I'm surprised no one on the forum has jumped into this discussion yet.

I've got two issues with the questions asked during the debate Wednesday night (must admit I didn't see it; I was playing hockey instead; but I have read the transcript).

1. Don't we have more pressing problems in the US than to ask our presidential candidates stupid questions? For example, Guiliani rooting for the Red Sox in the post season, whether to continue the Mars space program and which candidates own what type of firearm.

2. How could CNN unknowingly (or was it intentional) "plant" questions by so many (I've heard as many as five) Democratic supporters; and in at least one case someone apparently a member of a Democratic candidate's (Hillary's) campaign staff?

Your opinions?

As for (1), well, I guess this kind of informal nonsense is where we're headed. But it's not new. After all, look at the last election: which candidate had more substance? And which won? And why? A lot of Presdient Bush's appeal to a certain segment of voters comes from the fact that he comes off as a plain-speaking, pickup truck driving guy who's "like us" and doesn't try "talking down to us" by using big words or multi-dimensional thought. The candidates aren't stupid -- they have to court the smart people and the dumb people and now, with the You Tube dabates, the people in between.

As for (2), this is the first I've heard of it but so what? I for one would like to see more members of the opposing party attend debates and ask questions. The Democrats have credibility on some issues and I want to see them take the Republicans to task on those -- and vice versa at the Democratic debate. Characterizing it as "planting" questions is giving too much credit to a highly staged and contrived format.

The gay ex military man was/is not a member of Hillary's campaign staff. He had signed a petition supporting her--that's all. CNN has admitted that, had they known that fact, they would not have entertained a question from him.

Don Charles,

According to Hillary's website, in an announcement from this past June, he was a member of her national steering comittee. Sounds like a member of her campaign staff to me and a bit more involvement than merely signing a petition for her. I was unable to find the exact wording of CNN's admission, that you reference, but I did find this on the Washington Post.

EC,

My first reaction to the Democratic source questions was the same as yours. But then I thought, if these people aren't going to vote for any of these candidates, why are they wasting our time? They're taking the time spot for actual voters who want to gauge the political positions of their candidates.

Yes, it would be worthwhile to see both parties debate in one forum AFTER the primaries, but while we're still trying to narrow the field and have set up separate debates to allow voters to do that, I think it just muddies the waters for CNN to have not done a better job in screening those asking questions.

That wasn't even a debate lol.

I couldn't stop laughing when I saw the guy ask the question "Do you believe in every word of this 'book'" referring to the bible. He asked the same questions 2-3 times.

CNN did a poor job filtering out these questions. I would be pretty upset if I was a candidate and had to waste my time with that crap.
Or, there was a question about what guns each of the candidates owned and where they stored them? C'mon!

I would offer that there are more 'fixed' questions in any of these debates then there are legitimate...

While I do not support Mr/s. Clinton, this crap about her campaign staff planting questions is par-for-the-course...those audiences are saturated with supporters, the questions are pre-made, the situation is staged and praticed...for every candidate...the big challenge is which campaign can get their people to the front of the line first...

Personally, I learned by working this crap...now, I move further and further away from it...I don't watch any of this stuff until February or March...let the wanna-bes run out of money, let the amateurs screw-up and eliminate themselves, let all the stupid "He once kicked a puppy," or "She doesn't eat organic eggs," crap work itself through...then see who was orgainzed enough to stay in the race and work from there...

However, I do think it's great that all this "pre-game" is beginning to get a larger demographic involved...If you can get your Youtube or Myspace audience involved in politics it'll be a whole new ballgame in a couple of cycles...it really screws up the pollsters, too, and evens the odds for the "little-guy" candidates...it's just not what gets my interest anymore...to each his own I guess...

jag

I did not watch the debate, it's the first I've missed. I'm glad I missed it. CNN is one of the left leaning cable news outlets and if you google that generals name, Hillary Clinton is one of the first entries that shows up. CNN knew, anyone who doesn't believe so is naive. Secondly, they had to do something to make up for Hillary's poor performance recently and subsequent fall in the polls. Later on, we find out that three of the "undecideds" asking the questions were heavily in favor of democratic candidates. CNN is shameful, the debate was a circus. Youtube should not be part of the debate circuit. What a circus. Pathetic, simply pathetic.
More hillarious, Rick Warren, the "Purpose driven life" guy who pastors the Saddleback church in Orange County, California-recently had Clinton as a guest speaker at his church, what did she talk about? I doubt she spoke about right to life issues...
If I was a member of that church, I would have got up and left and never returned. Clinton has no family values and while I will not question her faith, somehow I imagine she has more faith in herself than anyone else...
Glad they mentioned the Fair Tax! Finally, illegal immigration seems to be THE issue and if it is...watch out dems!
Oh, now that we are winning in Iraq- translated-there has not been a shooting in Fallujah in over 60 days, which cannot even be said for NYC; funny how it's not all about the war anymore. I feel sorry for the dems-I seriously doubt they have a chance. Considering Hillary's own party has doubts she can beat the Republicans and everyone else is a light-weight.

What does the confederate flag mean to you? At least Romney said he didn't want to waste his time with that question lol.

quote:

Originally posted by jms2788:
What does the confederate flag mean to you? At least Romney said he didn't want to waste his time with that question lol.

Althought Mitt Romney didn't waste time on that question, he certainly did on trying to make a joke on how many guns he owns. He said something like "...I have two guns in my home, and both belong to my son", and followed it up with a gay smile... Nobody laughed. What a tool LOL.

Subchop--
Thanks for the links. I was citing from a talk radio program today--panelists were a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Chicago Tribune.

I watched the "debate." A few good shots were fired, but I didn't learn anything new about the candidates. I think it looks like Guliani may nominate Huckabee if he gets the nomination, based on the exchanges between them. As and for the staged questions, so what? These guys will face a hostile press corps if elected, so they may as well get used to it.

What's really funny to me is that Hillary Clinton stages her own questions, then plants questions at a Republican debate... What a phony panderer.

I don't have a problem with the democrat plants asking a question. I do have a problem with CNN trying to pass these plants off as "undecided republican voters". That is the real issue.

Agreed, I'd hardly call this a "debate." A few observations, Thompson appears dead in the water, Romney comes across as a complete phony, something that many of us who live in MA learned long ago, Huckabee, at least to me, seems sincere and most willing to offer honest answers, let the chips fall where they may.

Rudy, though still leading in national polls,I thought lacked the "fire in the belly" that is needed to sustain him in a long primary season.

Enough with YouTube. I'd rather see the fired US attorneys grill the candidates.

Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Presley:
I did not watch the debate, it's the first I've missed. I'm glad I missed it. CNN is one of the left leaning cable news outlets and if you google that generals name, Hillary Clinton is one of the first entries that shows up. CNN knew, anyone who doesn't believe so is naive. Secondly, they had to do something to make up for Hillary's poor performance recently and subsequent fall in the polls. Later on, we find out that three of the "undecideds" asking the questions were heavily in favor of democratic candidates. CNN is shameful, the debate was a circus. Youtube should not be part of the debate circuit. What a circus. Pathetic, simply pathetic.

CNN is far from perfect. Having said that, I'd rather watch CNN than Fox (Faux?) News and all their extreme conservative BS any day.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeebus:

quote:

Originally posted by Presley:
I did not watch the debate, it's the first I've missed. I'm glad I missed it. CNN is one of the left leaning cable news outlets and if you google that generals name, Hillary Clinton is one of the first entries that shows up. CNN knew, anyone who doesn't believe so is naive. Secondly, they had to do something to make up for Hillary's poor performance recently and subsequent fall in the polls. Later on, we find out that three of the "undecideds" asking the questions were heavily in favor of democratic candidates. CNN is shameful, the debate was a circus. Youtube should not be part of the debate circuit. What a circus. Pathetic, simply pathetic.

CNN is far from perfect. Having said that, I'd rather watch CNN than Fox (Faux?) News and all their extreme conservative BS any day.

Bias is more acceptable from liberals?

quote:

Originally posted by Fat Weed Esq:
Bias is more acceptable from liberals?

Bias is found just about everywhere. But Fox News goes well beyond simple bias. CNN may be slightly left leaning, but don't even try and compare that with the garbage Fox attempts to pass off as legitimate news.

In general, I do find that the so-called "liberal" news sources tend to be more interested in presenting the straight facts than conservative sources do.

But I suppose I'm "biased".

quote:

Originally posted by Jeebus:

Bias is found just about everywhere. But Fox News goes well beyond simple bias. CNN may be slightly left leaning, but don't even try and compare that with the garbage Fox attempts to pass off as legitimate news.

In general, I do find that the so-called "liberal" news sources tend to be more interested in presenting the straight facts than conservative sources do.

But I suppose I'm "biased".

I'd say CNN is just as far left as Fox is right on news coverage...but I'd agree that the "news magazine" shows on Fox are hard right...I can't speak to CNN simply becasue I don't watch them...

I watch Fox simply becaue I'm a conservative and it's easy for me to "smell my own"...It's easier for me to pick the news out of the conservative slant and disregard the crap on Fox then CNN...does that make sense? Kind of like being able to spot someone from your hometown because you recognize the accent...

People that say they have no bias are my favorite type of idiots...Unless your saying only hard fact, there's no way around it...People that say they're bias-free are usually pushing an agenda...

Happy politicking!

jag

quote:

Bias is found just about everywhere. But Fox News goes well beyond simple bias. CNN may be slightly left leaning, but don't even try and compare that with the garbage Fox attempts to pass off as legitimate news.

In general, I do find that the so-called "liberal" news sources tend to be more interested in presenting the straight facts than conservative sources do.

But I suppose I'm "biased

Oh please, wake up. At least Fox doesn't host debates that have plants from the other parties candidates. Funny, the republicans will go onto CNN for a debate but the libs/democrats wont go near Fox News...they may have to answer a real question! One more thing, the ratings speak for themselves, Fox News has higher ratings every night than all other cable news outlets combined, can you explain that?
Oh I didn't say to dodge the question, I want an answer on that one-"No spin"...

quote:

Oh please, wake up. At least Fox doesn't host debates that have plants from the other parties candidates

Don't be so sure...In fact, from my experience, I'd say this is dead wrong...just because no one has been caught doesn't mean it doesn't happen...That's like saying the Patriots were the only team stealing signals...

quote:

Funny, the republicans will go onto CNN for a debate but the libs/democrats wont go near Fox News...they may have to answer a real question!

Different campaign strategies here...GOP needs to play the middle early, Dems don't, they need a solid base...nothing to do with "fear" of questions...even the people I don't like in this election cycle could run circles around Bill O'reilly or Anderson Cooper in any situation...there is no "fear" at their level

quote:

One more thing, the ratings speak for themselves, Fox News has higher ratings every night than all other cable news outlets combined, can you explain that?

Ratings really don't provide any substance to this conversation...Monday night football gets higher ratings than all of them combined...on your logic, Tony Kornhesier (sp?) could be a contender next fall.

quote:

Oh I didn't say to dodge the question, I want an answer on that one-"No spin"...

Great way to refrence "the Factor"...where the only spin is to buy Bill's books...I honestly watch for this on that program now...he hasn't gone the first 45 minutes in the last two years w/o using his books as a credible source for news...great for marketing, hypocritical if you say there's no spin in your 'zone'...

What's the line..."don't drink the kool-aid"...that goes both ways...step back and think for yourself...I joined in this conversation for original thoughts on the debates and the biases...I can get my propaganda from either side from the news already...

jag