Come Up With A Good Question to Ask John McCain

[Brainster]

I have been fortunate enough to be invited to regular blogger conference calls (about a dozen so far) with Senator John McCain, who now looks extremely likely to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States. The way these work is that maybe 10-20 bloggers dial into a conference call. The senator will typically get on the line and make a brief statement regarding current events, perhaps discuss a piece of pending legislation. After that it is thrown open for questions. You punch *1 to get in the queue to ask a question, and the operator will go through the queue, opening up one line at a time.

It is of course a thrilling experience to be able to ask a man who is very close to being the leader of the most powerful nation on earth a question, person to person. I hope I have handled the responsibility well in the past, but respect my fellow JREF Forum members and would like to solicit your advice on a possible question to ask for the future.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. The senator generally does not like questions about his opponents, although this may change now that he seems to be the presumptive nominee and his opponents will become Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

2. In general, answers to questions about his positions on issue X (abortion, Iraq, immigration) are well-known and can be gleaned from his website.

3. The best questions discuss current events that interact with major issues. Of course, these topical questions can get stale quickly. The blogger calls usually happen ever two weeks or so, and I seldom get more than 24 hours' notice. So you may come up with a terrific question and I don't get the chance to interact with Senator McCain for a week and it's no longer worth asking.

4. Senator McCain appears to like the "inside baseball" questions about politics. A question he particularly liked of mine last year was when I asked him to look at the electoral college map from 2004 and tell me what states he thought he could turn from blue (Democrats) to red (Republicans).

5. Feel free to submit joke questions or hostile questions; don't expect me to ask them.

 

[shemp]

What's it like being hated by the majority of people in your own party?

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

What will you be getting out of your loss to Hillary?

 

[Brainster]

What's it like being hated by the majority of people in your own party?

Either John McCain or Rudy Giuliani consistently had the highest positives and the lowest negatives among Republicans of any candidates. The idea that he is hated by the majority of the people in his own party is ridiculous on the face of it. He is apparently disliked by a small subset of the Republican party that happens to have a large megaphone and minimal ability to change the outcome of the race, as we have seen in the last month.

 

[Brainster]

What will you be getting out of your loss to Hillary?

The opportunity to look tall and young.

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

You were shot down and captured. Why are you considered a hero for failing?

 

[hgc]

[Ask this]

Some of your Senate Republican colleagues have a strong personal antipathy toward you or have said that you do not have a suitable temperament to be president, e.g., Senator Cochrain.

Isn't it reasonable that voters would conclude that this points to a personality flaw in you that would cause them to want to vote for someone else?

[Then duck]

 

[Tricky]

Senator McCain, you have said that you favor some kind of path to citizenship for illegal aliens, but that we must first "secure the borders". What do you mean by "secure the borders" and how would you accomplish this?

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

What do you say to independents who feel you have betrayed your maverick stance by pandering to "the agent of intollerance" Fallwell and others?

Did Saddam have WMDs when we decided to invade?

How do you plan to control spending other than stopping earmarks and pork barrel spending, which only comprise a small fraction of the overall budget?

What do you say to voters concerned about money interests in Washington feeling that you are corrupted by taking more lobbyist money than any other candidate except for Hillary?

How do you feel you can successfully open up a dialogue for peace within the Middle East when you said, "I don't want to trade with them, they only have burkas," and other rather insulting remarks?

Why should teaching bad science that translates to breaking the Establishment Clause in schools be a local decision?

Why can't you tell a good joke to sell your soul?

Do you fear that your negative attacks, which border on the point of being completely made up, on opponents will turn off more voters?

Do you support civil unions for homosexuals with the same rights and benefits as marriage?

 

[gtc]

As an Australian, I would like to know his thoughts on foreign relations outside of the North American region and outside of the war on Terror. Perhaps where his thoughts differ to the present administration.

 

[NeoRicen]

What kind of person would you appoint to the supreme court, if it results in a conservative controlled court are you perfectly happy allowing the court to crush the civil liberties of gays and women.

Ok, I'll understand if you don't ask the second part.

The recent episode of Point of Inquiry had me thinking about this a lot and made me realise a McCain presidency would be a disaster for civil rights and oppose him just as much as any Republican now. No Conservatives in Government, too dangerous.

 

[Puppycow]

I would like him to tell us what happens next in Iraq and Afganistan. What's his strategy for winning?

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

I would like him to tell us what happens next in Iraq and Afganistan. What's his strategy for winning?

He already told us. To stay there for 100 years.

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

I would like him to tell us what happens next in Iraq and Afganistan. What's his strategy for winning?

And if you are wondering what he wants to do about Iran:


Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran

 

[Kaylee]

I'm familiar with McCain's positions on the issues and his voting history. There is nothing he could say at this point that would change my mind and get me to vote for him this November.

But just for curiosity's sake and perhaps giggles and laughs, I would like to know what his reasoning is for wanting to make abortion illegal and also wanting to increase embryonic stem cell research. Is he aware of the preferred method of creating embroyonic stem cells? How does he reconcile his two positions?

(In case anyone is wondering I am pro-abortion and not comfortable with the method most commercial labs prefer to get new embroyinic stem cell lines (as I understand it).)

 

[Puppycow]

Is he aware of the preferred method of creating embroyonic stem cells? How does he reconcile his two positions?

(In case anyone is wondering I am pro-abortion and not comfortable with the method most commercial labs prefer to get new embroyinic stem cell lines (as I understand it).)

Are you aware of the preferred method of creating embroyonic stem cells?

It's not from aborted fetuses

Embryonic stem cells, as their name suggests, are derived from embryos. Specifically, embryonic stem cells are derived from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro—in an in vitro fertilization clinic—and then donated for research purposes with informed consent of the donors. They are not derived from eggs fertilized in a woman's body.

 

[NeoRicen]

Ask him about his opinion of separation of church and state, and about the rights of non-believers. Do they (I say they because 'we' would be wring since I'm not American') have anything to fear from him?

I'd actually be really interested in his answer to that question so it would be fantastic if you could ask it.

I know he's said some controversial things along the lines of 'American is a Christian Nation/founded on Judeo-Christian values', but I don't recall him ever directly addressing the concerns of non-believers.

 

[Liszt]

ask him if he is sorry for his racist remark a few years ago

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/hongop.shtml

it starts..."On his campaign bus recently, Sen. John McCain told reporters, "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Although McCain said he was referring only to his prison guards, there are many reasons why his use of the word "gook" is offensive and alarming."

Perhaps this is why he is so keen on bombing non whites.

 

[Kaylee]

Are you aware of the preferred method of creating embroyonic stem cells?

It's not from aborted fetuses

<off topic> Yes, I am and was aware of the preferred method of creating embroyonic stem cells.

I would actually prefer that they be developed from umbilical cords or that more research could be done with adult stem cells (although not as plastic, still useful). And I would also prefer that research be done with aborted fetuses rather than with cells intentionally fertilized for this purpose.

I don't really want to derail Brainster's thread any furthur -- if you want to discuss this in anther thread -- just let me know. </off topic>

As for McCain -- there is no essential difference between a fertilized egg created in a bed, the beach, or a petri dish. (Well the first two ways were probably more fun. ). Couples with fertility problems often have their children conceived in a petri dish. So I would like to hear McCain's explaination as to why embroyonic stem cell research is OK, but abortions are not.

 

[LawnOven]

And I would also prefer that research be done with aborted fetuses rather than with cells intentionally fertilized for this purpose.

As far as I know...

The embryos used for the study of stem cells are from fertility clinics. No one in the United States creates embryos for the purpose of extracting stem cells. They are all destined for the dumpster regardless.