As senator Hillary Clinton reminded the nation during the democratic presidential debate last Thursday night, "What the American people are looking for right now is straight answers to tough questions."
But apparently that's not exactly true. As was reported by Democracy Now! headline news this morning, what CNN thinks the sheeple who will decide our next president want to really know is whether Hillary Clinton prefers diamonds or pearls instead of headier issues CNN thinks apparently not appropriate, as the following illustrates:
"Last week's debate ended with Senator Hillary Clinton being asked whether she preferred diamonds or pearls. The question was asked by a UNLV student who has since said that she was forced by CNN to ask that question instead of a pre-approved query about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository."
Of course, the first outrage is the fact CNN would influence anyone's decision on what question to ask a candidate. But note the other point that should cause outrage: all questions must be pre-approved. (And we think this is a democracy?)
We all know how amusing was Tim Russert's debate question of representative Dennis Kucinich about him seeing a UFO. Mainstream Media apparently wants this to be the Kucinich point that sticks in the sheeple's minds. It's the only thing most of us remember about him.
But as Democracy Now! further reminded us today, "A new study by the watchdog group Media Matters has found that Democratic and Republican candidates have been asked few questions about their views on executive power, the Constitution, torture, wiretapping, or other civil liberties concerns during the first 17 presidential debates."
"According to Media Matters there has been only one question about wiretapping. Not a single question about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or renditions. The words 'habeas corpus' have not once been spoken by a debate moderator. Candidates have also not been asked about whether telecoms should be granted immunity over their role in domestic spying."
While no fan of senator Clinton, I guess what I really want to know now are the preferences of Obama and Edwards: "Diamonds or pearls?"
5 comments:
hmmm Turds or Horsehit ? gee Wolf- that one is hard to call..See I would have told him off.....or asked him boxers or briefs Wolf- whatcha got?
Asshole- worst debate ever- and planted question...we all would have wanted the Yucca Question that she wanted to ask- poor little college kid...
Too bad the college Student did not just ask her question anyway.... but it is pre recorded, so it would have wound up on the (digital) editing room floor.
I'm still pissed off that the so called debates are only broadcast on paid for tv. Not only does MSM tell you what candidates are front runners as determined by how much money they raise, but by only broadcasting on private, for- pay tv, they cut out entire segments of the viewing population.
I guess the poor folks shoud count their blessings-they are spared this diamonds or pearls, UFO bullshit line of questioning. But it is fundamentally flawed- both the rigged questions, and the lack of public viewing outside the for profit broadcasting. I would subject myself to watching the debates if PBS were to broadcast them. Even better have a PBS journalist ask real questions, about heavy issues- and that list is long. There is no need to add pablum fluff filler.
We want to know about Nuke waste dumps, and if they plan to shut down Gitmo, and their stance on torture, and the Kyoto treaty, and getting the hell out of Iraq. Maybe we should launch a blogsphere blitz - flooding CNN with negative feedback & asking PBS to fix the problem & host real debates available to all the public.
Pearls or swine?
Dada, it is an outrage, but some of the candidates HAVE managed to work in signing stmnts, habeus corpus, FISA, etc into their responses to unasked questions. (ps, at some point I edited my Yucca post title to include diamonds & pearls, being similarly outraged about that piece of pre-approved fluff, which we shouldn't forget was supposed to be the result of 100 regular people's questions)
Enigma, boxers or briefs would've been the perfect response! Instead we got claptrap about making choices, and then she couldn't even make a choice.
Fran, if Bill Moyers would be the moderator, I would even endure watching a repub debate!
That's it! That's the question, enigma. It's not diamonds or pearls, it's boxers or briefs. Much better question.
Fran, D.K....thanks for mentioning some of the real (non)issues that aren't important to the little people, especially habeas corpus where each of us exists only at the pleasure of Dubya!.
But hey, MSM and Americans don't give a flip for the vanished protections formerly guaranteed them under the now defunct constitution. Tomorrow is Black Friday. Time to once again go out and spend America into profitability.
(And isn't it nice to see that old perennial election year issue of gun control once again rearing its head--along with abortions and fetus rights close behind?--I find it ironic we're bestowing all the rights upon the unborn that we, the post partem people, have surrendered.) All we need now is for someone to burn a god-damned flag and we'll have the really significant issues needed to determine the person best suited to continue leading us down this path into Armageddon.)
As for pay to view TV, Mrs. Dada and I have discussed this and with only four months left on our obligation to our current satellite provider, we're going to drop 'em. Who knows the new worlds it may open up for us!
I couldn't give up C-Span or Keith or some of the HBO comedies. E.K. has to have his daily Tennis Channel fix. But yeah, what would we do with all that extra time, if we gave it all up? Go shopping on Black Friday? As if! Maybe try to convince college kids they don't need guns on campus to protect themselves? hmmm ...
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