CNN Caught 'Reminding' 'Objective' Audience Members What Debate Questions to Ask
There were two candidates for the presidency who both came out on the losing end of their party’s nomination: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Both men bore the blunt of some vicious attacks from members of their own party. Cruz fell victim to then candidate Donald Trump, who repeatedly referred to him as “Lying Ted.” The characterization seemed to stick, and Cruz eventually was forced to drop out of the race, unable to keep pace with Trump. Likewise, Sanders was targeted by members of the Democratic National Committee, all in an insider’s attempt to de-legitimize Sanders, leaving Hillary Clinton as the heir apparent to the Democratic Party nomination. Now, a recent photo of a debate between the two has surfaced, which purportedly demonstrates unwitting audience members were possibly involved in a larger scheme to make the two front-running candidates look worse than their competitors.
The photo is of Carol Hardaway, an attendee, who was reading her question to Mr. Sanders, apparently from a printed email. The printed letter clearly shows the Gmail trademark, and the title “Your Question” in the subject line. The question read by the guest is as follows.
“I have multiple sclerosis but could not afford insurance – without the treatment or medications I need, I had problems with walking, with my speech, and my vision. When the affordable care act was passed I moved from our home state of Texas because they refused to expand Medicaid to Maryland and within 2 weeks I started receiving treatments through Medicaid and am now well enough to work as a substitute teacher. Senator Cruz, can you promise me that you and the Republican leaders in congress will have – actually have a replacement plan in place for people like me who depend on their Medicaid? In other words, I like my coverage, can I keep it?”CNN reportedly hosted the debate between the two candidates.
The question very much echoed then sitting president Barrack Obama’s famous proclamations about his Affordable Care Act (ACA), when he first toured the country selling America on the idea of giving up their private health insurance. But many have now called into question from whence did the question come? One can thank Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange for revealing to the world just precisely what advantage candidate Hillary Clinton had over Sanders. It isn’t hearsay and it isn’t a rumor.
The DNC actively worked to promote Clinton over Sanders, even attempting to go so far as to question his religious beliefs, as well as to collaborate with members of the mainstream media to make Sanders look like the least preferred Democrat. CNN's Wolf Blitzer was also in on the debate scandals, having asked the DNC to provide questions he would use to fire at Trump. And who could forget it when Wikileaks data dump revealed CNN commentator and former chair of the DNC Donna Brazile was found to have funneled debate questions to Clinton, apparently as a means to get an edge over candidate Trump in the CNN debate between the two.
It has long since been common knowledge, at political town hall meetings, many if not most of the questions are pre-screened. It's supposedly done by producers to make sure the censorship button doesn’t need to be pressed (for profanity), and that the line of questioning stays focused on campaign issues. But in light of the DNC's work to undermine Sanders’ campaign, the knowledge CNN’s Brazile gave Clinton questions, and taking into consideration human nature, one must stop and wonder if the questions themselves, all of them, were not carefully chosen to make both candidates look bad. At any rate, if it was so intended, it worked.
Trump said from the beginning the election was rigged, and often expressed sympathy for Sanders, who he said had been cheated out of being the rightful nominee for the Democrat Party.
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