Tonight is the final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I recommend you open at least a dozen giant, industrial strength barf bags in advance. As the moderator is Chris Wallace from the Republican Reichsministry of Propaganda, Faux Noise, I expect him to join Trump in tag-teaming Hillary. The New York Times has composed a dozen prospective questions, two for each segment. Here are the first three.
Entitlements
Do you favor increasing or reducing Social Security benefits? If so, how would you do it?
More than 60 million people each month receive Social Security benefits totaling more than $74 billion. Polls show that retirement security is a top concern for Americans. Fewer people can count on traditional pension benefits, and some people do not have retirement savings.
Mr. Trump has said he would not cut Social Security benefits. Mrs. Clinton wants to make Social Security more generous for widows and for those who take time out of the paid work force to care for a child or a sick family member. She has said she would require the wealthiest Americans to pay higher taxes.
But an aging population is a driver of rising government debt and of a budget deficit that climbed last fiscal year after several years of decline.
What three steps would you take to improve Medicare?
The aging of baby boomers and the increase of medical costs will squeeze the health insurance program, which now covers 57 million older Americans. Medicare trustees say the hospital insurance trust fund could be exhausted in 2028 if no changes are made to existing law.
Both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump say Medicare should be able to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. Mrs. Clinton has proposed allowing people ages 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare, but has not said how the government or the new beneficiaries would pay for the coverage. ROBERT PEAR
Immigration
Since 2012, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children have registered with the government under President Obama’s executive order that gives them work permits and guarantees they will not be deported. Will you honor those guarantees?
Frustrated by Republicans’ refusal to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, Mr. Obama used executive authority to provide opportunities for millions of law-abiding immigrants who are in the country illegally. But the Supreme Court has blocked some of his plan, and the next president will have the power to reverse the rest… [emphasis original]
From <NY Times>
I urge you to click through to read the other nine questions. While I would not ask them all, I can only hope that the Republican propagandist moderator will be half this responsible. I doubt it as he has already promised Trump not to challenge his lies.
One question I want to see asked is, "If you lose the election, will you accept the results and bow out gracefully?"
How about you? What would you like to see asked?
11 Responses to “Questions for the Circus”
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Well, I won't see it, because I won't be watching (and my gratitude to those who do watch so I don't have to knows no bounds). But it has been suggested that she pull a Donald and answer actual issue related questions regardless of what is asked, and I think that might turn out to be fun.
I don't know if I will be able to stomach it at all……as flawed as Hillary can be, I am just so sad it is not a slam-dunk and still scared that somehow the fear and hate-mongering will win out like in 2000, 2004…..then again hope did overcome in 2008 and 2012
I will try to watch it online.
NY Times has some excellent questions which I hope will get asked. I have absolutely no faith in Chris Wallace to be fair, and I don't completely share CBS's hope for Wallace. http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/politics/third-presidential-debate-2016-five-things-to-watch/ar-AAj94yS?li=AAadgLE&ocid=spartanntp While Clinton is not perfect, Drumpf is much worse.
What I've seen of it, Chris Wallace didn't do half as bad as I expected him to. And at the end, even Chris was annoyed with Drumpf and asked the question about accepting the outcome in several different ways.
I agree. He did better than I expected.
What an ASS!!! He would have to "wait and see" if he will accept the outcome of the election results??? Oh, PLEASE!!!
I watched, and was surprised at how Chris Wallace handled it. He did not appear to me to be giving Trump the advantage, but asked hard questions to both. Trump as usual was full of bombast and did not answer any of the questions and kept interrupting Clinton, and Wallace called him out on that.
He did ask about how they would handle the outcome of the election andpointed out that others have always accepted the result for the good of the country. Trump wants to wait and see. We all know if he loses he is going to try to start a revolution.
I was surprised the Chris Wallace did as he did – I thought he was very fair but I see Trump is already complaining that he asked "unfair questions". Most agree that Trump did okay the first half hour and blew it completely the other hour… he stayed at the podium at the end while Hillary was walking around – and then, red-faced and looking angry, he left right away leaving his kids to handle the aftermath. I thought it was wonderful to see him lose it and newscasters seem to agree that his refusal to accept election results was the nail in the coffin.
I have to agree with Arielle, and not for the first time. The Daily News related headline, today, reads "Trump: 'Hillary's rigged the whole world against me.'" The New Yorl Post, owned, and operated by Rupert Murdoch's News Company: "'Trump harrumphs in final debate. He's in a fix! Refuses to say he'll accept election results. Oh, and Emmy's were rigged, too.'" YES, that is the NY POST, bastion of right wing, idiotic, propaganda!!! I wish I had been able to see the look on my devout Republican cousin, and her husband, when they retreived their door stop copy. One of the western, GOP congressmen, last night, said, in response to this uncivility, "that's beyond the pale." Mayhap the Rump is toast!!!!!!!!!
Well, I couldn't watch the debate as it was around 5 AM local time, not when I'm at my best. But I can assure you I've seen and read more on the subject today than many Americans. Although only a few of the very relevant questions were put forward, it hardly seemed to matter what either candidate had to say about it. Only one thing did and that was Drumpf's show stopper:" I'm keeping you in suspense" on whether or not he'd accept the outcome of the election. Or as my newspaper put it "Donald Trump takes American democracy down in his fall". That completely overshadowed any answers given to other important questions, which is a pity I must say.
Thanks all. Hugs!!
Wallace was actually quite biased, but he managed it subtily by asking kewy questions using Republican jargon. Please see today's Open Thread.;