Many have already pored over the ins and outs of a Democratic debate tailor-made for "Enquiring minds" earlier this week on ABC. Well guess who just happens to be coming to dinner...or This Week, this weekend?
Why none other than John McCain!
So in the spirit of seeing how all the candidates deal with "scandal," or just being queried about everyone they have associated with since that 6th grade teacher who crossed the street against a red light (do you denounce her Senator Obama? Denounce and reject her!?! Or perhaps just reject?), here are some questions that John McCain should be asked on your show this weekend, Mr. Stephanopoulos (sorry, old habit from when I had you as a professor at Columbia).
First a great list I came across, and then a few of my own I found in my research for my book The Real McCain. This list is from Perrspectives, a fantastic compilation, in my always humble opinion:
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 reject out of hand your claim that "I know the economy better than Senator Clinton and Senator Obama do?"
All of these are fantastic questions, now let me add two from The Real McCain:
11) How can you call yourself a straight-talker in light of the fact that you have changed your positions or rhetorically flip-flopped on the following issues: Abortion, Creationism in science class, immigration, intervention abroad, tax cuts for the wealthy, civil unions, a Martin Luther King holiday, the Confederate Flag, the Christian Right, Bob Jones University, whether Rumsfeld did a good job, whether Dick Cheney is doing a good job, whether President Bush is an honest man, a Patient's Bill of Rights, global warming, campaign finance reform in general, public financing of campaigns specifically, lobbying reform, whether the War in Iraq would be "easy," whether Sunni and Shiite are working together, whether "Iraqi blood should be traded for American blood," military readiness, how many troops are necessary for the suge to succeed in Iraq, ehtanol subsidies, the continuing existence of a minimum wage, closing the gun-show loophole, healthcare for children...and I could go on, but how about we start with those?
12) Finally, if Barack Obama must account for everyone he has ever passed within a 100 square mile radius of, then here are some associations you might want to explain, with the indicted, the white supremacists and the downright corrupt: Rick Renzi (indicted), Terry Nelson (racist ads against Harold Ford in 2006), Trent Lott (pining for a Strom presidency), The Wyly Brothers (corrupt), Bob Perry (Chief Swift Boater), Richard Quinn (white supremacist), Rev. Richard Land (homosexual hate), Ken Blackwell (Ohio election suppression), Charlie Black (lobbyist and according to John Gorenfeld's new book, Bad Moon Rising, Reverend Moon lover). That would be a start.
I don't write this to pile on Mr. Stephanopoulos. I have usually found you to be a fair-minded host. Yet, if you are to right the wrongs of that debate, please give equal time, and make John McCain answer for aspects of his political career which are much more relevant than a flag lapel pin to whether he or Barack Obama would make a better president.
Cliff Schecter is the author of The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust Him And Why Independents Shouldn't.
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I want someone to ask McCain why he was transferred off of the Forrestall along with the injured from the fire.
http://www.pbs.org:80/moyers/journal/04182008/watch.html
Watch the above journalist talk to Bill Moyers about Iraq. We need to get the heck out of there.
I watched Bill Moyers show. Leila Fadel has just come back from Sadr City. She is bureau chief for the McClatchy News. She gave insight into what is really going on in Iraq. Watch this , it is a honest but sad truth about where we stand in this war. Very sad, we need to get out of there.
http://www.pbs.org:80/moyers/journal/04182008/watch.html
,..and how about his [dis]honesty on the subject of pork barrel politics!?
He outright lied about not earmarking funds.
He funneled tens of millions into his local AFB and into his neighborhood university.
He may be a war hero (and I thank him for that)...but he's no LEADER!
that does not mean he earmaked
Are you kidding "priviledged upbringing". what branch did you serve in? Career military is a hard life and hard on kids. What branch did Barack serve in?
What branch did you serve in osturk? McCain's father was an Admiral, so was his grandfather. I doubt very much he had a hard life.
My father was a career NCO and I didn't have a hard life, I loved it.
I'm not discounting his service to his country outside the US, and his unplanned side trip to Hanoi. But, he grew up as the son of the commander of U.S. forces in Europe. And, once he got out of Annapolis and got his flight training .... well, naval officers -- and particularly naval aviators -- live at the top of the food chain.
And then he married into the famiy of his first and biggest fundraiser. Nice set of values there -- there's a name for women who do that sort of thing.
It seems we can question Mcain's character but when it comes to asking about Barack's it is a an attack by abc news.
Mcain is going to have to answer some tough questions.
Barack does not need to get a free pass.
Mcain's dad earned the right to send his son to a privite elite high school.
i think that question #3. "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?" should be asked of mccain twice. by doing this and watching and analyzing his response we could ascertain the followng: if he forgets the question was asked he's got alzheimers. if he blows hi top he's got the temper. if he confuses sunni and shiite yet again we can correct him, and ask the question in another 5 minutes and see if he can be taught. (in a laborayory setting the raccoon learned in 5 tries)
Maybe Barack feels a little bitter today?
PRINCETON, NJ -- Gallup Poll Daily tracking shows that Hillary Clinton now receives 46% of the support of Democrats nationally, compared to 45% for Barack Obama, marking the first time Obama has not led in Gallup's daily tracking since March 18-20.
What the heck does that have to do with McCain?
Maybe you should check Newsweek. Can't you stay off the front runner while we talk about the opposite party?
And Newsweek's poll has him up by over 20 points. The Gallup poll is inconsistent with all other polling organizations and their own previous polls.
I'll bet the next Gallup poll has him up by close to 10 points again. Nice try though -- like Hillary, pick the facts you like, twist 'em, and shout 'em to the rooftops.
Another question: given all of McCain's recent inability to keep track of the various factions involved in Iran and Iraq, it's reasonable to question him about his raw intelligence ("candle power", as a former boss of mine called it), just as Hillary was asked about her truthfulness. So, a reasonable question is this: "Senator McCain, it's well-known that you graduated 894th of 899 members of your Annapolis graduating class. Is there an explanation for this poor record that could alleviate the worries of some Americans that you don't have the intelligence to master the intricacies of the Presidency?"
I am sure you would have graduated at the top of the class
Osturk, I'm not running for President. But, yes, I think I could have done better. I graduated with distinction from my undergraduate university and was 13th in a graduating class of 192 from grad school.... which is relevant to not much. But, I have been responsible for hiring people in my post college days, and anyone who was in the bottom one-half of one percent of his graduating class would not make the first cut in my hiring decisions.
But, hey, I'm just suggesting the questions here. Maybe he'll have a good excuse. Oh, he does: he "had run-ins with higher-ups and he was disinclined to obey every rule, which contributed to a low class rank." Oh, so it's either stupidity or bad character. Though, to sink that far, you really have to push the envelope on both.
We will see what little bootlicker George asks, won;t we?
I won't ever watch the show again, but I will predict that after his interview, George will sit at his round table with his"elite" millionaire fellow pundits, and joke at the little bit of trouble he got into the other night. They will giggle and snear, and in the end decide that the outrage was just an anomoly in this "crazy' political atmosphere. They will explain to their viewers that it was all brought on by young Obama followers, and George Will and Cokie will laugh, and console George because they know that the public is really stupid, and what the hell, everybody still collects their paycheck for their cushy job. Then, George will go to In Memoriam, where we will get sad over the list of young kids who have died in the occupation...followed by the Sunday funnies.
Maybe George Snuffleuffagus will ask John McCain why he speaks in a dull monotone when answering questions. Is it the Prozac? Xanax? Heroin? And why does he call everyone, "my friend?" He has no friends. Maybe George will ask McCain how he managed to crash 5 separate aircraft when he was a Navy pilot? Was he drunk or just stupid? Or maybe Goerge will ask McCain how much money he got from Charles "Jesus Weeps" Keating. So many questions, so little intelligence.
Crashed 5 aircraft? Don't make up stuff.
Given the limited time on those programs, I think priority should be given to questions 1 (as to some bigoted religious leaders support) and 8 (on the torture issues). As to #1, it would be a great counter to the far less hateful comments of Rev. Wright as to Obama and would force McCain to reject their support. As to #2, he was clearly a victim of torture and probably knows better than anybody in the Congress and Senate the horrors of it, it's ineffectivness and it's violations of treaties, our laws and general decency.
I wouldn't be surprised that such questions are asked as they are so sensitive and sensational, making for good tv and the need for George S. to gain back some respect he lost in that Demo debate.
I want to know why he has embraced Rove, and Rove tactics, after the way McCain's self, and adopted daughter were treated in the 2000 South Carolina primary?
watch and learn about hagee: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03072008/profile.html
we need to be informed!
Excellent questions. We need to see McCain needled, prodded and dogged by questions like these, and what we really need to see is him losing his temper on national TV. The nation needs to know about his anger management issues. A man who can not refrain from abusing his wife in public probably shouldn't have his finger on a nuke button.
excellent
And add one more to Sen. McCain's questions. Starting at the bottom of the political food chain, when will Haynes, Feith, Yoo, Bybee, Gonzalez and Addington, have their trials, and can he name others above these men, who will also have their turn in the dock?
Interesting, but these questions are of yesterday (McCain).....Obama is tomorrow.
STAY AWAY FROM ABC CHANNEL SUNDAY MORNING
BOYCOTT ABC AND STEPHANOPOULOS !!!!!!
FIRE STEPHANOPOULOS AND GIBSON !!!!!
How about not ever watching those morons! I don't usually anyways but they are not the only ones out there that are getting on my last nerve.
Here is a music video by an upset citizen to go with it!
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/19/33039/5594/573/498792
George S. and his dour-faced sidekick would never ask these questions. Why? Both "men" are cowards.
George S. lacks the spine and the cojones to ask any Republican questions of the sort suggested above. he knows they will retaliate in some fashion and hurt him to the best of their abilities. Dems won't hurt him because they mistakenly believe he is still one of them.
The wheather underground was a fair question, Obama was just not quick on his feet.
We do? Even if George does plow McCain with appropriate questions, it will be only so that he can save face. Stephanopolous betrayed the Clintons; then, he betrayed the Democratic Party. Had his questioning been probing, relevant, and fair, I'd write otherwise.
He is neither a Democrat nor a man.
Maybe-- he got such a great offer to join FOX in NY that he had to ask those trivial pursuit questions-- and he knows prime time FOX NY is better than a Sunday D.C. Show with the same, same olds on every Sunday....
Let's see, we'll have the media on one side of the table, and a Republican on the other side.
Can you say, "love fest?" Not one challenging or embarrassing question will be asked. Apologies to David Bowie, but the papers want to know whose shirts he wears.
Posted April 18, 2008 | 11:56 AM (EST)