too far for me to remain silent," Reid wrote. "It’s one thing to call me ‘Dingy Harry’ – it’s another to insult our men and women in uniform, calling those who oppose the war ‘phony soldiers,’ as Rush did during his Sept. 26 broadcast."

None of the calls for repudiation or apology, however, contain a transcript of Limbaugh’s remarks. That’s because other than the two words "phony soldiers," it wouldn’t be possible to make the case that Limbaugh was maligning anti-war soldiers generally. He was, in the context of Wednesday’s commentaries, specifically addressing the case of Jesse MacBeth, an anti-war activist who claimed to have witnessed atrocities as a Purple Heart recipient in the Army Rangers.

MacBeth, however, never served in Iraq. He was expelled from the military after 44 days in uniform.

"He became a hero to the anti-war left," explained Limbaugh. "They love phony soldiers, and they prop ‘em up. When it is demonstrated that they have been lying about things, then they just forget about it. There’s no retraction; there’s no apology."

Nevertheless, the "phony soldiers" remark was posted on the website of Media Matters, where it was alleged that Limbaugh characterized all anti-war military personnel that way.

Limbaugh has spent the better part of a week explaining all this on his daily, three-hour radio program, the most popular talk show in the country. Yet, Reid and the Senate Democrats remain undeterred about using their government power to rein in Limbaugh and his network.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Reid had also made a speech on the Senate floor accusing Limbaugh of making a "hateful" and "unpatriotic" attack on U.S. troops opposed to the war in Iraq.

Limbaugh, contending he was "smeared" with false charges, demanded Reid come on the top-rated radio program, confront him "like a man" and "stop hiding behind the speech-and-debate clause and your Senate immunity."

"You want to come on this program and call me unpatriotic, come on this program and call me unpatriotic," Limbaugh said. "You want to call me a liar, you want to tell me that I did not say what I said, you come on this program and you tell me to my face that I said what I did not say."

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From Sweetness and Light

From "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton" by Jeff Gerth and Don van Natta, Jr., pp 265-70, which touches upon Mrs. Bill Clinton’s involvement with the George Soros groups CREW and Media Matters:

The War Room

The first decision Hillary faced as she took over the [Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee] in early 2003 was whether to keep the staff director, Jodi Sakol. Sakol, in her early thirties, was already a communications veteran, having worked the beat for Al Gore when he was vice president and during his 2000 presidential campaign…

Once she became a member of Hillaryland, Sakol was amazed to discover the loyalty and devotion of Hillary’s extended political family…

Some of the committee’s best ideas came from Hillary…

HILLARY HAD PAID close attention to how the right wing had shaped the public image of Al Gore, and she knew that there was a need to utilize the newly emerging media on the Internet to fight back against her political enemies. Not surprisingly, there was a more receptive climate for these ideas among liberal activists.

By 2003, John Podesta’s Center for American Progress was preparing a daily news summary promoting the organization’s left-leaning agenda. Every morning, officials from the center would apprise Sakol of their daily message. With the help of outside advisers and Daschle’s aides, she would then prepare the rapid-response message of the day for Senate Democrats. Sakol found it odd— “almost backwards”—that outsiders, many of whom were loyal Clintonites, were quietly framing the messages on issues for all the Democrats in the Senate. Hillary had no such reservations, for obvious reasons.

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These people are fighting dirty. They are focused. They are unhinged.

Backdoor restoration of the Fairness Doctrine. What the anti-Rush campaign is really about.

The list of the 41 Crush Rush Democrats.

Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader
Senator Richard Durbin, Assistant Majority Leader
Senator Charles Schumer, Vice Chairman, Democratic Conference
Senator Patty Murray, Secretary, Democratic Conference
Senator Daniel Akaka
Senator Max Baucus
Senator Joseph Biden
Senator Barbara Boxer
Senator Sherrod Brown
Senator Robert Byrd
Senator Benjamin Cardin
Senator Tom Carper
Senator Bob Casey
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Senator Kent Conrad
Senator Christopher Dodd
Senator Byron Dorgan
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Tom Harkin
Senator Daniel Inouye
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Senator John Kerry
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Senator Mary Landrieu
Senator Frank Lautenberg
Senator Patrick Leahy
Senator Carl Levin
Senator Blanche Lincoln
Senator Bob Menendez
Senator Barbara Mikulski
Senator Bill Nelson
Senator Barack Obama
Senator Jack Reed
Senator Jay Rockefeller
Senator Ken Salazar
Senator Bernie Sanders
Senator Debbie Stabenow
Senator Jon Tester
Senator Jim Webb
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Senator Ron Wyden

Powered by polished debate showings, gaping opinion poll leads, and a pitch-perfect political machine, Hillary Clinton seems to be barnstorming towards the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

"If she continues to campaign without making a major mistake, it’s hard to see how anybody beats her," said Cary Covington, professor of political science at the University of Iowa.

"It is a lot like a chess match, and she has the superior board position."

Yet, US history is littered with the figurative graves of past front-runners. At the equivalent stage of the 2004 race, Senator Joseph Lieberman led national Democratic polls and Howard Dean was top in key states.

Both campaigns quickly fizzled.

So, there is still time for Clinton to make a killer error, or for one of her rivals to catch fire.

In Democratic debates, Clinton "is coming across as much more seasoned, much more experienced," said Costas Panagopoulos of Fordham University’s campaigns management program.

In a Quinnipiac University poll last week, Clinton led Obama by 36 percent to 21 percent among Democratic voters.

An average of national polls by website Real Clear Politics put Clinton on 39 percent, Obama on 21 and Edwards on 12 percent.

She also tops potential match-ups against Republicans — edging out top Republican Rudolph Giuliani by 46 percent to 43 percent in the Quinnipiac poll.

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Posted by Vince Foster

Folks… this is getting scary how bold the liberals are getting to shut conservative voices down!

From NewsBusters

The supposedly “free speech” left are out in force trying to silence all voices in the media with views different than their own just in time for the 2008 presidential campaign.

Potentially more worrisome, one liberal advocate in the middle of this debate has close ties to the Clintons, although it is quite unlikely the press will convey such when its recommendations are disseminated with their predictable stamp of approval.

*****Update: Michelle Malkin is all over this.

With that in mind, the left-leaning Center for American Progress published a report Thursday detailing how conservatives dominate the talk radio dial, and exactly what needs to be done legislatively for liberals to wrest control over this medium (emphasis added throughout):

• Restore local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations.
• Ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing.
• Require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.

Imagine that.

For those unfamiliar with the Center, its President and CEO is none other than John Podesta, the former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. And:

• The Executive Vice President for Management is Sarah Rosen, who was also a member of the Clinton administration.
• Senior Vice President for Development Debbie Goldberg worked for the Clinton campaign.
• Senior Vice President and Director David Halperin was a speech writer for President Clinton.
• Vice President of Communications Jennifer Palmieri was Clinton’s White House Press Secretary.
• Senior Vice President for External Affairs Winnie Stachelberg worked at the Office of Management and Budget under Clinton.
• Vice President of Finance and Operations Brad Kiley worked for the Clinton administration.
• Ditto Peter Rundlet, Anna Soellner, Debbie Fine, and Michelle Jolin.

In reality, the staff and Senior Fellows listing of this Center reads like a Clinton administration Who’s Who.

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