82Marine89
12-01-2007, 12:39 AM
Sen. Hillary Clinton was put on the defensive by questions linking her campaign to retired Brig Gen. Keith Kerr, whose question on gays in the military briefly electrified last night’s Republican debate. Following the CNN/YouTube debate, moderator Anderson Cooper announced that bloggers were claiming that Kerr served on Clinton’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender steering committee, and quickly apologized for including his question.
Clinton’s campaign hotly denied that the question, posed in a YouTube video, was a “plant” by the campaign. “We didn’t do this, we had nothing to do with this guy, he was acting on his own,” spokesman Phil Singer said in an interview. Singer said he expected questions about the incident from “right-wing bloggers,” but not from news outlets as worthy as this one.
“There’s nothing here,” he added.
Kerr said he didn’t ask the question on the Clinton campaign’s behalf in a CNN interview this morning. He said he had only lent his name to the campaign and hadn’t given it any money. “This was a private initiative,” he said of his question. Still, it was an unwelcome diversion for the New York senator and Democratic front-runner as she heads into the final weeks before the Iowa caucus.
Kerr asked on video why the candidates thought that “American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.” After answers by Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, Kerr, who was in the audience, was handed a CNN microphone and invited to comment on their response.
“With all due respect, I did not get an answer from the candidates,” he said to applause. Sen. John McCain of Arizona then joined the debate, saying that military officers believe the current don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy is working, setting off some rancorous exchanges.
Minutes after the debate ended, Cooper announced that bloggers were emailing to tell them that Kerr has worked for the Clinton campaign. Singer confirmed that the general is part of a campaign advisory board, but said he isn’t “employed” by the campaign and wasn’t acting for the campaign last night.
LINK (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/11/29/clinton-denies-role-in-gays-in-military-debate-question/)
Clinton’s campaign hotly denied that the question, posed in a YouTube video, was a “plant” by the campaign. “We didn’t do this, we had nothing to do with this guy, he was acting on his own,” spokesman Phil Singer said in an interview. Singer said he expected questions about the incident from “right-wing bloggers,” but not from news outlets as worthy as this one.
“There’s nothing here,” he added.
Kerr said he didn’t ask the question on the Clinton campaign’s behalf in a CNN interview this morning. He said he had only lent his name to the campaign and hadn’t given it any money. “This was a private initiative,” he said of his question. Still, it was an unwelcome diversion for the New York senator and Democratic front-runner as she heads into the final weeks before the Iowa caucus.
Kerr asked on video why the candidates thought that “American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.” After answers by Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, Kerr, who was in the audience, was handed a CNN microphone and invited to comment on their response.
“With all due respect, I did not get an answer from the candidates,” he said to applause. Sen. John McCain of Arizona then joined the debate, saying that military officers believe the current don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy is working, setting off some rancorous exchanges.
Minutes after the debate ended, Cooper announced that bloggers were emailing to tell them that Kerr has worked for the Clinton campaign. Singer confirmed that the general is part of a campaign advisory board, but said he isn’t “employed” by the campaign and wasn’t acting for the campaign last night.
LINK (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/11/29/clinton-denies-role-in-gays-in-military-debate-question/)