These Are the Questions Moderators Should Ask Obama and Romney at the First Presiden

[Trades]

These Are the Questions Moderators Should Ask Obama and Romney at the First Presidential Debate

Ira Stoll|Sep. 17, 2012 4:40 pm
The first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney is scheduled for Wednesday, October 3, at the University of Denver in Colorado, which means it’s not too soon to suggest some questions for the moderator, Jim Lehrer.
The debate is supposed to focus on domestic policy, and so do these questions:


For President Obama:


Mr. President, on the day you were elected in 2008, the unemployment rate was 6.5%, the national debt was $10 trillion, and a gallon of gasoline cost about $2.07. Nearly four years later, the unemployment rate is above 8%, the national debt is $16 trillion, and gas is about $3.85 a gallon. The number of Americans on food stamps has grown to 47 million now from 30 million in November 2008. On what basis can you say to the voters that you deserve to be re-hired for another four years?


Mr. President, in one of the presidential debates four years ago, you said, “we’re going to have to take on entitlements and I think we've got to do it quickly.” You said you’d like to do it in your first term as president. Why didn’t you, and why should the voters believe you now if you say you are going to do it in your second term?


Mr. President, what is the highest marginal income tax rate that you think anyone should have to pay, including state and local income taxes? What would be your proposed federal income and payroll tax rates on ordinary income, dividend income, and capital gains income, as applied to what income brackets? If you can’t name all the rates and all the brackets, isn’t that an argument for tax simplification?


Mr. President, the Supreme Court upheld your health care law only on the grounds that the penalty for not buying insurance is a tax. Doesn’t the tax then break your promise not to raise taxes on anyone earning $250,000 a year or less? Do your tax increases on cigarettes and tanning salons also break that promise? If you’ve already broken the promise at least three times, why should voters believe you won’t break it some more in a second term?


Mr. President, your party’s convention hailed the auto bailout as one of your great successes. But why should workers at lower-wage, non-union auto plants in the South, or in other industries, be taxed to bail out higher-wage unionized auto workers and retirees at General Motors? And since the GM stock would have to double its current price for the government to get its money back, wasn’t this a bad investment? Finally, speaker after speaker at your party’s convention criticized Governor Romney for an op-ed piece headline that said “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” without mentioning that your administration put both GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Isn’t that misleading?




For Governor Romney:
How were the John and Abigail Adams scholarships you championed as governor of Massachusetts different from the doubling of Pell Grants under President Obama? And how was the individual health insurance mandate in Massachusetts different from the one in ObamaCare? If voters are looking for someone to use tax dollars to expand access to higher education and health care, why shouldn’t they just stick with President Obama?


You’ve criticized President Obama for cutting $716 billion from Medicare. Medicare spending was $391 billion in 2008, $430 billion in 2009, $452 billion in 2010, and $486 billion in 2011. How are you going to do anything to rein in entitlement spending as president if anytime you try critics are going to come at you with commercials combining ten-year projections and inflated future baselines to make it look like you are throwing grandma off a cliff?


You are airing campaign commercials promising that you will generate "59,000 new jobs for New Hampshire," "create over 200,000 new jobs for Colorado," "create over 700,000 new jobs for Florida," "create over 100,000 new jobs for Nevada," and "create over 340,000 new jobs for Virginia." Doesn’t this undermine your message that jobs are created by entrepreneurs not by Washington politicians? How can you possibly know with such fine-tuned certainty and specificity how many jobs you will create in each state?


What would be your proposed federal income and payroll tax rates on ordinary income, dividend income, and capital gains income, as applied to what income brackets? If you can’t name all the rates and all the brackets, isn’t that an argument for tax simplification? If you plan to reduce or eliminate any tax deductions, which ones, and if you won’t say which ones, why not? And if, as you’ve said, the reductions in tax loopholes or deductions would actually shift more of the tax burden onto upper-income Americans, the what’s your argument for making the tax code even more “progressive” than it is now, when now the top 5% of income earners already pay about 59% of the federal individual income taxes even though they earn only about 32% of the adjusted gross income?


When you said in your convention acceptance speech “I will not raise taxes on the middle class of America," does that mean you are going to raise taxes on those you think are better off than middle class? How much are you going to raise them, and on who, exactly? Why didn’t you talk about tax cuts in your speech, rather than just backing the status quo?

Would be nice to see them answer direct questions like this. What would you add?

[Warfish]

Mr. President, on the day you were elected in 2008, the unemployment rate was 6.5%, the national debt was $10 trillion, and a gallon of gasoline cost about $2.07. Nearly four years later, the unemployment rate is above 8%, the national debt is $16 trillion, and gas is about $3.85 a gallon. The number of Americans on food stamps has grown to 47 million now from 30 million in November 2008. On what basis can you say to the voters that you deserve to be re-hired for another four years?

Inherited. Bush.

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to Romney's Tax Evasion).

Mr. President, in one of the presidential debates four years ago, you said, “we’re going to have to take on entitlements and I think we've got to do it quickly.” You said you’d like to do it in your first term as president. Why didn’t you, and why should the voters believe you now if you say you are going to do it in your second term?

Inherited. Worst Recession Since great Depression.

Bush.

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to Romney's Mormonism Cult and it's sexual abuse of children).

Mr. President, what is the highest marginal income tax rate that you think anyone should have to pay, including state and local income taxes? What would be your proposed federal income and payroll tax rates on ordinary income, dividend income, and capital gains income, as applied to what income brackets? If you can’t name all the rates and all the brackets, isn’t that an argument for tax simplification?

Fairness.

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to Romney's time as Bain Capitals leading Job and Company Destroyer).

Mr. President, the Supreme Court upheld your health care law only on the grounds that the penalty for not buying insurance is a tax. Doesn’t the tax then break your promise not to raise taxes on anyone earning $250,000 a year or less? Do your tax increases on cigarettes and tanning salons also break that promise? If you’ve already broken the promise at least three times, why should voters believe you won’t break it some more in a second term?

Womens Health. Children. Fairness.

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to Romney's hatred of women, children and minorities).

Mr. President, your party’s convention hailed the auto bailout as one of your great successes. But why should workers at lower-wage, non-union auto plants in the South, or in other industries, be taxed to bail out higher-wage unionized auto workers and retirees at General Motors? And since the GM stock would have to double its current price for the government to get its money back, wasn’t this a bad investment? Finally, speaker after speaker at your party’s convention criticized Governor Romney for an op-ed piece headline that said “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” without mentioning that your administration put both GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy. Isn’t that misleading?

I Saved Detriot. I Created Jobs. I, I, I......

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to why Romney hates American workers and wants our economic collapse for his rich friends to profit from).

Etc, etc, etc.

[SafetyBlitz]

Originally Posted by Trades

These Are the Questions Moderators Should Ask Obama and Romney at the First Presidential Debate



Would be nice to see them answer direct questions like this. What would you add?

Would love to see all those get asked.

Would also like to see -

To Obama:

"Why is the Guantanamo Bay prison still open?"

"Why does your drone program count every male of military age as an enemy combatant when calculating 'collateral damage'?"

To Romney:

"Which loopholes would you eliminate in the tax code?"

"How does a country increase defense spending and collect less revenue while balancing the budget?"

[kennyo7]

Originally Posted by Warfish

Inherited. Bush.

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to Romney's Tax Evasion).



Inherited. Worst Recession Since great Depression.

Bush.

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to Romney's Mormonism Cult and it's sexual abuse of children).



Fairness.

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to Romney's time as Bain Capitals leading Job and Company Destroyer).



Womens Health. Children. Fairness.

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to Romney's hatred of women, children and minorities).



I Saved Detriot. I Created Jobs. I, I, I......

(Followed by uproarious applause and the moderator moves on to why Romney hates American workers and wants our economic collapse for his rich friends to profit from).

Etc, etc, etc.

Waiting for Fish's answers to Romney's questions.

[quantum]

moderators like WCO or 32green?

I could see 32 asking how he feels about chimp attacks....

[PlumberKhan]

Ask Romney of he actually believes in his religion.

[AlbanyJet]

Analysis: Obama's Type "B" Personality Is The Root Of All Washington, DC Dysfunction

The head of any organization needs to be a personality type "A" - focused and driven to be successful.

Barack Obama is a type "B" personality - laid back and slow: resulting in Washington, DC dysfunciton.

Barack Obama is fundamentally unfit to be President of any organization.

[intelligentjetsfan]

Originally Posted by kennyo7

Waiting for Fish's answers to Romney's questions.

I did notice that as well.

[intelligentjetsfan]

Originally Posted by PlumberKhan

Ask Romney of he actually believes in his religion.

Ask Romney if he currently believes his latest positions on

religion
health care
pro life
defense
entitlements
education
environmental issues
gun rights
immigration
same-sex marriage
taxes
role of government

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

[AlbanyJet]

Originally Posted by intelligentjetsfan

Ask Romney if he currently believes his latest positions on

religion
health care
pro life
defense
entitlements
education
environmental issues
gun rights
immigration
same-sex marriage
taxes
role of government

Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.

Mitt Romney's positions on issues are irrelevant. The problem in Washington, DC is that Barack Obama is entirely AWOL with regard to his day-to-day Presidential responsibilities.

Obama needs to go back to a low level clerical position in the US Senate that matches his B personality/skill set.

[Jetdawgg]

Originally Posted by SafetyBlitz

Would love to see all those get asked.

Would also like to see -

To Obama:

"Why is the Guantanamo Bay prison still open?"

"Why does your drone program count every male of military age as an enemy combatant when calculating 'collateral damage'?"

To Romney:

"Which loopholes would you eliminate in the tax code?"

"How does a country increase defense spending and collect less revenue while balancing the budget?"

To DimMitt:

"Just how do you expect the American people to trust you when you cannot disclose your tax returns"

To both - "What are we proposing or doing about the imperialistic expansion of China in Africa/Asia/Latin America?"

[AlbanyJet]

Mitt "The Buck Stops Here" Romney Vs Barack "Personality Type 'B'" Obama.

What a simple, easy, obvious contrast voters will have on election day. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are polar opposites with regard to their approach to being President of The United States.

The leadership, take charge, take responsibility, can do attitude of Mitt Romney versus the teleprompter dependent, disinterested, detatched, distant, slow, indecisive attitude of Barack Obama.

"The Buck Stops Here" worked very well for Harry Truman and it will work for Mitt Romney.

God Bless America!

[Warfish]

Originally Posted by kennyo7

Waiting for Fish's answers to Romney's questions.

I.e A de facto admission that my post was not inaccurate in the various (brief, simplistic, responsabillity dodging) talking points to be offered by Obama. Noted.

Romney's answers? Who cares, nothing he can say will ever suffice or dodge the "Flip-Flopping Extremist War on Women, Gays, Children, Poor, Minorities, Islam who destroys companies for evil PROFIT" retort.

Every answer, that response. Romney is greedy (taxes). Romney is sexist (Healthcare). Romney is a War Monger (Afgahnistan). Romney is an evil tax cheating company destoryer (anything economics/business). Romney is a racist (anything critical of Obama), etc, etc, etc, etc. Every reply with the added colorful term "extremist" added to the beginning, of course.

I give you liberals credit, you've not just won teh war of words and langauge, you wiped the table with the right. Nothing they can say or do cannot be turned into an "-ism" retort of some kind.

"We want food available for all children in America" = damn (R) want to take food away from pregnant women, minorities and the poor to feed rich children of tax cheating company destorying millionaires and billionaires!!!!!

Etc.

Etc.

Etc.

The debate follow-up in the media will be hi-larious, I'm sure.

[kennyo7]

Originally Posted by Warfish

I.e A de facto admission that my post was not inaccurate in the various (brief, simplistic, responsabillity dodging) talking points to be offered by Obama. Noted.

Romney's answers? Who cares, nothing he can say will ever suffice or dodge the "Flip-Flopping Extremist War on Women, Gays, Children, Poor, Minorities, Islam who destroys companies for evil PROFIT" retort.

Every answer, that response. Romney is greedy (taxes). Romney is sexist (Healthcare). Romney is a War Monger (Afgahnistan). Romney is an evil tax cheating company destoryer (anything economics/business). Romney is a racist (anything critical of Obama), etc, etc, etc, etc. Every reply with the added colorful term "extremist" added to the beginning, of course.

I give you liberals credit, you've not just won teh war of words and langauge, you wiped the table with the right. Nothing they can say or do cannot be turned into an "-ism" retort of some kind.

"We want food available for all children in America" = damn (R) want to take food away from pregnant women, minorities and the poor to feed rich children of tax cheating company destorying millionaires and billionaires!!!!!

Etc.

Etc.

Etc

The debate follow-up in the media will be hi-larious, I'm sure.

Your response is very telling and disappointing.

[JetPotato]

I'd like someone to have the balls to ask Obama: "Do you think that the policies that your opponent favors are inherently sexist/racist?"

And I can't imagine many people on either side of the aisle that wouldn't want to hear him respond "Yes".

[Timmy®]

Or ask both of them this about the US and today's global economy - and why we should think any president could fix this mess without decades of a natural correction.

American workers consider the norm to be a house and a fairly lavish lifestyle (by the world's standard) and want to be paid enough to maintain such a status quo. They are competing, in the new global economy, against foreign workers who are happy to live in apartments with two or three generations and often don't even have a car or feel the need for one - obviously needing less wages. The same can be said about the cost of creating American services, not just products.

While Americans want more jobs, they also want $300 HDTV's from Asia and would not be willing to pay for American made goods. And even if Americans would support these companies,the rest of the world would not due to cost.

As if that's not bad enough, American companies can pay Mexican workers $9 an hour and keep them happy because they bring the US currency back to their homeland where it is the equivalent of $100 hour. Exactly why many companies are paying wages less than thirty years ago, and that's even without taking inflation into consideration. Why should American workers expect jobs with better wages with more and more Mexicans in the workforce, and being welcomed.

For decades, Americans could run up HUGE credit lines and live way beyond their means for $100 a month. The credit/disaster explosion has eliminated most of the available credit, causing people to lose their homes and the ability to buy what they've been accustomed to. The artificial money is gone and isn't coming back.


I'd like to know how both of these jokers are going to fix this mess, and why we should think our country will get back to how it was 15 years ago.

If we asked them this question while they were administered truth serum, the answers would be...

Obama:I'll just keep spending and we'll keep printing money we don't have. I'm not even sure of the ramifications.
I don't know when the inevitable disaster will occur-hopefully not for a while, at least until I'm out of office.

Romney: I barely understand the economy, but I know this country is getting a smaller piece of the pie, and I want to keep the money at the top. So I'll keep taking advantages of loopholes and we'll outsource work to keep the cost low. And since the lower class is a money drain, the middle class is going to have to take the hit here.

I'm just glad I'm old.