Friday, November 30, 2007

The Republican YouTube Debate scandal! -- Updated

by shamanic

Day two of America Held Hostage! I guess I didn't realize that only partisans and like-minded activists were supposed to ask questions at these things. I sort of figured that questions could be submitted by any interested American and that the questions, not so much the questioners, would be vetted by the network to craft the debate.

Clearly you don't want staffers from rival campaigns asking the questions (but only because it looks bad -- again, if the question is fine, then it's strictly a matter of maintaining appearances) but how often do ordinary people get to interact meaningfully with this elevated group we call candidates? (I guess if you're Iowan, you get a shot pretty often.)

After the well-received Dem YouTube debate in July, I certainly considered submitting a question for this one. I'm a politically involved American citizen who will be voting in both the primaries and general election in 2008. What's the problem exactly?

Update -- Wow, there's very serious passion and even fury in the couple of comments this have accrued so far. It makes me wonder whether readers think that the debates should be split among the networks, so Fox News handles Republicans and CNN (which just isn't the party organ that Fox is) handles the Dem debates. Thoughts?

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