(photo astrology.net)
Media Matters had an interesting summary of the roughly 1500 questions that have been posed to the candidates in the roughly 17 debates that have been staged this year. Here is a brief rundown of what they found.
Only one question has been asked about wiretapping, zero questions have been asked about FISA, yet there has been a question about whether the Constitution should be changed to allow Arnold to be president.
Nothing has been asked about renditions, nor "habeas corpus" (because it's Latin?), nor telecom liability, but would it be good for American to have Bill Clinton in the White House again?
Not once has anyone asked why the administration started its warrantless wiretapping long before the 9/11 attacks rather than in response to them, but candidates were asked what Halloween costumes they would wear.
No one has asked whether the President should order indefinite detention of American citizens with no charges, but one candidate was asked seriously about a UFO sighting.
No moderator has asked whether candidates agree with Bush's skeptical view on congressional oversight, but one candidate was asked about a preference for diamonds vs pearls.
Candidates were asked whether they preferred PC or Mac and this question turned out to be planted by a news network.
Why do journalists ignore the serious issues facing our country but instead foster the mentality of choosing who we'd have a beer with?
Media Matters reported an ACLU poll done a month ago in which 61% of Americans want the government to get a warrant before wiretapping conversations Americans have with people abroad. This sentiment cuts across every demographic, educational level, racial identification, political party, geographical location and income group measured. Americans basically do not want to be spied on by their government.
A majority of Americans wanted habeas corpus restored, Guantanamo closed, the power to determine who is an enemy combattant removed from the Preisent, torture ended as US policy, and the outlawing of eavesdropping without a court warrant. A majority of American did not feel Congress had done enough to check the powers of the president. A CNN poll, also recent, found that 69% of Americans considered waterboarrding torture and 58% felt it should be outlawed.
If Americans take these things seriously, why don't journalists?
Just in:
CNN Accused of Rigging Debate Questions
TruthOut
Tobin Harshaw, who blogs for The New York Times as "The Opinionator," reported
Friday that "Maria Luisa, the UNLV student who asked Hillary Clinton whether she
preferred 'diamonds or pearls' at last night's debate, wrote on her MySpace page
this morning that CNN forced her to ask the frilly question instead of a pre-approved query
about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository."
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