CNN/YouTube Debate: Five Myths…
I missed this when it came out Sunday. The Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas writes about five myths about politics and YouTube…
2. It doesn’t matter who asks the questions; what matters is that the question is asked.
Sitting in front of three American flags that had covered the coffins of his grandfather, father and oldest son, Gary Berry wanted to know how many family members each candidate has serving in uniform. Jordan Williams, who’s black, was curious about how Obama will answer critics who say he’s not “authentically black enough.” Both were powerful questions made even more powerful by who asked them. It’s one thing for CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to ask about same-sex marriage, which he did in last month’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire. But it’s quite another for Mary and Jen, a lesbian couple from Brooklyn, to ask the candidates if they’d let them get married.
I thoroughly disagree. Having the question asked is not enough. It’s more important to make sure the question being asked is relevant, not frivolous, and should concern us as voters.
If nobody cares about the substance of the question, we might as well not have any debates. That’s the reason we want people who have adequate knowledge of the issues that matter. Not just anybody with a question, no matter how worthless.
Comment by RGL — July 31, 2007 @ 9:53 pm