The Truth Laid Bear has an interesting compilation of questions from bloggers that they would like the Republican leadership candidates to answer as well as having readers rank which are the best questions. Many/most are mundane (“How will you get us back in the majority,”, but some of them are pretty damned interesting:
What books have you read about Islamic terrorism against America and the West?
And others are flat-out insane:
Will you actually defend yourselves in the mainstream media, and assign some members to a continous media communications task, or instead allow the MSM to paint you however they wish, especially to independent voters? I realize that Lynne Cheney is not an elected official, but her recent CNN interview is quite instructive.
Sadly, that is currently the second-most popular question. Because, as we all know, the reason the GOP lost was insufficient media bashing and not getting out our message.
At any rate, check it out.
HeavyJ
“I realize that Lynne Cheney is not an elected official, but her recent CNN interview is quite instructive.”
Yes, much more like that please. Inane ranting at Wolf Blitzer from the wife of a dissolute alcoholic will cement the GOP’s permanent majority.
Pb
Actually…
That’s a question I wouldn’t mind asking of the Democratic leadership. Of the lot of them, I think Murtha probably makes the rounds the most, followed by Biden, and they do ok, but neither of them would be my first choices. I was watching Meet The Press–they had McCain and Lieberman on–and Russert mentioned that they had invited Reid and Pelosi, but both of them declined. At least Reid was on Face The Nation, not that I watch it.
scarshapedstar
Ah, the Cult of Liberal Media Invictus.
ThymeZone
Here’s a question they can ask Republicans:
Your administrations were wrong about Iraq in the 1980’s, wrong again in the 1990’s, and horribly wrong after 911.
We went from shaking hands and having our pictures taken with Saddam, to declaring him to he Hitler, to declaring a war on him, to backing off from that war, to declaring him Hitler again and declaring another war, to being stuck in what’s left of his country with no end in sight and no plan to get out, all in the span of about 18 years, all under Republican presidents.
Why should we care what you think about anything, at this point? What will you do to rebuild your credibility on foreign policy?
scarshapedstar
In Dave Barry Turns 40 (or possibly 50, I forget) there’s a guide to “Aging Gracelessly (or, How To Geeze)”. In it, he recommends that whenever your children come to visit you, you spend all your time complaining about how they never come to visit you.
This seems an awful lot like the wingnut strategy for electoral recovery, at least as far as dealing with the Axis of LLL/MSM goes: get as much face time as possible and spend all that time whining about how the LibrulMedia won’t let you on TV.
Yeah, that’s the ticket. Godspeed! You whiny, stupid, white emperors.
Pb
ThymeZone,
How about “who’s the next Hitler gonna be?” Or, uh, “which Hitler is worse–Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Howard Dean?”
ThymeZone
Pb, how about “HRC … Eva Braun?”
Jay
You want insane?
Quite a few people think the GOP spent too much time kow-towing to the Democrats (???) and want their leaders to stop. Not a few want the dreaded Liberal Media’s habit of telling lies about Republicans curbed or punished. Interesting since many liberals think the MSM is a tool of the Neo-Con Empire. Sheesh. Make up your minds! A number of people think putting a question mark at the end of a statement makes it a question. Oh well.
There are quite a few interesting, substantive questions sprinkled through out the madness:
He/she doesn’t define “Conservative,” but it is still a good question. But right now I want to know which of the Ballon Juice crew asked this:
‘Fess up.
RSA
Check out the least popular question (with a score of -43):
It’s phrased in a somewhat challenging way, but it’s a perfectly reasonable question that I think gets to the issue of whether the Republican party can hold together its fiscal conservative/social conservative coalition. Apparently the readers of the blog just don’t think this is important. To me, it looks like hiding one’s head in the sand, but maybe I just don’t understand the GOP’s dynamics.
The Other Steve
I can’t blame them. Who wants to respond to an hour of Tim Russert asking them intelligent questions like “So tell me, why do you hate America and want the terrorists to win?”
Russert is a hack.
I saw the Face the Nation interview, and it was quite good.
The Other Steve
Atlas Shrugs, Redstate, Ace of Spades
why? comedy value
ThymeZone
Asking righty bloggers to come up with relevant and salient questions like this is like asking Mel Gibson for Hanukkah gift ideas.
Mike S
These people are NUTS.
Yeah, that’s the ticket. The country really voted to turn the ME into glass.
I didn’t know that the GOP refused to give itself conference rooms.
craigie
Since those are Republicans asking the questions, I wonder why none of them asked
“Will you earmark the next budget to give me five million dollars? If you do, I’ll contribute $25,000 to your campaign.”
I mean, isn’t that a core GOP value?
Pb
Someone quick enough and eloquent enough to respond appropriately, or better yet, rhetorically take him apart. I don’t know if Pelosi and Reid necessarily fit the bill, but it would have been nice if there had been *a* Democrat on there.
craigie
Also,
would be worth asking.
ThymeZone
I mean, that quick-witted Texan just shut down the smarty tough reporter from Buffalo.
Buffaloed him, you might say.
SeesThroughIt
This is awesome. My favorite so far is this:
“There is a grave disturbance in the force….”
So that…amassing of words is then followed two questions later (same guy–he has a list of 10) with this:
Beautiful.
ThymeZone
I think this is something that can be discovered during a colonoscopy.
Sirkowski
…because the lesbians destroyed the GOP, the LEEEEEEESBIAAAAAAAAAAAAAANS!!!1111
RWB
That was a very amusing list of questions. Actually, there were a few good ones in there, and some very pointedly specific ones (Joe Barton appears to have a few enemies). And so many questions that were frankly delusional, like the ones asking the Republicans to finally stop caving into the Democrats as they have been doing for the last 12 years.
Anyway, I added my own question:
“What is a Shiite? What is a Sunni? Is there a difference between them? If so, explain.”
fwiffo
This is my favorite.
Well now, that would be a wee bit incompatible with the GOP regaining the majority.
I’d also like to know which three conservative blogs they read. And that goes for reps from both parties. Too bad it’s way down the list. I also liked some of the conspiracy theories:
It got a positive rating, and is in roughly the top 25% of the questions.
Tsulagi
That list of questions is funny, but at the same time a little interesting. Easy to see who phrased them. Plenty from message bots like the one in the #2 spot. Some from conservatives and maybe a few from right-leaning libertarians. But the most telling is the one with the most negative votes…
Yeah, that’s what the GOP needs to return to power…more Dobsons and Haggards. More Schiavo, not less.
I would like to see a list of questions for the Dems and the votes each got. That could be interesting.
Pooh
Well, I don’t mind Biden going on all the time, because the more often he talks, the worse he will do in the ’08 primaries, and that ain’t a bad thing.
Zifnab
Hehe. That’s the problem with America. Too much campaign finance reform. Not enough soft money and corporate contributions affecting our political system. All those good, hard working, honest politicians going to jail over squibbly little things like “accepting bribes” and “receiving illegal donation”. Entirely unacceptable.
Zifnab
hahahaha. Another good one. “Are you pretty?” Where’s Katherine Harris? Can we just nominate her boobs or something? Cause that’s totally what the ‘Pubs need.
Jay
This shouldn’t make me laugh, but I am deeply disturbed anyway. Ranking at 27:
Calm down and pop another Oxy, Rush.
Perry Como
There is a cold wind blowing in your chambers with the far left socialists rejoicing and the James Baker/Scowcroft appeasers/isolationists haunting the hallways. Will you stand firm, with steady hand and intestinal resolve to support Israel…our only true friend in the gravest danger spot in the world?
There are exits to the north and east.
> e
You are in a private bathroom. A Congressional page has a mirror with lines of cocaine on it.
> unzip pants
I don’t understand unzip.
> drop pants
You can’t do that yet.
> get cocaine
You pick up a rolled $100 bill and snort a line of cocaine.
> drop pants
With a nose full of coke, you swiftly remove your pants as the page gazes at you.
…
Buck
Or wiped away with toilet paper.
Jay
How about, what clown tapped Senator Mel “Dr. Schiavo” Martinez as the new head of the RNC?
Doesn’t he already have one full time job?
chefrad
I know lots of people at the POST and I agree with boss Leonard Downie. The paper is liberal–but only on social issues (gay rights. civil rights, environment). In geopolitics the Washington Post is actually quite hawkish under Fred Hiatt. Certainly more right wing than the paper’s readers as a whole.
This may be true of many major newspapers.
chefrad
I know lots of people at the POST and I agree with boss Leonard Downie. The paper is liberal–but only on social issues (gay rights. civil rights, environment). In geopolitics the Washington Post is actually quite hawkish under Fred Hiatt. Certainly more right wing than the paper’s readers as a whole.
This may be true of many major newspapers.
jenniebee
cont. from Perry:
> drop pants
With a nose full of coke, you swiftly remove your pants as the page gazes at you.
> stand firm
Your support for Israel is noted.
DougJ
Quite instructive on how to look like a lunatic in front of millions of viewers (okay, maybe hundreds of thousands, this is CNN we’re talking about).
SeesThroughIt
Hahahaha, awesome work, Perry Como. That question did seem rather RPGish to me, but I couldn’t come up with a good joke along those lines.
DougJ
Good work, Perry. I loved that game when I was a kid.
Rick Taylor
Well here’s something disturbing: unless I missed it somehow, there’s not a single question on climate change or global warming. Not one. Some day we’re going to look back and wonder how we could have been so short sighted.
-Rick Taylor
Zifnab
“What will you do about the hoax of global warming that is being foisted upon the naive and unwitting American public? How will you better educate our nation about the virtues of clean coal, clean nuclear, and clean dead liberal technology? How soon until we can just light all of Alaska on fire to keep us warm at night?”
SPIIDERWEB™
You post the very good question:
What books have you read about Islamic terrorism against America and the West?
However, a more poignant probe might be: Have you read any books about Islamic terrorism against America and the West or about Islam the religion?
And this question should be directed at all elected officials regardless of party affiliation.
b-psycho
I would ask them what they thought of the head of “al-qaeda in Iraq” openly stating that the war there is helping jihadi influence in the region & how that jibes w/ them portraying the slightest questioning of the war as defeatism, but as a non-republican it’s not really my place to ask on there.
scarshapedstar
“One of the first things I would do would be to sit the Nazis and the Jews down and say, “Stop the bullshit.”
-John McCain, in a parallel universe, explaining his vision for ending WWII.
Rusty Shackleford
Reading the selected questions gives me the feeling that the people asking them “just don’t get it.”
Sample Question: “Would you be willing to crank up all of our actions and initiatives that make voters doubt our ability to handle power and run the government?”
Basically, they’re asking for ‘double-time’ on the objectionable.