A friend from college, presently living in Canada, wrote me about the presidential elections, and included a list of questions that he would like to see posed to the presidential candidates. I assume he won’t mind if I borrow from that email and pass them on. There’s nothing particularly special about these specific questions. His point, and it’s a great one, is that none of the candidates are being asked any of the questions that really matter. Some of the candidates might even like being asked these type of questions, rather than enduring the sort of idiotic gotcha questioning that Tim Russert considers journalism. Here’s the questions:
What sort of person will you select as your running mate? What sort of power will you invest in that person? What accountability will you insist that person have?
Will you reverse the trend towards excessive secrecy that the Bush administration has become known for, and release things such as Presidential daily schedules?
Do you support the Bush-Cheney concept of a unitary executive? If so, why? If not, how will you interact with Congress? Will you issue signing statements?
Will you eliminate “free speech zones” and allow protestors near your activities?
The candidates are falling all over themselves to verify they have faith of one sort or another, but they get very vague on what that means day to day. Fred Thompson is a member of the Church of Christ, which is one of the most extreme in its doctrines that women have no place in church and, by extension, dominion over men. Mike Huckabee’s religion says pretty much the same thing, as noted by his support of a “loving submission” manifesto years ago.
To Mike and Fred: Do you believe Anne Frank is in Hell? If so, what sort of treatment would a Jewish lesbian expect to receive under your administration?
Do you support contraception for married women?
Will you promote condoms as viable means of protection against STD’s and unwanted pregnancies?
There was a legal case in 1981 of an 11-year-old girl impregnated by her mother’s boyfriend. After a court battle, the judge delayed his ruling that she could have an abortion until it was too late for her to do so legally, so she gave birth at age 12. A year later, she was arrested as an unfit mother, victimizing her for a second time (source: Ellen Goodman column in the Boston Globe at the time). If you had been in charge of this case would you force a preteen to bear her attacker’s child? If so, what would you do to ensure she had a chance at a decent life? Be specific.
Will you instruct your staff to not censor scientific reports even if you don’t like what they say?
Wouldn’t it be nice if questions like these were routinely asked? Thinking people know that global warming is the single most important issue of our day. Yet the question is never raised. Of 2,275 questions asked the candidates on the Sunday morning talk fests, exactly 3 mentioned global warming . We can see what’s happened to Edwards, who has actually tried to talk about issues outside the bounds imposed by the media. We here on the internets are fighting back, but we may be too little too late.
By the way, I do think it’s fair to put the blame primarily on the media on this score. Many of the questions above force candidates to talk about the consequences of their policies, which the right will never voluntarily do. It’s easy to talk about the consequence of providing health care, not so easy to talk about the consequences of legislating hate. It’s up to the media to force candidates to talk about their positions and it’s up to the media to concentrate on the issues that matter.
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