Now let’s ask some real questions …
With their choice of a new host for “Meet The Press,” NBC execs have an opportunity to change the tone of political reporting and help restore some credibility for the mainstream media.
I know, they won’t, but wouldn’t be nice? Speculation centers on David Gregory, Chris Matthews and Joe Scarborough. I have no qualms with Gregory, but Matthews and Scarborough? With either one, we’ll get more softball, wink-wink, nod-nod questions to Republican power brokers and more silly horse-race speculation. Issues, unless you define issues as “Jeremiah Wright,” will lose out again.
So here are some questions we still won’t hear on “Meet The Press” or in newspapers:
- Senators McCain and Obama, what are your strategies for Iraq?
- Senator McCain, what exactly will this great victory you promise in Iraq look like? How will we know when we achieve it?
- Senator McCain, will you make a read-my-lips-style promise of no new preemptive war? Even in Iran?
- Senator McCain, exactly how much do honestly promise to save by reducing earmarks? Please put that amount in perspective to overall federal spending.
- Senator Obama, will you commit to providing health care for every American if the insurance industry continues to deny coverage to millions?
- Senator McCain, do you honestly think buying drugs from Canada and stopping malpractice suits will fix our healthcare system? What’s your Plan B?
- Senator McCain, I see that you’re paying 25 percent interest on your enormous credit-card debt. Insurance companies and potential employers discriminate against people with bad credit, calling it a “character issue.” Does your bad credit constitute a character issue? If not, will you stand up and fight for ordinary Americans who face this stigma?
- Senators McCain and Obama, a question for both of you. What will you do about Guantanemo Bay?
- Another question for both of you. Will you commit, with no conditions, to providing high-quality, no-hassle health care to the thousands of Americans who have been maimed and disabled while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan?
Finally, a question for David Gregory, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough and the rest of the press corps: Will you commit to ask these and other substantive questions?
Yeah, didn’t think so. So back to the real issue … should Barack Obama pick someone with a patriotic-sounding name as his running mate? Someone who wears a lapel pin?
