O
orwell99@webtv.net
Guest
10 Debate Questions John McCain Will Never Be Asked
While the liberal blogosphere and media critics alike are fuming over
the deplorable gotcha-fest that was the ABC Democratic debate in
Philadelphia, conservative talking heads are positively ecstatic. In the
New York Times, David Brooks called the questions on lapel pins and the
Weather Underground "excellent." The excreable Michelle Malkin snarked,
"How dare they explore questions of character, truthfulness, and
judgment?" And over at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey offered "kudos to ABC News"
while noting "John McCain has to f eel gr ateful not to be included."
Which is exactly right. The so-called "maverick" John McCain has never
been subjected to the inquisitorial equivalent of the rectal probes
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton received last night. And given the
media's on-going love affair with Mr. Straight Talk, he no doubt never
will be.
But since the right-wing amen corner asked for an exploration of John
McCain's "character, truthfulness, and judgment," the following
represents a subset what an American media actually doing its job might
ask of the Republican presidential nominee.
Here, then, are 10 debate questions John McCain will never be asked:
1. Do you agree with Pastor John Hagee that war with Iran is the
fulfillment of biblical prophecy?
In February, you shared a stage with Pastor John Hagee and said you were
"very proud" to have his endorsement.
You also called the Reverend Rod Parsley, a man who said of Islam
"America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false
religion destroyed", your "spiritual guide." Do you believe America's
mission is to destroy Islam? Do you join Pastor Hagee in believing the
United States must attack Iran to fulfill the biblical prophecy of
Armageddon in Israel in which 144,000 Jews will be converted to
Christianity and the rest killed? Is that why you joked about "bomb bomb
Iran?" If not, why will you not renounce the support of Hagee and
Parsley?
2. Doesn't your legendary temper make you too dangerous to be trusted
with the presidency of the United States?
Your anger, even toward friends and allies, is legendary. You
purportedly dropped the F-Bomb on your own GOP colleagues John Cornyn
and Chuck Grassley. In the book, The Real McCain, author Cliff Schechter
claims you got into a fist-fight with your fellow Arizona Republican
Rick Renzi. Allegedly, you even publicly used a crude term, one which
decorum and the FCC prohibit us from even saying on the air, to describe
your own wife. Which if any of these episodes is untrue? Don't your
anger management problems make you too dangerously unstable to be
president of the United States?
3. Doesn't your confusion regarding basic facts about the war in Iraq,
including repeatedly citing a nonexistent Al Qaeda-Iran alliance, make
you unfit for command?
On four occasions in one month, you confused friend and foe in Iraq by
describing Sunni Al Qaeda as being backed by Shiite Iran. Then you
showed a misunderstanding of the U.S. chain of command when you claimed
you would not back shifting forces from Iraq to Afghanistan "unless Gen.
[David] Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that,"
a decision which Petraeus himself told you and your Senate colleagues
only the week before rests not with him but with his superiors. Doesn't
your lack of understanding and judgment when it comes to basic facts of
America's national security disqualify you as commander-in-chief?
4. Given your past adultery, should Americans consider you a moral
exemplar of family values?
You are the nominee of a Republican Party which claims to support
so-called "family values." Yet you commenced an adulterous relationship
with your current wife Cindy months before the dissolution of your
previous marriage to your first wife Carol. Should Americans consider
you to be a moral exemplar of family values?
5. Doesn't your flip-flop on Jerry Falwell being an "agent of
intolerance" show your opportunistic pandering to the religious right?
In 2000, you famously called the late Jerry Falwell "an agent of
intolerance," a statement which may have cost you the decisive South
Carolina primary. But as you ramped up your next presidential run in
2006, you embraced Falwell and gave the commencement address at his
Liberty University. When Tim Russert asked that spring if you still
considered him an agent of intolerance, you said, "'no, I don't." Why
shouldn't the American people consider you a flip-flopping opportunist
who cynically courted the religious right to further your 2008
presidential ambitions?
6. Given your wealth and privileged upbringing, aren't you - and not
Barack Obama - the elitist?
You have called Barack Obama an elitist. Yet you recently returned to
your exclusive private high school, one which now costs over $38,000 a
year to attend.
Your wife is the heiress to a beer distribution company, reputedly owns
8 homes and has a net worth well over $100 million. Your children all
attended private schools, academies which also happened to be the
primary beneficiaries of funds from your supposed charitable foundation.
Shouldn't the American people in fact view you as the elitist, and a
hypocritical one at that?
7. What is your religion, really? And has the answer in the past changed
as the South Carolina primary approached?
I want to ask about your seemingly ever-changing religious beliefs. In
June 2007, McClatchy reported, "McCain still calls himself an
Episcopalian." In August 2007, as ABC reported, your campaign staff
identified you as "Episcopalian" in a questionnaire prepared for ABC
News' August 5 debate. But as the primary in evangelical-rich South
Carolina neared, in September 2007 you said of your religious faith, "It
plays a role in my life. By the way, I'm not Episcopalian. I'm Baptist."
But in March 2008, Pastor Dan Yeary of your North Phoenix Baptist Church
refused to comment on why you have refused to finally undergo a baptism
ceremony. Congressional directories still list you as an Episcopalian.
In the past, you've said, "When I'm asked about it, I'll be glad to
discuss it." So what is your religion? And couldn't Americans be
forgiven for assuming your changing faith is tied to your changing
political needs?
8. Didn't President Bush betray you with his signing statement on the
Detainee Treatment Act? You claim to be against torture, but aren't you
a hypocrite for voting "no" on the Senate waterboaring ban?
You've said that "we can't torture or treat inhumanely suspected
terrorists we have captured". And in December 2005, you famously reached
a compromise with President Bush on the Detainee Torture Act banning
cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees. But just two weeks
later, President Bush issued a signing statement making it clear he
would ignore the compromise you just reached. Then in February 2007, you
voted "no" on a Senate bill banning waterboarding. Isn't it fair to say
President Bush betrayed you with his December 30, 2005 signing
statement? And isn't it fair to say you caved to the right-wing of your
party on the issue in order to win the Republican nomination?
9. Why did you flip-flop on the Bush tax cuts you twice opposed? Why do
you now support making them permanent for the wealthiest Americans who
need them least?
You twice voted against the Bush tax cuts. Now you support making them
permanent. In 2001, you said, "I cannot in good conscience support a tax
cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us
at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief." Now,
according to the Center for American Progress, your tax plan would cost
more than $2 trillion over the next decade and "would predominantly
benefit the most fortunate taxpayers, offering two new massive tax cuts
for corporations and delivering 58 percent of its benefits to the top 1
percent of taxpayers." Isn't it true that you flip-flopped on the Bush
tax cuts? Isn't it fair to say that you now favor a massive expansion of
the federal budget deficit in order to fund a tax giveaway to the
wealthiest Americans who need it least?
10. With the economy tanking, shouldn't Americans be concerned over your
past statements that "the issue of economics is not something I've
understood as well as I should?"
Americans consistently report that the economy is the issue that
concerns them most. Yet more than once, you proclaimed your ignorance
when it comes to the economy. In November 2005, you told the Wall Street
Journal, "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than
I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be
educated." Then in December 2007, you admitted, "The issue of economics
is not something I've understood as well as I should." Shouldn't the
American be worried about President McCain's ability to lead the United
States out of recession? Given your past statements, shouldn't the
American public reject out of hand your claim that "I know the economy
better than Senator Clinton and Senator Obama do?"
While the liberal blogosphere and media critics alike are fuming over
the deplorable gotcha-fest that was the ABC Democratic debate in
Philadelphia, conservative talking heads are positively ecstatic. In the
New York Times, David Brooks called the questions on lapel pins and the
Weather Underground "excellent." The excreable Michelle Malkin snarked,
"How dare they explore questions of character, truthfulness, and
judgment?" And over at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey offered "kudos to ABC News"
while noting "John McCain has to f eel gr ateful not to be included."
Which is exactly right. The so-called "maverick" John McCain has never
been subjected to the inquisitorial equivalent of the rectal probes
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton received last night. And given the
media's on-going love affair with Mr. Straight Talk, he no doubt never
will be.
But since the right-wing amen corner asked for an exploration of John
McCain's "character, truthfulness, and judgment," the following
represents a subset what an American media actually doing its job might
ask of the Republican presidential nominee.
Here, then, are 10 debate questions John McCain will never be asked:
1. Do you agree with Pastor John Hagee that war with Iran is the
fulfillment of biblical prophecy?
In February, you shared a stage with Pastor John Hagee and said you were
"very proud" to have his endorsement.
You also called the Reverend Rod Parsley, a man who said of Islam
"America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false
religion destroyed", your "spiritual guide." Do you believe America's
mission is to destroy Islam? Do you join Pastor Hagee in believing the
United States must attack Iran to fulfill the biblical prophecy of
Armageddon in Israel in which 144,000 Jews will be converted to
Christianity and the rest killed? Is that why you joked about "bomb bomb
Iran?" If not, why will you not renounce the support of Hagee and
Parsley?
2. Doesn't your legendary temper make you too dangerous to be trusted
with the presidency of the United States?
Your anger, even toward friends and allies, is legendary. You
purportedly dropped the F-Bomb on your own GOP colleagues John Cornyn
and Chuck Grassley. In the book, The Real McCain, author Cliff Schechter
claims you got into a fist-fight with your fellow Arizona Republican
Rick Renzi. Allegedly, you even publicly used a crude term, one which
decorum and the FCC prohibit us from even saying on the air, to describe
your own wife. Which if any of these episodes is untrue? Don't your
anger management problems make you too dangerously unstable to be
president of the United States?
3. Doesn't your confusion regarding basic facts about the war in Iraq,
including repeatedly citing a nonexistent Al Qaeda-Iran alliance, make
you unfit for command?
On four occasions in one month, you confused friend and foe in Iraq by
describing Sunni Al Qaeda as being backed by Shiite Iran. Then you
showed a misunderstanding of the U.S. chain of command when you claimed
you would not back shifting forces from Iraq to Afghanistan "unless Gen.
[David] Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that,"
a decision which Petraeus himself told you and your Senate colleagues
only the week before rests not with him but with his superiors. Doesn't
your lack of understanding and judgment when it comes to basic facts of
America's national security disqualify you as commander-in-chief?
4. Given your past adultery, should Americans consider you a moral
exemplar of family values?
You are the nominee of a Republican Party which claims to support
so-called "family values." Yet you commenced an adulterous relationship
with your current wife Cindy months before the dissolution of your
previous marriage to your first wife Carol. Should Americans consider
you to be a moral exemplar of family values?
5. Doesn't your flip-flop on Jerry Falwell being an "agent of
intolerance" show your opportunistic pandering to the religious right?
In 2000, you famously called the late Jerry Falwell "an agent of
intolerance," a statement which may have cost you the decisive South
Carolina primary. But as you ramped up your next presidential run in
2006, you embraced Falwell and gave the commencement address at his
Liberty University. When Tim Russert asked that spring if you still
considered him an agent of intolerance, you said, "'no, I don't." Why
shouldn't the American people consider you a flip-flopping opportunist
who cynically courted the religious right to further your 2008
presidential ambitions?
6. Given your wealth and privileged upbringing, aren't you - and not
Barack Obama - the elitist?
You have called Barack Obama an elitist. Yet you recently returned to
your exclusive private high school, one which now costs over $38,000 a
year to attend.
Your wife is the heiress to a beer distribution company, reputedly owns
8 homes and has a net worth well over $100 million. Your children all
attended private schools, academies which also happened to be the
primary beneficiaries of funds from your supposed charitable foundation.
Shouldn't the American people in fact view you as the elitist, and a
hypocritical one at that?
7. What is your religion, really? And has the answer in the past changed
as the South Carolina primary approached?
I want to ask about your seemingly ever-changing religious beliefs. In
June 2007, McClatchy reported, "McCain still calls himself an
Episcopalian." In August 2007, as ABC reported, your campaign staff
identified you as "Episcopalian" in a questionnaire prepared for ABC
News' August 5 debate. But as the primary in evangelical-rich South
Carolina neared, in September 2007 you said of your religious faith, "It
plays a role in my life. By the way, I'm not Episcopalian. I'm Baptist."
But in March 2008, Pastor Dan Yeary of your North Phoenix Baptist Church
refused to comment on why you have refused to finally undergo a baptism
ceremony. Congressional directories still list you as an Episcopalian.
In the past, you've said, "When I'm asked about it, I'll be glad to
discuss it." So what is your religion? And couldn't Americans be
forgiven for assuming your changing faith is tied to your changing
political needs?
8. Didn't President Bush betray you with his signing statement on the
Detainee Treatment Act? You claim to be against torture, but aren't you
a hypocrite for voting "no" on the Senate waterboaring ban?
You've said that "we can't torture or treat inhumanely suspected
terrorists we have captured". And in December 2005, you famously reached
a compromise with President Bush on the Detainee Torture Act banning
cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of detainees. But just two weeks
later, President Bush issued a signing statement making it clear he
would ignore the compromise you just reached. Then in February 2007, you
voted "no" on a Senate bill banning waterboarding. Isn't it fair to say
President Bush betrayed you with his December 30, 2005 signing
statement? And isn't it fair to say you caved to the right-wing of your
party on the issue in order to win the Republican nomination?
9. Why did you flip-flop on the Bush tax cuts you twice opposed? Why do
you now support making them permanent for the wealthiest Americans who
need them least?
You twice voted against the Bush tax cuts. Now you support making them
permanent. In 2001, you said, "I cannot in good conscience support a tax
cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us
at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief." Now,
according to the Center for American Progress, your tax plan would cost
more than $2 trillion over the next decade and "would predominantly
benefit the most fortunate taxpayers, offering two new massive tax cuts
for corporations and delivering 58 percent of its benefits to the top 1
percent of taxpayers." Isn't it true that you flip-flopped on the Bush
tax cuts? Isn't it fair to say that you now favor a massive expansion of
the federal budget deficit in order to fund a tax giveaway to the
wealthiest Americans who need it least?
10. With the economy tanking, shouldn't Americans be concerned over your
past statements that "the issue of economics is not something I've
understood as well as I should?"
Americans consistently report that the economy is the issue that
concerns them most. Yet more than once, you proclaimed your ignorance
when it comes to the economy. In November 2005, you told the Wall Street
Journal, "I'm going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than
I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be
educated." Then in December 2007, you admitted, "The issue of economics
is not something I've understood as well as I should." Shouldn't the
American be worried about President McCain's ability to lead the United
States out of recession? Given your past statements, shouldn't the
American public reject out of hand your claim that "I know the economy
better than Senator Clinton and Senator Obama do?"