Write your own debate question

It looks like there will NOT be a Presidential debate featuring an audience of only swing voters because of a genuine lack of proven swing voters.

Your challenge: write a compelling debate question that is generally non-partisan, contains no personal attacks, and will draw interesting information out of both sides.

Along the southern border of the US hundreds of people line up each night to cross into the US illegally. While we frequently hear talk about homeland security and protecting Americans at home, an increasing number of Arab nationals are found mixed in with the south american border crossers. What specific plans do you have to deal with the border problems, if you are elected?

Undertoad wrote:

It looks like there will NOT be a Presidential debate featuring an audience of only swing voters because of a genuine lack of proven swing voters.

Oh, is that why Bush is pulling out?

Given the high likelihood of the next President having the opportunity to nominate at least one new Justice to the Supreme Court, what role do you think the high court should have in interpreting the constitution in application to issues not conceived of by the framers?

I'm sure excuses will be made about the 2 debate limitation but the reality is that Bush can gain nothing in a debate forum. he is not a good impromptu speaker and he knows that the kerry camp and the media are waiting with bated breath for moer bushisms. the last thing his campaign needs is another example of him misspeaking as the favored soundbyte for the next 2 months.

With the realization that America's military is understrength in coping with the current deployment tempo, what specific plans do you have for a force restructure?

We've been hearing for months the rhetoric about lowering taxes vs raising taxes. what plans do you have for tax rates in the next 12-18 months?

With the impending retirement of millions of baby boomers the Social Security is in a very precarious position. There has been talk for some time of raising the SS retirement age again to compensate. If you are elected, are you prepared to address the issues inherent within the Social Security system? How?

I'm too young to vote, so I don't really care or know much about The Issues; whoever wins, I will have had no say in it. There seems to be little point in having an ulcer about it. But, I do enjoy a good laugh. What's your favorite joke?

That's the "Boxers or briefs" question of the new generation.

ok, we have a few questions. what time will Mr's Bush and Kerry be logging in to anwer? and what cellar names will they be adopting?

lookout123 wrote:

Along the southern border of the US hundreds of people line up each night to cross into the US illegally. While we frequently hear talk about homeland security and protecting Americans at home, an increasing number of Arab nationals are found mixed in with the south american border crossers. What specific plans do you have to deal with the border problems, if you are elected?

Great question lookout123. I want to know the same thing. If you look at 9/11 and how it happened, you'll see that terrorists sneaked into the coutry illegally, went to our pilot schools, and learned how to fly our planes. I would like to see all of our troops removed from Iraq and told that they do indeed have a mission, and that is, to line up on the border and stand there with guns in their hands.

They hate us over there because we constantly meddle in their business and back different coutries (i.e. Israel).

I'd like to know what Patriot III will entail. :eyebrow:

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

I'd like to know what Patriot III will entail. :eyebrow:

oh yeah! i love mel gibson movies.

The US has been using brute force methods for so long that they've forgotten that other things work.

Bruce, Ogden Nash is great. "Celery" is one of the greatest poems ever written in my humble opinion.

My question would be: We all know the American voter has become increasingly alienated from the entire election process because so many have come to feel that their elected representatives are unresponsive to the needs of the people. What steps would you take to help turn this back into a government of the people?

after looking him up--I, too, am now in love with Ogden Nash. V. good! :ivy:

I don't mind eels
except at meals
and the way they feels...

[font=Arial Narrow][size=1]edit-fixed memory lapse[/size][/font]

Similar to Mari:

For whatever reason, the country seems more harshly divided now than it has seemed in a long time. Do you agree that this is harmful in the long run? How can it be remedied?

Tomorrow's news today:

[color=#31319c]CORAL GABLES, Fla. Sept. 30, 2004[/color] — After a deluge of campaign speeches and hostile television ads, President Bush and challenger John Kerry got their chance to face each other directly Thursday night before an audience of tens of millions of voters in a high-stakes debate about terrorism, the Iraq war and the bloody aftermath.
The 90-minute encounter was particularly crucial for Kerry, trailing slightly in the polls and struggling for momentum less than five weeks before the election. The Democratic candidate faced the challenge of presenting himself as a credible commander in chief after a torrent of Republican criticism that he was prone to changing his positions.

And from last night's Daily Show:

STEWART: …Can we talk a little bit about what’s really going to happen at the debates tomorrow?

HELMS: [Sarcasm] Ookaay. This is the report I’m going to file. [grabs notebook and starts reading, in a quick monotone]. The two candidates exchanged pointed barbs about our Iraq policy and the war on Terror. Senator Kerry made strides towards shedding what some of his analysts call a patrician image…yadda yadda yadda…but the president with his plainspoken words was more effective in communicating his vision by relentless ...

STEWART: [interjecting] Ed. Ed, I’m sorry. You’ve written your report as though it's already happened. This is, is…

HELMS: Yeah, I wrote it yesterday.

STEWART: You write you stories in advance? And then put it in the past tense?

HELMS: Yeah. We all do. All the reporters do that.

STEWART: Why?

HELMS: We write the narratives in advance based on conventional wisdom, and then whatever happens, we make it fit that storyline.

STEWART: Why?

HELMS: We…We’re lazy. Lazy thinkers.

STEWART: But what happens if actual news happens?

HELMS: That’s what bloggers are for.

(transcribed by http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2004/09/ahh-daily-show.html)

Happy Monkey wrote:

Tomorrow's news today:

That is un-fucking-believable! Obviously reporters are going to prepare background information on an event that they know will occur in the future, but putting this out before the debates is amazing. And sad.

Here are some questions for Bush posted ONLINE

Why have you lost interest in Osama bin Laden, the leader of the organization that attacked the United States of America on September 11?"

Mr. President, in July of 2003 you said if anyone wanted to attack our troops in Iraq, they should bring it on. In March of this year you appeared at a reporters' dinner and ran a video in which you jokingly stumbled around your office looking for weapons of mass destruction. Can you explain this behavior to the families who have lost loved ones in Iraq?"

You recently received a formal intelligence assessment provided by your own agencies, indicating that our mission in Iraq was in great danger of failing. You described this as the CIA 'just guessing'. and indicated that you did not believe what it said. What intelligence sources do you trust when it comes to giving you an accurate assessment of the situation in Iraq?

I'd add and whose intelligence did you rely on before invading Iraq?

Do you believe it is best to stick to your guns on an issue even when history is proving the decision incorrect? What about the example of older members of your party were adamant segregationists who have now changed their views and don't apologize for this change of heart. Would you call this flip flopping and a moral weakness? Are there times when admitting your previous position was a mistake is actually a sign of strength?

"If Andrew Card came to you in that Florida classroom and told you that your family had been carjacked on September 11, would you still have sat there for seven minutes and done nothing?"

Next Month's News Today

Mr. President, at this time noone has been charged in leaking the name of a CIA asset to columnist Robert Novak. Have you at this point stated under oath that you were not the individual who leaked that information? If not, are you willing to publicly state now that you were not the leak?