If We Ran the Presidential Debates...

We'd like to see Ralph Nader in the presidential debates. That would certainly do more to revitalize political discourse, and the presidential race, than just about anything else that's conventionally possible. But, since that isn't going to happen, Bijan Parsia and I decided to come up with a list of questions we would ask if given the chance.

1. Mr. Gore, do you find the U'Wa's threat to commit mass suicide if Occidental Petroleum, a company with which you have long maintained very close ties, robs the U'Wa of their ancestral lands in Colombia a matter of concern? What are you doing to make sure the human rights of the U'Wa are respected by Occidental?
2. Mr. Bush, do you find it appropriate that Texas has slipped to 49th in the nation in spending on environmental regulation, protection, and cleanup, while Texas has more heavy petrochemical industry than any other state in the nation? How can anyone take seriously your claims to value environmental quality when, before you became a politician, you were a failed oilman?
3. Mr. Gore, you and President Clinton defeated George Bush in '92 saying that during the "financial excesses of the 80s" he and Reagan had allowed federal spending deficits to run amok. Can't George Bush's son say the same thing here to you tonight, namely, haven't both you and Mr. Clinton presided over a Corporate America run amok with insanely high profit levels, secured at the expense of massive job cuts, made possible in part by trade deals, like NAFTA and the WTO, championed by you and the President? Haven't you presided over the bulging of the American income gap to historic proportions? Are you prepared to defend the massive disparities in income that exist today as fair, just, or desirable?
4. Mr. Bush, do you believe that anyone who does not "confess with their mouth and believe in their heart" that Jesus Christ is "the Son of God" and "died for their sins" will burn in a literal "lake of fire" for all eternity?
5. Mr. Gore, do you believe that it was appropriate for your wife, Tipper, to repeatedly put her photojournalism career on hold for the sake of your political career? Do you believe that your neglect of her, and your family, while writing Earth in the Balance, and then joining Clinton on the '92 ticket, contributed to the serious depression she subsequently suffered?
6. Mr. Bush, since you support the War on Drugs, and since you've admitted to recreational substance abuse, shouldn't you have served time in prison? If not, shouldn't you publicly pledge tonight to do all that you can, as President, to end the racist and genocidal disenfranchisement of the black population in America through unfair sentencing disparities between rock and powdered cocaine?
7. Mr. Gore, just how many children must die of starvation, malnutrition, or easily-preventable disease before you abandon your immoral, siege warfare against Iraq? Why shouldn't President Clinton, Secretary of State Albright and you face charges of crimes against humanity at the World Court?
8. Mr. Bush, given your views, and those of your party, on homosexuality, including Ronald Reagan's deadly-slow response to acknowledge and confront the AIDS pandemic, don't you find it a matter of concern that your running mate's aide-de-camp, as reported last week in the NYT, is an avowed homosexual? Can you really work with Mr. Cheney when he seems willing to tolerate what your religion teaches is an abomination?
9. Mr. Gore, given the growing protest movement in America against corporate-dominated, so-called "globalization," don't you think it's time you said something publicly in support of the brave women and men, especially the young people, who have suffered official repression in Seattle, DC, Philadelphia, and in LA? Do you support the massive violations of their civil rights that occurred in LA to insure an uninterrupted and bucolic Democratic Convention?
10. Mr. Bush, given that the defense budget, roughly $300B per year, contains more than enough funding to provide health insurance, adequate daily food, housing, and child care for every poor child in America, are you seriously going to tell the American people, once you're President, that we cannot afford to help the most vulnerable among us? Why aren't you willing to cut Pentagon budget in order to help poor, hungry, sick children?

And then we'd ask some really mean questions near the end, leaving the audience with the image of both of them flustered as hell:

1. Mr. Bush, how would you express compassion to Karla Tucker today? How do you defend to the American people your mockery of her just days before you presided over her execution? Do you really think capital punishment -- which disproportionately hurts the poor and people of color -- is just, or do you just like it? What's with the Bush men, anyway? Between you and Jeb in Florida, presiding over "Old Smoky," the state's malfunctioning electric chair, and your dad, who presided over the slaughter of Iraqis on the Basra Road, you all kill an awful lot of brown and black folk. I'm a native Texan, Mr. Bush; is it something about Texas that I don't quite understand?
2. Mr. Bush, given that, as Texas governor, you repeatedly ignored international opinion, as well as US treaties, in order to execute people: how do you expect to win the respect of folks who find capital punishment barbaric and respect the rule of law; do you think these facts will damage your credibility on human rights issues; and could you list the other treaties that, as president, you'd feel free to ignore?
3. Mr. Gore, would you care if President Clinton raped Juanita Broderick? If, at any point in the past eight years, you'd received conclusive, positive evidence on this matter, what would you have done?
4. Mr. Gore, given that you had the largest role in this administration that any VP has had in any administration to date, and you are notorious for your close, personal and working friendship with President Clinton, why didn't you do anything to restrain his more self and other-destructive behavior?