Devoted to show business and the entertainment industry

Using the recent presidential debate on CNN as a backdrop, LA Times' writer Tim Rutten called CNN corrupt and called for leaders of both the Republican and Democratic party to abandon the network from participating in our electoral affairs.

Rutten questioned CNN's ability to even play any political role saying, "this most recent debacle masquerading as a presidential debate raises serious questions about whether CNN is ethically or professionally suitable to play the political role the Democratic and Republican parties recently have conceded it."

Saying the network is both corrupt and incompetent, he said the process of filtering out questions submitted through YouTube (GOOG) was basically a joke. All CNN staffers did was go through the pile of approximate 5,000 submissions and grab the questions that suited them best.

The biggest example he gives is the focus on immigration, while important to Americans, not nearly as important as a host of other issues they're concerned about. The major point he was making with this is the connection of immigration with Lou Dobbs, who's counting on the immigration issue to boost his show and make it a success.

The point Rutten makes is the staff of CNN and their selectivity in choosing questions, basically makes the process of culling questions from YouTube a joke. They simply select the ones they would have asked to enhance their TV network; and according to Rutten, that's exactly what they did. That's his basis for the "corruption" charge.

He's saying that CNN outright manipulated, or directed the debate to further its own interests through enlarging the immigration issue beyond its importance to Americans.

According to a recent Pew poll, the major concerns of Americans are the war in Iraq, the economy, healthcare and rising energy costs. When taking that together with 40 percent of Americans believing foreign issues are the most important in the next election, you see the point he is making.

Most recently immigration was only considered the most important issue by 6 percent of the population surveyed by Pew. This percentage has remained under 10 percent since January 2007 surveys.

He added when you consider questions like whether it's right to fly the Confederate flag, Biblical inerrancy, along with the complete failure to filter out Democrat plants as questioners, CNN operated in complete incompetence.