Sound Bite Theatre

28 November 2007 @ 22:45 | Posted in » Politics

I watched the CNN/YouTube Republican debate tonight. It is abundantly apparent that what is passed for political debate is not for me. The format of having eight candidates of which two (Tancredo and Duncan) are totally dismissed and a third (Paul), who may be interesting, but is a one-trick pony, answer insipid questions in 30 seconds does not help me determine who I want to be president.

Really, what insight does America glean from the following questions?

Pledges do nothing but provide a gotcha moment. Yes, President Bush (41) was caught in such a pledge.

What are you going to do to make sure that these kind of toys don’t make their way into our homes and that we have safe toys that are made in America again and we keep jobs in America?

Isn’t it against the law already to sell products with lead content this high?

Any of you all want to tell us about your gun collection, roughly how many you own, what your favorite make, model and caliber is, if any of them require a tax stamp?

Whether the next president owns a gun or not and whether he can rattle off the make, model, caliber, etc. means nothing to whether he is qualified for the job. For the record, Fred Thompson knocked this question out of the park.

The death penalty, what would Jesus do?

Huh?

Do you believe every word of this book [Holy Bible]?

Huh? What does this have to do with whether or not these men are qualified to run our country?

Rudy Giuliani is using September 11, 2001, to propel himself into the White House. My question to you is: How do you respond to this accusation and other accusations similar to it?

Yawn! Yes, Giuliani uses 9/11. It’s part of his resume. Should he not cite his work?

Why should the Log Cabin Republicans support your candidacies?

I would have paid for one of the candidates to ask, “Who the hell are the Log Cabin Republicans?” How about because as Republicans we share the same core conservative principles.

Is there a candidate amongst you willing to take a pledge on behalf of the Mars Society of sending an American to the surface of Mars by 2020?

Another pledge. Really, has America become such a sound bite nation that three pledge questions serve as political debate?

Why don’t we [blacks] vote for you?

Is that for the candidates to decide?

Look at this flag [Confederate flag]. Does it represent a symbol of racism, political ideology, symbol of southern heritage, or is it something completely different?

Is this a federal issue? Rather, it was asked for South Carolina and notice the two candidates who were given that question just happen to be leading in South Carolina. Nothing like setting up the candidates for failure on a non-issue (federally).

Mr. Paul are you going to let America down by not running as an independent?

Puhllleasssse. This is a Republican debate folks. Shoot, I’m an independent and I don’t want to hear about this.

Mr. Guiliani can you explain why you being a lifelong Yankees fan that this year after the Yankees lost everything you rooted for the Red Sox in the postseason. Can you explain that position for me?

As I mentioned over at Red Jersey, I would have rather found out the candidates’ preferences for diamonds or pearls.

Interspersed with these questions were campaign commercials solicited by CNN. I gasped audibly when Anderson Cooper announced they would be played throughout the “debate”.

Debates seem to have been reduced to the shallowest of concerns. Some will fault the questioners. ‘Tis true that Americans asked these questions. But it was CNN who selected them. I can’t believe there were not questions of substance to use instead. If there wasn’t, then the YouTube-format should be scrapped immediately. Hmmm . . . that seems like a good idea.