If you had one question to ask a major presidential candidate... - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

guy44 · 02-12-2008, 01:21 PM

This thread is strictly about the following hypothetical situation: you are at a question-and-answer session featuring one of the major presidential candidates, namely Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, or Mike Huckabee. You are given a turn at the microphone, and now have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to ask the candidate any question you like. What question would you choose?

Please keep the questions serious, and avoid unnecessary snark or bitterness towards a candidate. The questions I'm interested in are genuinely the ones that you'd like answers to, candidate to constituent.

Here are my questions, sorted by candidate:

Hillary Clinton:

Many millions of people within the United States, and untold numbers around the world, understood that the passage of the Iraq War Authorization was a guarantee that Bush would go to war. Given that so many others knew at the time what that vote was really about, how can you continue to claim that your "aye" vote was not a mistake?

Barack Obama:

Your campaign is premised on the promise that an Obama Presidency will be able to reach across party lines to accomplish significant change within a bipartisan framework. However, the Republican minority in this Congress has engaged in obstructionism on every front, and professes policy positions massively different than yours on issues ranging from the Iraq War to health care to immigration. How will you go about creating a large bipartisan coalition given this reality?

John McCain:

Will you, as President, support any measures that will increase the number of illegal immigrants who attain citizenship?

Mike Huckabee:

As Governor of Arkansas, you were responsible for the early release of a convicted rapist over the pleas of his victims, their families, and the parole board. He subsequently went on to rape and murder at least one girl. Why did you support his release, and how can the country trust the judgment of someone who did this?

Willravel · 02-12-2008, 01:27 PM

Nice thread!

To Obama:
Why did you vote in favor of the Patriot Act, and would you change your vote knowing what's happened as a result?

To Hillary:
What's more important to you: winning the election or ending the war? If you had to choose, between being elected president and ending the war, which would you choose?

To McCain:
Grampa, do you want me to set up the DVR to record Wheel of Fortune for you? (waits for him to struggle to remember if I'm his grandson or not)

To Huck:
I'm an atheist. I do not personally believe that an absolute faith in god or gods is reasonable, however I think it would be unfair of me to attempt to force these beliefs on others as it's simply a subjective interpretation of the universe. If you were elected president would you, as you've suggested before, really try to move us closer to a Christian theocracy in the USA?

aceventura3 · 02-12-2008, 01:54 PM

To Hilary:

At what point do you draw the line between personal responsibility and governmental responsibility in the area of social services? Government already provides or guarantees; primary education, heath care and social security for the elderly, minimum wage, unemployment compensation, safety rules and regulations covering the workplace, etc., you want to nationalize health care, flatten wage disparity/wealth disparity, protect employees from losing their jobs overseas, etc, etc., do you really want a cradle to grave nanny state?

Obama:

Do you really think you can negotiate peace with the leaders of groups and nations who have openly stated that they want to wipe us and our friends off of the face of the earth? If not how far are you willing to go to defeat our enemy?

Willravel · 02-12-2008, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aceventura3

Do you really think you can negotiate peace with the leaders of groups and nations who have openly stated that they want to wipe us and our friends off of the face of the earth?

They didn't say that. Comon. Even Obama would be able to call you on that.

Tully Mars · 02-12-2008, 02:30 PM

Hillary:

During the years your husband was POTUS we were a very divided nation. Bush Jr. ran in part on a campaign promise to be a "uniter not a divider." During the past seven years Bush has not fulfilled on that promise and the nation remains largely divided. Given the overwhelming negative responses to polls by people who identify themselves as conservative directed at yourself, why should voters feel you have any chance at uniting an increasingly fractured nation?

McCain:

You recently stated the economy was not your strong suite. You've also stated you're a leader and leaders can hire mangers to handle issues such as the economy. Given the economic situation currently facing the nation is increasingly dire. Who are these mangers you speak of and why shouldn't people simply be given the opportunity to vote for them instead of you?

Obama:

You've given many speeches and have written stinging, highly critical statements in regards to the war in Iraq. Given the fact that your foreign policy experience is extremely limited at best, can you please explain how you intend to end the war in Iraq without the entire country turning into a bloodbath? Please be specific, simply stating you're going to change it isn't a reasonable answer.

Huckabee:

Why are you still here?

dc_dux · 02-12-2008, 03:13 PM

McCain:

Can you explain your different positions on these issues:

In 1994, you argued for a law to require the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Haiti where we were invited in to help restore order and a democratic government,: "In my view that does not mean as soon as order is restored to Haiti. It does not mean as soon as democracy is flourishing in Haiti. It does not mean as soon as we have established a viable nation in Haiti. As soon as possible means as soon we can get out of Haiti without losing any American lives.”...but you are willing to have the US stay in Iraq for 100 years, if necessary?

In 2003, you said "the Bush tax cuts were too tilted to the wealthy"....but now you want to make them permanent.

In 1999, you said he didn't want to see Roe v. Wade overturned because it could force "women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations"...but now you say repeal of the landmark USSC decision "wouldn't bother me any."

Obama:

Here is my resume.....can I have a job? I'm thinking Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs

flstf · 02-12-2008, 03:21 PM

Obama:

Did you quit smoking cold turkey after you decided to run and do you ever have one once in a while now?

Hillary:

Why do you think half the country dislikes you so much?

McCain:

Do you understand why so many conservatives will not support you?

Tully Mars · 02-12-2008, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc_dux

McCain:

Can you explain your different positions on these issues:

In 1994, you argued for a law to require the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Haiti where we were invited in to help restore order and a democratic government,: "In my view that does not mean as soon as order is restored to Haiti. It does not mean as soon as democracy is flourishing in Haiti. It does not mean as soon as we have established a viable nation in Haiti. As soon as possible means as soon we can get out of Haiti without losing any American lives.”...but you are willing to have the US stay in Iraq for 100 years, if necessary?

In 2003, you said "the Bush tax cuts were too tilted to the wealthy"....but now you want to make them permanent.

In 1999, you said he didn't want to see Roe v. Wade overturned because it could force "women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations"...but now you say repeal of the landmark USSC decision "wouldn't bother me any."

Obama:

Here is my resume.....can I have a job? I'm thinking Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs

What no love for the Huckester or Hillary?

loquitur · 02-12-2008, 03:30 PM

Hillary: what happened to the headbands?

Obama: if you think the country needs to be united, how do you intend to squelch disagreement to do it?

McCain: how come the media loves you so much?

Huckabee: you're kidding, right?

aceventura3 · 02-12-2008, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willravel

They didn't say that. Comon. Even Obama would be able to call you on that.

Cool. You don't think he would accept the premise of the question, which is still informative.

Perhaps Obama, a few terrorist leaders and Ahmadinejad can sit around a camp fire at Camp David, sing Kumbaya, roast a few marshmallows, while they make fun of paranoid war mongers for thinking that there are people in the world who want to wipe the US and some of our allies off of the face of the earth. I hope you, and he, have it right.

Willravel · 02-12-2008, 04:19 PM

I suspect that Obama would feed you a typical political line (including the word "change") while he was thinking, "This guy doesn't know what he's talking about."

Obama's likely answer: "We hear erie echoes of the run-up to the war in Iraq with how the president and vice president talk about Iran. They conflate Iran and al Qaeda, ignoring the violent schism that exists between Shia and Sunni militants. They issue veiled threats. They suggest that the time for diplomacy and pressure is running out, when we haven't even tried direct diplomacy."

He'd be right. There has been no direct diplomacy with Iran.

Ustwo · 02-12-2008, 04:26 PM

Obama - Do you think you would have the same sort of national support as a junior senator from Illinois if you were white?

Clinton - Attempting to push your health care plan in early in your husbands presidency helped lead to the 1994 republican take over of the house of representatives. Do you think the US is now ready for the Federal government to take over another 1/5th of the US economy and do a better job of it than private industry?

McCain - You have been harshly criticized by many conservative pundits as not being a real conservative, especially with fiscal matters. In light of this do you think the fact that the top 50% of the wage earners pay 97% of the federal taxes is a good thing for the long term stability of a republic?

Huckabee - Why are you still here?

guyy · 02-12-2008, 05:33 PM

Does it matter what you ask? These people are coached and rehearsed at blabbing about something without really accepting the premises of the discussion -- or, of course, answering the question. Not only that, but we've had a couple of mentally limited presidents that have been more or less unable to answer a lot of good questions. Over the past few decades, incompetence has somehow become acceptable.

That being the case, do you try to expose the candidates as poseurs and phonies, or do you earnestly plunge ahead and try to have a conversation?

It seems to me that these Q&A sessions with the candidates are spectacles of domination, in which popular language is ignored and/or re-processed in such a way as to make it appear that the politicians have mastered it. Kind of like a bullfight.

Tully Mars · 02-12-2008, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyy

Does it matter what you ask? These people are coached and rehearsed at blabbing about something without really accepting the premises of the discussion -- or, of course, answering the question. Not only that, but we've had a couple of mentally limited presidents that have been more or less unable to answer a lot of good questions. Over the past few decades, incompetence has somehow become acceptable.

That being the case, do you try to expose the candidates as poseurs and phonies, or do you earnestly plunge ahead and try to have a conversation?

It seems to me that these Q&A sessions with the candidates are spectacles of domination, in which popular language is ignored and/or re-processed in such a way as to make it appear that the politicians have mastered it. Kind of like a bullfight.

If you have one question you try to hit them where they're weakest and if you have an entire interview you try to have a conversation.

guy44 · 02-12-2008, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guyy

Does it matter what you ask? These people are coached and rehearsed at blabbing about something without really accepting the premises of the discussion -- or, of course, answering the question. Not only that, but we've had a couple of mentally limited presidents that have been more or less unable to answer a lot of good questions. Over the past few decades, incompetence has somehow become acceptable.

That being the case, do you try to expose the candidates as poseurs and phonies, or do you earnestly plunge ahead and try to have a conversation?

It seems to me that these Q&A sessions with the candidates are spectacles of domination, in which popular language is ignored and/or re-processed in such a way as to make it appear that the politicians have mastered it. Kind of like a bullfight.

This thread isn't just about what response you will receive, or even trying to divine what kind of response you might be able to get out of one of the candidates. The other half of this thread is: what question is important enough to me that, given a chance to ask one question to a presidential candidate, I would choose it over all the others?

host · 02-13-2008, 11:04 AM

John McCain, When did you first learn that your father-in-law, James W. Hensely, was a lieutenant in Kemper Marcey's underworld empire, and why did you accept a VP job at Hensley's company and then allow him to be principle financier and political patron, via his connections with Marley, for your Arizona house and senate campaigns? Now that your wife, Cindy is chairman of $200 million Hensley and Company, and your son Robert, is company CFO, is the money and connections that founded the company, somehow cleansed? On what date did the status pass over from being a "mobbed up" operation bought with mob "grease" and proceeds, into a "clean" enterprise, with clean profits for you and your wife to amass a $50 million fortune from?

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...48#post2398348

jbw97361 · 02-19-2008, 11:07 AM

(democratic candidate)
If free universal health care is such a great thing, then why are a majority of the patients where I work (Cleveland Clinic... #1 heart hospital in the world) from Canada and Western Europe?

(republican candidate)
If elected will you sponsor or support a constitutional amendment to do away with earmarks? (if I get two questions... substitute lobbyists for earmarks)

Ace_O_Spades · 02-19-2008, 11:13 AM

Obama - Do you plan to honour international treaties such as NAFTA and accept the rulings of the governing bodies of those treaties even if they rule against the USA?

Hillary - Do you plan to honour international treaties such as NAFTA and accept the rulings of the governing bodies of those treaties even if they rule against the USA?

McCain - Do you plan to honour international treaties such as NAFTA and accept the rulings of the governing bodies of those treaties even if they rule against the USA?

Huckabee - Why are you wasting so much money on a campaign that is all but over?

02-12-2008, 01:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
guy44 Somnabulist Location: corner of No and Where	If you had one question to ask a major presidential candidate... This thread is strictly about the following hypothetical situation: you are at a question-and-answer session featuring one of the major presidential candidates, namely Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, or Mike Huckabee. You are given a turn at the microphone, and now have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to ask the candidate any question you like. What question would you choose? Please keep the questions serious, and avoid unnecessary snark or bitterness towards a candidate. The questions I'm interested in are genuinely the ones that you'd like answers to, candidate to constituent. Here are my questions, sorted by candidate: Hillary Clinton: Many millions of people within the United States, and untold numbers around the world, understood that the passage of the Iraq War Authorization was a guarantee that Bush would go to war. Given that so many others knew at the time what that vote was really about, how can you continue to claim that your "aye" vote was not a mistake? Barack Obama: Your campaign is premised on the promise that an Obama Presidency will be able to reach across party lines to accomplish significant change within a bipartisan framework. However, the Republican minority in this Congress has engaged in obstructionism on every front, and professes policy positions massively different than yours on issues ranging from the Iraq War to health care to immigration. How will you go about creating a large bipartisan coalition given this reality? John McCain: Will you, as President, support any measures that will increase the number of illegal immigrants who attain citizenship? Mike Huckabee: As Governor of Arkansas, you were responsible for the early release of a convicted rapist over the pleas of his victims, their families, and the parole board. He subsequently went on to rape and murder at least one girl. Why did you support his release, and how can the country trust the judgment of someone who did this? __________________ "You have reached Ritual Sacrifice. For goats press one, or say 'goats.'"

02-12-2008, 01:54 PM	#3 (permalink)
aceventura3 Junkie Location: Ventura County	To Hilary: At what point do you draw the line between personal responsibility and governmental responsibility in the area of social services? Government already provides or guarantees; primary education, heath care and social security for the elderly, minimum wage, unemployment compensation, safety rules and regulations covering the workplace, etc., you want to nationalize health care, flatten wage disparity/wealth disparity, protect employees from losing their jobs overseas, etc, etc., do you really want a cradle to grave nanny state? Obama: Do you really think you can negotiate peace with the leaders of groups and nations who have openly stated that they want to wipe us and our friends off of the face of the earth? If not how far are you willing to go to defeat our enemy? __________________ "Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch." "It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions on vegetarianism while the wolf is of a different opinion." "If you live among wolves you have to act like one." "A lady screams at the mouse but smiles at the wolf. A gentleman is a wolf who sends flowers."

02-12-2008, 02:30 PM	#5 (permalink)
Tully Mars Living in a Warmer Insanity Super Moderator Location: Yucatan, Mexico	Hillary: During the years your husband was POTUS we were a very divided nation. Bush Jr. ran in part on a campaign promise to be a "uniter not a divider." During the past seven years Bush has not fulfilled on that promise and the nation remains largely divided. Given the overwhelming negative responses to polls by people who identify themselves as conservative directed at yourself, why should voters feel you have any chance at uniting an increasingly fractured nation? McCain: You recently stated the economy was not your strong suite. You've also stated you're a leader and leaders can hire mangers to handle issues such as the economy. Given the economic situation currently facing the nation is increasingly dire. Who are these mangers you speak of and why shouldn't people simply be given the opportunity to vote for them instead of you? Obama: You've given many speeches and have written stinging, highly critical statements in regards to the war in Iraq. Given the fact that your foreign policy experience is extremely limited at best, can you please explain how you intend to end the war in Iraq without the entire country turning into a bloodbath? Please be specific, simply stating you're going to change it isn't a reasonable answer. Huckabee: Why are you still here? __________________ I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

02-12-2008, 03:13 PM	#6 (permalink)
dc_dux Location: Washington DC	McCain: Can you explain your different positions on these issues: In 1994, you argued for a law to require the immediate withdrawal of US troops from Haiti where we were invited in to help restore order and a democratic government,: "In my view that does not mean as soon as order is restored to Haiti. It does not mean as soon as democracy is flourishing in Haiti. It does not mean as soon as we have established a viable nation in Haiti. As soon as possible means as soon we can get out of Haiti without losing any American lives.”...but you are willing to have the US stay in Iraq for 100 years, if necessary? In 2003, you said "the Bush tax cuts were too tilted to the wealthy"....but now you want to make them permanent. In 1999, you said he didn't want to see Roe v. Wade overturned because it could force "women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations"...but now you say repeal of the landmark USSC decision "wouldn't bother me any." Obama: Here is my resume.....can I have a job? I'm thinking Special Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs __________________ "The perfect is the enemy of the good." ~ Voltaire Last edited by dc_dux; 02-12-2008 at 03:22 PM..

02-12-2008, 04:26 PM	#12 (permalink)
Ustwo Pissing in the cornflakes	Obama - Do you think you would have the same sort of national support as a junior senator from Illinois if you were white? Clinton - Attempting to push your health care plan in early in your husbands presidency helped lead to the 1994 republican take over of the house of representatives. Do you think the US is now ready for the Federal government to take over another 1/5th of the US economy and do a better job of it than private industry? McCain - You have been harshly criticized by many conservative pundits as not being a real conservative, especially with fiscal matters. In light of this do you think the fact that the top 50% of the wage earners pay 97% of the federal taxes is a good thing for the long term stability of a republic? Huckabee - Why are you still here? __________________ Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps. Last edited by Ustwo; 02-12-2008 at 04:29 PM..

02-12-2008, 01:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	Nice thread! To Obama: Why did you vote in favor of the Patriot Act, and would you change your vote knowing what's happened as a result? To Hillary: What's more important to you: winning the election or ending the war? If you had to choose, between being elected president and ending the war, which would you choose? To McCain: Grampa, do you want me to set up the DVR to record Wheel of Fortune for you? (waits for him to struggle to remember if I'm his grandson or not) To Huck: I'm an atheist. I do not personally believe that an absolute faith in god or gods is reasonable, however I think it would be unfair of me to attempt to force these beliefs on others as it's simply a subjective interpretation of the universe. If you were elected president would you, as you've suggested before, really try to move us closer to a Christian theocracy in the USA?

02-12-2008, 03:21 PM	#7 (permalink)
flstf Easy Rider Location: Moscow on the Ohio	Obama: Did you quit smoking cold turkey after you decided to run and do you ever have one once in a while now? Hillary: Why do you think half the country dislikes you so much? McCain: Do you understand why so many conservatives will not support you?

02-12-2008, 03:30 PM	#9 (permalink)
loquitur Junkie Location: NYC	Hillary: what happened to the headbands? Obama: if you think the country needs to be united, how do you intend to squelch disagreement to do it? McCain: how come the media loves you so much? Huckabee: you're kidding, right?

02-12-2008, 04:19 PM	#11 (permalink)
Willravel ... a sort of licensed troubleshooter.	I suspect that Obama would feed you a typical political line (including the word "change") while he was thinking, "This guy doesn't know what he's talking about." Obama's likely answer: "We hear erie echoes of the run-up to the war in Iraq with how the president and vice president talk about Iran. They conflate Iran and al Qaeda, ignoring the violent schism that exists between Shia and Sunni militants. They issue veiled threats. They suggest that the time for diplomacy and pressure is running out, when we haven't even tried direct diplomacy." He'd be right. There has been no direct diplomacy with Iran.

02-12-2008, 05:33 PM	#13 (permalink)
guyy Addict Location: Cottage Grove, Wisconsin	Does it matter what you ask? These people are coached and rehearsed at blabbing about something without really accepting the premises of the discussion -- or, of course, answering the question. Not only that, but we've had a couple of mentally limited presidents that have been more or less unable to answer a lot of good questions. Over the past few decades, incompetence has somehow become acceptable. That being the case, do you try to expose the candidates as poseurs and phonies, or do you earnestly plunge ahead and try to have a conversation? It seems to me that these Q&A sessions with the candidates are spectacles of domination, in which popular language is ignored and/or re-processed in such a way as to make it appear that the politicians have mastered it. Kind of like a bullfight.

02-13-2008, 11:04 AM	#16 (permalink)
host Banned	John McCain, When did you first learn that your father-in-law, James W. Hensely, was a lieutenant in Kemper Marcey's underworld empire, and why did you accept a VP job at Hensley's company and then allow him to be principle financier and political patron, via his connections with Marley, for your Arizona house and senate campaigns? Now that your wife, Cindy is chairman of $200 million Hensley and Company, and your son Robert, is company CFO, is the money and connections that founded the company, somehow cleansed? On what date did the status pass over from being a "mobbed up" operation bought with mob "grease" and proceeds, into a "clean" enterprise, with clean profits for you and your wife to amass a $50 million fortune from? http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...48#post2398348

02-19-2008, 11:07 AM	#17 (permalink)
jbw97361 Tilted	(democratic candidate) If free universal health care is such a great thing, then why are a majority of the patients where I work (Cleveland Clinic... #1 heart hospital in the world) from Canada and Western Europe? (republican candidate) If elected will you sponsor or support a constitutional amendment to do away with earmarks? (if I get two questions... substitute lobbyists for earmarks) __________________ JBW

02-19-2008, 11:13 AM	#18 (permalink)
Ace_O_Spades The Death Card Location: EH!?!?	Obama - Do you plan to honour international treaties such as NAFTA and accept the rulings of the governing bodies of those treaties even if they rule against the USA? Hillary - Do you plan to honour international treaties such as NAFTA and accept the rulings of the governing bodies of those treaties even if they rule against the USA? McCain - Do you plan to honour international treaties such as NAFTA and accept the rulings of the governing bodies of those treaties even if they rule against the USA? Huckabee - Why are you wasting so much money on a campaign that is all but over? __________________ Feh.