The YouTube Debate

I didn't watch the Dem YouTube debate, but I have been reviewing the questions as posted on CNN.com and there are some interesting ones - probably better than you'll find from most journalists. Here's a sample broadly categorized. The links do not go to the candidate's answers (unfortunately).

Category 1 - Typical liberal touchy-feely crap:

Question #1615: Say one good and one bad thing about the candidate to your left.

Question #1075: Would you be willing to get paid minimum wage?

Question #119: How do you get Americans to conserve more energy?

Question #234: People want to know if Al Gore’s gonna run again. Does that hurt y’all’s feelings?
Question #963: Who was your favorite teacher and why?

Question #977: What would you do to help the children of Darfur?

Question #992: Why is it acceptable to use religion to deny gay Americans their full and equal rights?

Question #548: Would you allow two women to get married?


Category 2 - Good questions worthy of a debate, and questions that no journalist would probably ask:

Question #1699: What is your position on gun control?

Question #50: What does ‘in God we trust’ mean to you?

Question #1276: If Sen. Clinton is elected president, does anyone have a problem with the same two families being in charge of the government for 28 consecutive years?

Question #1625: Does your health care program cover undocumented workers?

Question #932: Will Democrats raise taxes?

Question #577: Why isn’t there a standardized way to vote?

Question #8: What do you think of nuclear power?

Question #694: Would you agree to meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea?

Question #696: Sen. Clinton, how do you feel you’d be taken seriously in diplomatic relations with Arab states?

Question #185: Should women have to register for the draft when they turn 18?

Question #729: Sen. Gravel, you said all deaths in Vietnam were in vain. How do you expect to win where many people might be offended by this?

Question #2076: Hillary Clinton: Would you describe yourself as ‘liberal’?

Question #860: How would America be better with Rep. Kucinich as president?

Question #1675: What’s going to make you different?


Category 3 - Typical lefty fever swamp stuff:

Question #1252: Would a Democratic administration pay lip service to the extremely religious as much as the current one?

Question #394: How do we pull out now?

Question #2737: If you think race and class affected the response to Hurricane Katrina, what will you do to prevent that from happening in the future?

Question #995: Will African Americans ever get reparations for slavery?

Category 4 - Questions that had no business being included:

Question #534: I got a parking ticket last week. Can one of y’all pardon me?

Question #278: What’s the dirtiest little secret in Washington?

Question #1517: If you had to pick a Republican as your running mate, who would it be?

It's an interesting format, but I think they could screen the questions a little better to weed out the obvious nutbar stuff. I believe the GOP will do something similar in August, but I'll be the questions they get will be a lot more hostile.