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Presidential Youth Debate Answers and Details Now Online
Posted by
timothy
on Thu Oct 30, 2008 05:43 PM
from the sometimes-you-have-to-take-the-bad-with-the-bad dept.
from the sometimes-you-have-to-take-the-bad-with-the-bad dept.
Last month, Slashdot readers contributed their own inquiries to the pool of questions for the Walden University Presidential Youth Debate. Two of those questions made the cut, and you can watch either the individual video responses to each of the questions presented to John McCain and Barack Obama (by scrolling down the just-linked debate home page), or the whole debate straight through. For something meatier, if you are weary of predictably slippery campaign-style answers, Ethan Rowe of End Point has a very interesting blog post about the technology background of the debate.
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Interviews: Be Part of the 2008 Presidential Youth Debate 513 comments
We participated in this project back in 2004. This year it's hosted by Walden University, and the format is a little less cumbersome than it was four years ago. So go ahead, ask some questions you'd like to see McCain and Obama answer, and they'll go into the pot along with questions submitted through other channels. Later this week you'll have a chance to help moderate the final questions chosen from all sources, and on October 20 you'll be able to see video responses from the two major party candidates. Please limit to yourself to one question per post, and note that questions must be posted no later than 4 p.m. US EDT on Monday, September 29, to be considered.
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Transcript (Score:2, Informative)
Are transcripts of the video responses available anywhere? I checked quickly, but there doesn't appear to be one on the main site. It's a shame that such a 'high-tech' 'debate' can't deliver information to those unable to hear the responses.
Two From Slashdot? (Score:2, Interesting)
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That said, I watched the responses to that question, and neither of the candidates even pretended to address the issue.
Of course, they also didn't answer the second part of the question, "Many Americans object to the continued existence of The Electoral College in The Information Age, and to th
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As I said the audio was a bit jumpy but I'm old and patient. I do not recal
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I suppose it's nice to know that the issues that matter to the Slashdot crowd are so unimportant to the rest of society that they're not worth bothering to answer.
And when has either of those two gave a real answer to a question that wouldn't make them look absolutely glowing? This is a problem with how politicians behave, not issues being unimportant to society (although that could be the case too).
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Can you think of other issues where the politicians have similarly entirely avoided the issue?
The one that springs to mind immediately is a question that was asked during the VP debate (and the moderator also mentioned that it had been asked to the presidential candidates, but I didn't see that myself): in light of the major events that have happened this past week, what are some promises that your campaign has made that you will not be able to keep?
Great question, and of course, Palin and Biden both completely sidestepped it. I was disgusted, if not surprised.
The question we failed to ask (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The question we failed to ask (Score:4, Interesting)
Well, there is at least a partial answer here [youtube.com].
Parent
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Quoting the Daily Fail is never a good idea..
That's 1.5bn christmas bonus shared between 10,000 staff and 5.5bn in salary that they'd have to pay anyway.
Yes it's a big figure, but it's nowhere *near* as bad as the headline would suggest.
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You still haven't explained how that has anything to do with socialism.
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The word you are looking for is fascism. The bailout is fascism. Big government in bed with big business.
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( a -> b does not imply that b -> a)
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"no risk capitalism" as the result of government policy is called "corporate welfare".
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I kind of wonder why your comment wasn't marked as funny.
"Giving money away to private corporations has nothing at all to do with socialism."
Taking money from tax payers and funding business isn't exactly socialism per say but it is one GIANT step in that direction. Add to the problem with having government sponsored entities around to give loans to people who could never afford them and you are on your way from capitalism to socialism.
(Go to Youtube and search for Fanny and Freddie and you will see who re
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That's an average of $150k per staff member in bonuses and $550k in salary. Either someone is overpaid beyond belief, or everyone is overpaid to a more modest degree (but still pretty overpaid for a company that may well have tanked without massive government intervention.)
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From the article:
The news comes after it was revealed that even bankers working for collapsed Wall Street giant, Lehman Brothers, could receive huge payouts.
Its 10,000 U.S. staff are expected to share a £1.5billion bonus pool. The payouts were agreed as part of the rescue takeover of Lehman's American arm by Barclays last month.
That's the Lehman Brothers. The 7 billion pounds or roughly 11.5 billion USD bonus is for Goldman Sachs.
Each of the firm's 443 partners is on course to pocket an average Christmas bonus of more than £3million.
How about the exchange rates? (Score:2, Interesting)
Here's a serious question. Why did the US dollar suddenly shoot up against all the other currencies when this global financial crisis started? The USA is where the gigantic financial crisis happened. So why is the US dollar suddenly so much higher than it was before? Any economists out there?
Here are some graphs: http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/EUR/graph120.html [x-rates.com] http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/GBP/graph120.html [x-rates.com] http://www.x-rates.com/d/USD/BRL/graph120.html [x-rates.com]
WHY???
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The US may be looking like it has a sounder economy than some other countries. People are putting money into US Dollars now. Sure there was a contraction in the last quarter and the US but it wasn't as bad as predic
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US Investors are pulling out of International markets and converting foreign currency back US Dollars (Buying it in other words).
Folllowing the Laws of Supply and Demand, that would cause the price of the USD to go up hence why it's stronger and hence why other foreign currencies that investor's pulled out of are weaker.
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Why are Federal taxpayers forced to pay [...]
You cite a non-US media source to back up your claim...
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And here's the IHT covering the same issue [iht.com] with Barney Frank, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Com
CPD question not even answered (Score:4, Informative)
They didn't even comment on the Commission on Presidential Debates which is Dems and Reps trying to limit the debates to just their parties, despite question number six asking about it.
Just another opportunity for the candidates to 1) not even answer the questions and 2) we didn't even see Barr/Nader/Baldwin/McKinney asked any of these questions on an equal level.
Why even bother asking about the commission on presidential debates when the debate itself excludes minor party candidates that have enough ballot access to potentially win the election?
Re:CPD question not even answered (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, the answers were of a higher quality than most I've seen them give.
McCain's response regarding the No Child Left Behind program was actually well in touch with the reasons why that program faltered. It was surprising, and more than I expected from him. However the solutions he endorsed, in his response and elsewhere in his policy, do not actually address the problems as he described them here. Obama's response to the same question was, by contrast, boilerplate about reform, including rhetoric about increasing the funding for schools and the pay grade for teachers. Neither point makes sense - we already toss quite a lot of money into schools, relative to other countries, and district performance varies WILDLY even among similar funding levels. The issue is just more complicated than a matter of funding.
On the other hand, I was greatly irritated at McCain's response to the question about women's health care. He was practically schizophrenic, talking about helping "challenged" women on the one hand, and then declaring that life begins at conception and all life is sacred on the other. He even trotted out that tired old pony of "partial-birth abortion". He also stood in OBVIOUS contrast to Obama, who described a holistic approach point-by-point and then made it quite clear that he would defend Roe vs. Wade and abortion rights in general. The candidates are markedly different here and your choice between them will have a serious impact.
They both also clearly differed on how seriously they took the idea of workplace discrimination and harassment,
Also, Obama offered more detail on how he would create oversight for the bank bailout program, and McCain offered more detail on how he might implement VA reform. You can tell where their strengths lie - if not as character traits, then at least in terms of what they believe their voting bloc is. That information is actually of use.
Neither of them touched the prison population question with a ten-foot pole, which I found irritating. Neither of them wanted to get into the briar patch of drug law I assume. On the other hand, it was quite refreshing to hear an entire sequence of debate responses where neither candidate mentioned Iraq or terrorism.
Also, I find the complaints about the exclusivity of the debate a little disingenuous - they're mostly directed at the Democratic and Republican parties. What's up with that? The roster of participants was chosen by Walden University. Go harangue them.
Parent
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Also, I find the complaints about the exclusivity of the debate a little disingenuous - they're mostly directed at the Democratic and Republican parties. What's up with that? The roster of participants was chosen by Walden University. Go harangue them.
Candidates don't participate in any debate outside of the agreements established by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which is run by members of the two parties. The CPD was created to take over the debates after the League of Women Voters refused to limit the debate to just the top two parties.
The candidates make arrangements for interviews on their own, but if another candidate will be there, the stipulation is that it only be the Dem/Rep opponent.
Walden University had a choice: 2 candidates or all
Damned bastard, up to the same old tricks. (Score:2)
McCain is really laying it on thick with the debt question. He must think we're really stupid.
Republicans have outspent and outdebted the Democrats since Gerald Ford. Republicans removed the last vestiges of the gold standard and caused the insane inflation we're seeing today.
He's going to have to do better than parrot the same historically incorrect argument we've been hearing since Reagan. "Oh, we'll just make it back in revenue because we'll increase the GDP!"
No you don't. Quit lying.
And as for attacking
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On the term "Gold Standard"... I REALLY hate it when people keep saying "Gold Standard", which is never what it was intended to be... it was supposed to be Gold AND Silver, measured against each other... th
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As an aside, it doesn't just ensure prevention of inflation of the money supply by fiat, it also ensures the money will have a minimum value. If it's more valuable than the gold because of the goods and services it can buy then it's worth more, but if nobody has any confidence in your economic system, your money is still worth as much as an ounce of gold, since it can be transferred into that form.
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I think you are referring to bimetalism, which is a different beast than the gold standard. Bimetalism didn't show up as a significant force in U.S. monetary policy until the late 19th century. Bimetalism is seriously unstable because it is susceptible to changes in the supply of or demand for either metal. Both silver and gold have si
tooting my own horn. (Score:4, Informative)
all of those questions are typical shit political questions. They don't force any real answers.
my question http://interviews.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=978947&cid=25190311 [slashdot.org]
I asked that and it should have been put forth. Whomever chose the questions is a nitwit.
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Uh huh. Well, it's certainly a question tailored to drive up mod ratings in Slashdot. But go ahead, ask that of a presidential candidate:
"Do you believe in legislating protections for failed business models, or do you believe the free market should determine success?"
Their answer?
"No, and yes. Next question."
Honestly, what sort of answer do you expect?
LGBT rights (Score:2)
OK, I listened to the responses to the LGBT question. Obama, like most mainstream politicians, doesn't come out for gay marriage, but is otherwise pretty much pro-LGBT civil rights.
McCain's answer ... WTF? He's just all over the map. I mean, I more or less know what the McCain position is for LGBT rights, and he kind of touched on it, but why does he throw all that other unrelated crap in there? Was there a minimum answer length? Was he channeling Palin? These are scripted answers, I assume. Who wrot
Abortion (Score:2, Interesting)
I love how McCain says "We will show compassion, and we will show courage" in regards to an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. Who is "we"? The people who are blocking the poor woman from making a choice in order to deal with something she views as a problem? It must be so easy for them to be courageous in a situation that doesn't affect them. If women are forced to have children they don't want, we'll end up with more and more orphans, and who will pay for them? Surely there aren't enough people to adopt al
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Bah, the most important question got left out (Score:2, Funny)
Ugh!!!!!!! (Score:2)
This is POLITICS NOT NEWS.
Again there is a bloody good reason why I have politics turned off of my front page in slashdot!
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Pick the one without traction (Score:5, Insightful)
If you think they are both equal, then you should vote for McCain.
If Obama wins, along with a large number of other Democrats he can do what he likes.
If McCain wins, he'll be fighting a very partisan House and Senate unwilling to let him do anything (even anything they want to do, for fear of him getting credit).
Choose the evil that will make no progress. All other choices are madness.
Parent
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They WANT you to think you're cornered and only have two options... that kind of fear is what keeps the same idiots in power year after year, election after election.
Reality (Score:1, Troll)
Or, better yet, don't choose "evil" at all... take a stand and refuse the non-choices we have been given for candidates.
Currently that attitude means you are acting for Obama to win.
If you truly think it does not matter the Democrats gain a complete majority, that is your choice of course. But I do not think it a wise course of action.
They WANT you to think you're cornered and only have two options...
You only have two people that will win this election. As much as you or I would wish otherwise, this is fa
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You only have two people that will win this election. As much as you or I would wish otherwise, this is fact. This is reality.
Do you want to send messages, or actually be effective?
Your outlook is the reason things are the way they are. "This" is reality because you and people like you decided it is reality. If enough people decide differently, then it will be different. Until then, things will remain the same.
Sorry, but with this line of thinking, you're only part of the problem. How exactly is that being effective?
I'm voting with my conscience, thanks. It's a shame more people don't do the same.
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Personally, I think McCain needs to lose this election, and lose it in a big way. The Republican party needs to learn the big lesson here, that you can't run a country by hating half of it's people.
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Oblig:
"I say your three percent titanium tax goes too far!"
"And I say your three percent titanium tax doesn't go too far enough!"
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"ah, the apathy party, there's something I can get behind!"
AP member: "We don't want your kind here"
"whatever" *starts to walk off*
AP member: "welcome aboard"