From today's issue of "The Federalist" -- a preview(?) of tonight's festivities.
THE DEBATE BAIT
The first of three presidential debates will get underway tonight at
the John F. Kennedy presidential library in Boston. The next debates
are October 11 at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem and October
17 at Washington University in St. Louis. The debates are all
scheduled to start at 9:00 EDT and will last about 90 minutes, or
until either candidate is laughed off the stage.
In preparation, we asked our readers, "What questions or one-line
zingers would you like to hear George Bush pin on Albert Gore?" We
received thousands of suggestions, and here is a selection of the most
popular....
1. "This is a 90-minute debate, Mr. Vice President. I hope you didn't
drink too much iced tea."
2. "Albert, you have had eight years to fix all the things you say
are wrong with our nation. You haven't. Additionally, the moral
deficit Joe Lieberman used to talk about has flourished under you and
the man you call 'one of our greatest presidents.' Please explain...."
3. "Albert, please show me where in the Constitution it says (fill in
the blank)." Repeat often! (Variants on this theme: "Albert, do you
plan to enforce the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution?" "When you
read the phrase, 'Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,'
how does that affect prayer at a high school football game?" "When
you read the phrase, '[T]he right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed,' where does it say 'except for the 30,000 gun
laws now on the books'?" At some point in the debate, walk over to
Gore and ask him to sign a pledge to uphold the United States
Constitution -- to its letter.)
4. "Albert, you claim that tax cuts exploded the deficit. But most
Americans know that government deficits are the result of spending,
not taxing. That is the same 'algorithmetic' that created all those
deficits when you were a member of the Democrat controlled Congress.
Do you balance your own checkbook?"
5. "Speaking of tax cuts, please identify the 'right people' watching
tonight so everybody else can turn their TV off."
6. "Now that we have a projected $2 trillion budget surplus over the
next decade, you want to spend all $4 trillion of it. You're spending
money that American workers haven't even earned yet! You can invent
the Internet, but can't find a cure for the common tax!"
7. "Earlier in your political career you stated that you believed
that abortion was 'arguably the taking of a human life.' What new
information have you come across that was significant enough to alter
that belief?"
8. "Why do you think it is that the media cares so much about the
word 'RAT' appearing in a broken advertisement frame, but seems to
overlook your acceptance of $800,000 from a lawyer to veto tort
reform?"
9. "What provisions would your proposed campaign finance reforms
include to ensure that foreign entities -- say Red China -- will not
be able to unduly influence the U.S. electoral process?"
10. At the JFK Library debate: "Al, you have promised everything to
everybody and have spent all the surplus and more.... JFK said 'ask
not what your country can do for you' but your theme is 'ask what your
country can do for you'."
11. "It seems like one rule for you, Albert, another rule for working
families. Your kids go to private school, middle class kids have to go
to public school; you can manage the investment of part of your
government pension, working families can't manage the investment of
part of their Social Security; you have armed guards to protect you,
regular folks can't carry a gun...... Albert, if it's good enough for
you and your family, why don't you want it for those good people
listening to us tonight? Or, are they just not 'the right people'?"
12. "Who are 'the rich' you keep talking about? The median household
income is about $40,000, and the median two-earner household now
brings in about $55,000. All taxpayers benefit equally from the tax
breaks I am proposing. While you claim to 'fight for the people, not
the powerful,' I propose to let working families keep their
hard-earned money so they will be the powerful."
13. "Albert, government will never -- ever -- solve a problem that
will put itself out of business."
14. "Interesting you bring up Big Oil and the price of fuel. Have you
read your book 'Earth in the Balance'? Long before gas hit $2.00 /
gallon, you proposed a $.50/gallon tax increase on fuel to force the
development of alternate energy and force the use of mass
transportation."
15. "Albert, you said you'd give Hollywood a set time then get tough,
but if you are genuinely appalled by Hollywood's cynical attempt to
target our children to sell violent, depraved entertainment, do you
support a class action lawsuit against Hollywood, the way you
supported such a suit against 'big tobacco' or gun manufacturers?"
16. "Do you really expect Americans to believe that you will 'clean
up Hollywood' when the purveyors of entertainment smut are among your
most loyal supporters and have you groveling at their feet for table
scraps?"
17. "Folks, are you sure you want the central government bureaucracy
to be your HMO? And are you sure you want this man (pointing at
Albert) to be in charge of your HMO? Are you sure about that?"
18. "You identify yourself as a Christian. In what the media call a
'certain late-term abortion procedure,' the baby is partly delivered,
the doctor pierces the back of the child's skull and evacuates the
baby's brain, and then the dead child is 'fully delivered.' If Jesus
was presented with a bill to stop partial birth abortion, What Would
Jesus Do?"
19. "Albert, some very fine Eagle Scouts, serving as the Honor Guard,
were booed by your delegates during the Democratic National
Convention. Was that an appropriate way to treat Boy Scouts in
America? And will you now apologize to those Scouts on behalf of the
Democrat Party?"
20. "Albert, I resent your calling me anti-choice; I am for choice in
education, and you're not. I am for choice in health care, I am for
choice in how to fund retirement, I am for choice in how Americans can
spend more of their hard-earned money. Albert is pro-choice only when
the choice is his!"
BUSH WHACK ALBERT WITH THESE ZINGERS
1. "There you go again...claiming you invented the (fill in the
blank)." Repeat often!
2. "What makes your kids more deserving of a first rate education at
an elite private school than the kids of 'working families'?"
3. Every time Albert proposes a new solution for some "problem," ask,
"Where have you been for the last eight years?"
4. "Albert, Bill Bradley asked, 'If we can't trust you to tell the
truth as a candidate, how can we trust you as president?' I didn't
hear your answer...."
5. "Please explain just what 'no controlling legal authority'
means...."
6. "With all the 'Big Rhetoric' about 'Big Oil,' 'Big HMOs,' and 'Big
Business,' you have said surprisingly little about 'Big Government'
and 'Big Brother' -- Big Albert!"
7. "Albert, you are a risky scheme! What wouldn't you do or promise
to get elected?"
8. "You spend a lot of time campaigning on 'women's issues;' did
Juanita Broaddrick tell the truth?"
9. "Why does money in the American workers' pocket constitute a
greater risk than when their money is in the government's pocket?"
10. (After Gore cites some out-in-left-field statistics): "Al, did you
just invent that number?"
11. "Speaking of 'working families,' would you veto a measure to end
the unfair marriage tax penalty?"
12. "Speaking of prescription drugs, how is your mother-in-law's
dog?"
13. "America doesn't want to swap its core values for Gore values!"
14. "Why don't you think all Americans should be treated the same?"
15. "Does that depend on what the meaning of 'is' is?"
16. Answer one of Albert's quips in Spanish!
17. "Why do you expect Americans to have confidence in you as a
president and commander-in-chief when you can't even fix the plumbing
in your tenant slum?"
18. "Albert Gore's next book 'Credibility in the Balance'."
19. "How is it that a guy who only gives $353 dollars to charity as
Vice President of the United States, is so generous with all the taxes
paid by hard-working Americans?"
20. "Albert, you are a major-league Adam Clymer!" |
