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Dodd's YouTube Questions

November 26, 2007

I want to point out two pieces of analysis that run similar to each other of Senator Dodd’s YouTube question for the Republican presidential debate. First, from the New York Times’ Caucus Blog, Ariel Alexovich thinks Dodd’s question won’t be asked:

CNN and YouTube want to keep the focus away from Democratic talking points, and anyway, the senator is too famous.

Recently the Caucus Blog also reported CNN’s Washington bureau chief David Bohrman saying this about what will and will not get asked in the GOP YouTube debate:

Most questions online have been pulled from public viewing for review, but many of the remaining posts involve asking the candidates to defend their opposition to gay marriage and abortion. Those kinds of “lobbying grenades” would be disqualified by the CNN selection team, Mr. Bohrman said.

“There are quite a few things you might describe as Democratic `gotchas,’ and we are weeding those out,” Mr. Bohrman said. CNN wants to ensure that next Wednesday’s Republican event is “a debate of their party.”

Now I can’t say that Senator Dodd asked his question about protecting the Constitution because we were guaranteed that it would be asked in the debate. Far from it – it was recorded and submitted in the exact same fashion as every one of the other 5,000 or so videos that were submitted.

But I disagree wholeheartedly that Dodd’s question should be rejected because it contains “Democratic talking points.” Here’s Dodd’s two-part question:

Many Americans are concerned that the administration seems to be making a false choice, that is, to be safer we have to give up rights. I don’t believe that, I wonder if you do.

And if you believe that we ought not give up our rights, then what would you do in order to protect our Constitution?

The questions are prefaced with a factual statement – “Many Americans are concerned that the administration seems to be making a false choice, that is, to be safer we have to give up rights.” I’ve heard countless Americans ask Senator Dodd about this in person – I’d say practically every campaign event I’ve been at includes this question in some form or another. This is hardly a talking point, unless you subscribe to Stephen Colbert’s contention that “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

The Constitution is an important issue that merits attention. It is non-partisan and it should be treated as such. Dodd’s questions are thoughtful and earnest, not to mention timely and critical questions that will tell us a great deal about a group of people who would like to be our next President. Dodd goes so far as to pose a follow-up question based on the premise that some of the Republican candidates will agree with him that “we ought not give up our rights.”

Now the question of celebrity certainly is a relevant one. But if CNN doesn’t want to ask a question about the Constitution posed by Chris Dodd, might I suggest the following questions that were submitted for YouChoose08.

The bottom line is that the American people deserve to hear the presidential candidates of both parties engage in a serious and thoughtful discussion of the US Constitution and the rule of law. Senator Dodd has been talking about these issues throughout his campaign and now he’s using the opportunity afforded to him through the YouTube debate to try to expand this discussion to the Republican presidential candidates. I hope that CNN takes the opportunity provided by Senator Dodd’s question, or one of the questions linked above, to ask the Republican presidential candidates what they will do to protect the Constitution.

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Written by Demerchant · Filed Under Uncategorized 


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