DEBATE QUESTIONS I WOULD HAVE ASKED

The campaigns have  every opportunity to put their candidates in the best light. They control the media exposure and give the  sales and talking points. It is harder to get to the heart of the manner and ask questions which require answers. The Presidential debates offer such a forum, and that is why the  questions tend to be provocative  and tough, seeking to expose what  may have been well hidden. Charlie and George really tossed some softballs - here are the questions I would have asked Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama along with some for John McCain come the fall campaign.

HILLARY CLINTON:

1) Senator Clinton, you said you were under fire in Bosnia, and that you were mistaken. This lie did not happen once, but several times.  What assurance can you give the American people that when your hand is on the nuclear button you will not make such an obvious error that could mean the end of the world as we know it?

2) Senator Clinton, you talk of corruption in the present administration, yet the pardons you and your husband dished out when exiting the White House in 2001 reeked to high heaven. Should the American people expect a repeat performance of corruption to the nth degree when you leave office, should you be elected?

3) Senator Clinton, you like to talk tough on terror. Yet many astute observers believe that the repeated inaction of your husband when the United States was attacked before (first World Trade Center bombing, USS Cole, etc.) emboldened are enemies and directly led to 9/11.  Your constant changes in proposed policy which appear to be strictly tied to the latest polls give reason for many to believe that your administration would be no different. What specifically would you have done differently after 9/11 had you been President from 2001 to 2009.

4) Don't you think telling your enemies publicly and in advance of your withdrawal timetable for Iraq is by itself a disqualifier of being Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful nation on earth?

5) You say you can pay for all of your new programs and to check your website.  No information is presented there that lends any credence to your claims.   The numbers experts have calculated based upon your programs tell a different story. Do you plan to print more money or raise taxes drastically like your husband did in the early part of his administration?

6) You touted the prosperity of the 1990's, which many believe largely happened because a Republican congress held your husband in check.  Had all of Bill's campaign promises been fulfilled, the 90's would likely never have happened as they did.  Why do you believe the American people would fare as well or better with you in office and a Democratic congress who is sworn to overthrown this restraint?

7) You said at Messiah College that preborn infants are potential life. When did YOU become a living person and would your mother have agreed with you when you were kicking in her womb?

8) Your husband was called by Toni Morrison the "first Black President". Do you find it ironic that over 80% of blacks do not support you, and that racially charged comments in your campaign have made your candidacy a refuge for whites most opposed to full racial equality?

9) You cite all this experience, yet when you had only ONE initiative, universal health care, it was a dismal failure. With this track record, how can the American people expect you to handle the myriad of issues a President has to handle daily?

10) Have you ever looked personally into the reservations many scientists have about the reality of global warming?

11) Do you believe that Ben Stein's movie "Expelled" accurately portrays the lack of academic freedom in terms of scientific inquiry in our educational system?

12) You have taught Sunday School in the United Methodist Church and said you would have left Obama's church. Can we therefore assume that you ascribe to the stand of the United Methodist Church on homosexuality?

13) Do you believe homosexuals should be allowed to marry and have their marriages recognized in every state regardless of the will of the people in that state?

14) You stated you would have left Obama's church over the pastor's remarks. Yet you have remained married to Bill Clinton despite serial infidelity.  Do you consider left-wing rantings as more of a disqualifier than persistent adultery?

15) You have favored permitting abortions with few if any restraints and opposed parental notification laws.  Parents have to sign notes for their daughter to get an aspirin and school, yet you are fine with a major procedure involving the taking of human life being done on their daughter without even their knowledge let alone their consent. You have kept a tight rein on your own daughter Chelsea. Don't you see major hypocrisy in your positions?

BARACK OBAMA

1) You came up the hard way in some instances, but still managed to great a Harvard education and become a Senator and candidate for President. You acknowledge that this could only happen in America. You noted your daughters should not get any benefits from affirmative action. Could you advise us if you ever personally experienced discrimination as a bi-racial man and if so how you managed to overcome it?

2)  You said that Jeremiah Wright was not only your pastor but your mentor.  Mentors pass down much to their disciples.  What concepts that you now hold do you attribute to this mentoring relationship with Rev.Wright?

3) Philadelphia passed a handgun bill not all that dissimilar to DC's.   The local DA refuses to enforce it.  Do you believe that the tragedy at Virginia Tech we have just memorialized would have happened to the extent it did if there were people properly licensed to carry guns on the campus?

4) Are you aware of the statistics of guns used in self defense and the need of people in cities like Philly and DC to be able to fully defend themselves?

5) Have you ever had the experience of Rev. Jesse Jackson, who says when he hears someone behind him and turns around and sees someone white, he breathes a sign of relief? If so, why did you criticize your grandmother when she allegely had the same reaction and at the same time been silent about Jesse Jackson?

6) Have YOU ever had a gun in your possession? If so what were the circumstances?

7) You were raised by a single white mother. Yet your book referred primarily to your father. That and your recently noted antipathy to your grandmother, whom you threw under the bus, gives us pause. You have tried to bridge the racial divide, but was the white half of your heritage a blessing at all or simply a curse in your life?

8) Your proposal to raise the payroll tax cap would result in my taxes  as a small businessman going up 25% to 50%. The Payroll tax as paid by small business, which is double the amount deducted from employee paychecks, is often two to three times the Federal Income tax. Do you think it is helpful to further penalize small business in such a major way in a recession?

9) You admirably have cited the need to stop being Democrats and Republicans, but Americans. Yet your voting record was the most liberal in the Senate, even eclipsing the legendary Ted Kennedy. What was the last proposal of a Republican that you have supported?

10) If you had been President when 9/11 happened, should the American people be able to assume that Saddam Hussein would still be in power and that the rape rooms and torture chambers and mass graves would still be amassing new victims?

11) Have you ever looked personally into the deep reservations many scientists have about the concept of man-made global warming?

12) Do you think Ben Stein's movie "Expelled" accurately depicts the censorship of ideas and lack of academic freedom on America's campuses today? 

13) When you were at Harvard, were you ever penalized for presenting a viewpoint not in line with the professor's political paradigm?

14) Do you believe homosexuals should be allowed to marry and if so that their marriages must be recognized in all states regardless of the will of the people in those states?

JOHN McCAIN

1) You attend a Southern Baptist Church, which most people consider Evangelical. Yet most evangelicals seems to intensely distrust you. Barack Obama said he disagreed with his pastor and disowned certain remarks he made. What exactly do you disagree on with your pastor concerning Southern Baptist beliefs?

2) You were a thorn in George W. Bush's side back in 2000.  Now people assume your candidacy is a continuation of his regime. What do you propose that is different from Bush?

3) Would you consider going back to Vietnam to seek diplomatic relations with that country?

4) What do you REALLY think about illegal immigration and the lack of enforcement at the border?

5) What do you personally KNOW about global warming, and have you considered the sincere viewpoints of many scientist who believe it is not man-made in nature?

6) Do you think Ben Stein's movie "Expelled" accurately depicts the lack of academic freedom on America's campuses today? 

7) Given your general support for liberal judges in the lower courts, can conservatives really expect that you would appoint more strict constructionist judges like John Roberts and Antonin Scalia?

8) Do you think the F-word and similar speech considered obscene by many should be allowed on the nation's airwaves?

9) Liberals are know to curse more than conservatives. Where does that place you on the political landscape?

10) With your legendary temper, acknowledged even by your friends, what would keep us from wondering if you would hit that red button in a fit of anger?

11) Sexual escapades beyond what has come out have been charged.  What is the truth about those, and do you think personal morality is a requirement for a president?

12) You are older than Ronald Reagan was when he first ran for office. Are you promising one term only?  If so, your Vice Presidential pick would be a person likely to succeed you.  Does that change the criteria for picking a Vice President?  How would you handle four years of being a lame duck?

13) The mainstream media like you quite a lot. What is it about you that is different from the conservatives they daily marginalize, slander, and mock?