Ground Game

The initial reaction looked good for CNN. Over at Townhall.com, Matt Lewis said last night’s “real winner” was “CNN, YouTube, the GOP, and the American people. Yes, there were some stupid questions. But there were also some very, very good questions on important topics such as immigration, that would not have been asked by typical MSM moderators."

Even after news leaked that some of the questions were planted by Democratic operatives, Ed Morrissey over at Captain's Quarters largely echoed the positive sentiment, saying: "Bad journalistic practices? Definitely yes. But does that negate the questions themselves? I don't think so. The CNN/YouTube format closely parallels that of the traditional town-hall forum. For the most part, attendees do not get vetted at these events either, nor should they. After all, while a primary usually involves voters of one party, the entire nation has a stake in the selection of the nominees."

And then...

Michelle Malkin, who initially had some kind words for last night's debate, now says, “The biggest stumble of the night award goes to…CNN.”

Commentary editor John Podhoretz captures the feeling amongst many conservatives that the error of omission was a combination of laziness and inherent bias: "The scandalous aspect last night is that three Democratic operatives were allowed to pose as 'unaffiliated voters' asking questions specifically designed to embarrass the entire Republican party, not just the candidates on stage. Given the fact that it took bloggers all of 12 seconds to figure this out, one has to ask how on earth CNN producers didn't think to do the elementary spade work of simply Googling the names of the questioners to ensure they met the 'unaffiliated voter' standard CNN and YouTube had set out."