I'm not joking. If anyone of my few readers out there can make this happen, make it happen. I want to interview the candidates and genuinely ask them questions that no one else has asked.
Why should QitC interview?
1) I'm fabulous and fun, so you know it won't be boring.
2) I feel like calling them on their bullshit.
3) I have readership in three of the upcoming primary states -- Kentucky, Indiana, and North Carolina.
4) I am not a professional blogger, nor am I a trained journalist (excepting, of course, my two years on my high school newspaper -- whoo, freaking, hoo).
5) I like them both, and I have respect for them both -- ie, I'm trying to destroy either of them, I want them to answer questions that I think people are genuinely feeling.
6) Barack has turned down any more debates. To be fair, 21 is enough. I think this will be more fun.
And, so they know what would be coming, I'm going to list off a couple of questions I want to ask.
To Barack:
- Do you think that race has played a role in your super-stardom? In 2001, you made a mention that you believed it does, but you've played that statement and that sentiment down during your presidential bid. Yes or no -- how has race played into your candidacy.
- You talk pretty, and I think you have the ability to get adults to talk to each other as adults about important adult topics. How does that make you qualified to be the president?
- Why did you go negative? You had everything going for you; why did you sully it with negative attacks on HRC?
- You talk about hope a lot. One of my favorite mantras is "When you pray, move your feet." How does hope translate into action? How do you plan to help this country move their feet rather than pray?
- Tell me about "the gays." You were interviewed by the Advocate to a cool response. Why have you not spoken more eloquently, more fully about this very divisive issue (gay marriage, equal rights, etc) in this country? And, more importantly, do you feel it's fair to liken the gay rights movement, and its heroes, to the civil rights movements of the 1960s, including to great black leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X?
- Does AIDS make you uncomfortable?
- Would you be Hillary's Vice President? Let's assume that, somehow, she wins the nomination. Would you accept the role? Could you get over everything said and done?
- You told Pastor Wright that one day you may have to disavow him; you knew that one day you may have to throw him under the bus. In criticisms of the Clinton, the interplay of loyalty and vengeance for the disloyal is a common theme -- why did you throw your friend under the bus?
- Blind loyalty and evangelism of an ideal brought us W. -- twice. Why is it different if it's coming from the left? (And, by extension, how liberal do you view yourself? How does it feel to be viewed as the most liberal Senator?)
- If something like 9/11 should happen again, if you should get that famous 3am phone call, what would you do? I'm still fighting this -- as, at that moment, I felt safe with George W. Bush telling me the world would still be alright after 9/11. He squandered my, and most of America's, trust after that. How do I know you, with your complete lack of experience, wouldn't do the same?
- Why are you still in this? You've spent millions of dollars that could be used towards the general election, at beating John McCain, why do you continue onward? (And don't give me the answer about "continuing the fight" -- you know how far behind you are, you know the extraordinary extent you would have to go to win, and you the comeback kid history will not save you -- what are you thinking?)
- You're viewed as a bitch. Does that help you or hurt you? Do you own it or do you reject it? And, really, are you a bitch?
- You're also viewed as a cold, calculating, do whatever needs to be done politician with a sketchy rise to the top. In this election, it is not the Republicans you're up against painting you poorly -- it is your own people, the Democrats. Why didn't the rhetoric change? Is it, perhaps, true?
- The policies of your husband, and, by extension, yourself, helped lead us into our current recession. How could we possibly trust a Clinton again when Bill, essentially, created the housing crisis?
- And, as an extension to the above, how are you different than Bill? Where does Bill end and Hillary begin -- or is it just Billary? What policies, what issues separate you two? What do you fight about at night in terms of policy and where do the two of you diverge?
- By extension, is it fair to say you have experience when you were First Lady? Isn't that just like saying "don't worry, Bill will be there too?"
- Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton. Is this the path to madness; will it destroy the very notion, or perhaps the last vestiges, of a democracy (in our form) in America?
- Would you be Vice President to Obama? Would you be the right choice for him?
- Why aren't you a Republican? You've called yourself progressive, but a lot of your foreign policy and fiscal policy screams Republican. Can you really label yourself as a progressive, and would you ever be so bold as to call yourself -- gasp -- a liberal?
- AIDS is a huge issue for your husband and you've got a great record on it. Why haven't we focused more on serious issues that are still driving American HIV -- mental health, drug abuse, poverty, etc.?
- How is New York treating you? Do you think you could still win Arkansas?
- I love Gerry (Geraldine Ferraro). Personally, how did it make you feel that 20 years after she had the chance to be the first women to have either of the "P" positions, she had to leave your campaign, effectively destroying the only official connection you had within your campaign to the feminist movement of the 60s and 70s?
- How does it make you feel that you can't convince, unilaterally, the Democratic party to of you are giving. But, in your quietest momenvote for you? I mean, not the silly "everyone should have a vote" produced line that both of you are giving. But, in your quietest moment, when the advisers and the supporters are gone, and when you're watching the world go by on your campaign bus, what are you feeling.. what are you thinking about?
No comments:
Post a Comment