Questions For The Candidates

Moderator Andrew Cohen Takes A Shot At His Own Presidential Debate

(CBS)  Attorney Andrew Cohen analyzes legal issues for CBS News and CBSNews.com.

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Whenever I summon up the courage to watch the presidential debates I quickly find myself precisely where you are when you decide you have nothing better to do than to watch the spectacle: I find myself wishing I were the moderator so that we could ask the questions.

I know my friend Bob Schieffer is going to do a great job at next week’s final debate, but if I ever got the chance …

I wouldn’t ask the candidates what they think of O.J. Simpson’s conviction late Friday night in Nevada.

I wouldn’t ask them to comment upon the silly dispute between environmentalists and the Navy over the use of sonar near whales in the Pacific Ocean, a Supreme Court conflict where the “facts” haven’t even been established.

I wouldn’t ask them about Nancy Grace or Judge Judy, I promise.

Instead I would ask each candidate to explain what he thinks about the latest reports from Salon.com that President Bush himself told his old Texas pal (and then-White House counsel) Alberto Gonzales to travel to Attorney General John Ashcroft’s dark hospital room to pressure the ailing (and resistant) AG into approving illegal domestic warrantless wiretapping.

I would like to hear each candidate explain what steps he’d take to ensure that such an ugly, unconscionable thing would not occur in his presidency.

I would ask Barack Obama to give us examples - name us names - of the sorts of judges he would appoint to the United States Supreme Court. We already know from John McCain that he, like the current president, is looking for someone in the Justice Thomas/Justice Scalia mode. But who are Obama’s legal role models? Justice Brennan? Justice Marshall? Justice Douglas? Whom? Which reincarnations of which two former Justices would he like to see?

I would ask John McCain what he thinks of this week’s Los Angeles Times story that the Pentagon was warned that its torture techniques were literally driving “enemy combatants” crazy? Remember, even though the candidate was himself tortured, he agreed to allow the executive to continue to engage soto voce in torture tactics during the interrogation of terror suspects.

But I’d also like to hear from Barack Obama what he thinks of the fact that terror mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed is making a farce of the military commission proceedings down at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, especially after Obama voted against the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

I would ask both candidates whether they think it is appropriate for the White House to assert executive privilege over former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former White House political operative Karl Rove with respect to the U.S. Attorney scandal. I would like them to explain to me and everyone else how we are supposed to get to the bottom of the Justice Department’s worst crisis in 50 years without that testimony. No attack-ad sound-bytes there, I bet.

I would ask both candidates what they think of the plight of the Chinese Uighurs, apprehended in the war on terror and held by our forces against their will for years without charges as “enemy combatants.” Seventeen of them were ordered released earlier this week by a federal district judge before an appellate court then stayed their release.

I would like to hear the candidates tell me what the over-under is on how many non-terrorists may be improperly detained by our forces before it’s a long-lasting stain upon our moral standing in the world.

I would like to hear candidate McCain (from Arizona) explain to me precisely why he is right when he rails against “judicial activism” (he says “activist” judges are ruining the law) and the late Chief Justice of the United States, William H. Rehnquist (from Arizona) and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (from Arizona) are wrong when they say the charge is nonsense. Either O’Connor or McCain is right about “judicial activism,” and I’d like to hear him explain why she isn’t.

I would like to hear what the candidates think of the death penalty in Texas, where a man still stands on death row despite credible evidence that his trial judge and prosecutor were having a romantic affair during his trial. I would like to know that they think of capital punishment in Georgia, where a man still stands on death row despite the fact that seven witnesses against him have recanted, there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and there were no eyewitnesses to it.

I would like to hear from McCain and Obama how they plan to ease the serious logjam for judicial positions on the lower federal court level. Too many trial court dockets remain vacant and unmanned because bozos on Capitol Hill either won’t nominate (or vote for, depending upon your point of view) decent jurists. Are both candidates willing to turn part of the judicial appointment job over to some sort of non-partisan commission? Or are we destined for even longer lines at the gates of justice?

If I were moderator I would re-play for the candidates the CBS Evening News interview Katie Couric did with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin in which Palin was relentlessly unable to identify a single Supreme Court case when asked to name one (other than Roe v. Wade) with which she disagreed. After the tape is played I would like candidate McCain then to explain to me how Palin’s answer that day gives him confidence that his running mate could govern if he died or became incapacitated.

I would ask candidate Obama what he thinks about the disproportionate level of black prisoners in our criminal justice system. I would ask him what he hated most about Harvard Law School, and what he likes least in lawyers, and what he would do to make judicial confirmation hearings more productive than they are now.

I would ask McCain if he would nominate a non-judge to the Supreme Court to freshen things up in there.

And I would ask them both, of course, how they would have voted had the 2000 Florida recount case come before them.

[swmodel19]

I am a 57 year old white male who lives on a fixed income. I also have a 51 year old roommate who has been unemployed for at least a year and cannot find a job. I live on disability and get $1,073.00 a month and also receive $4.00 a month in food stamps (no that is not a typo, that is all I get in food stamps). She has no income at all. She does not get unemployment and never has.
By the time I pay my rent, electric, gas, water, trash, medications, and late city income taxes I have $73.00 per month left and that does not include any food for us. I do not have a savings or checking account because I do not have the money for them.
I have to use a breathing machine at night when I sleep and the mask on it needs replaced but I cannot afford to do it. The mask costs $80.00 and I do not have that kind of money left over. I do not have a car because I cannot afford the payments or insurance for one.
I would like to know what John McCain or Barack Obama is going to do for me? How are they going to help me to be able to have the money to be able to buy the things that I need? How are they going to help my roommate find a job and afford to get the things she needs?

[philbowarnic]

Please encourage Bob Schieffer to PRESS for answers to the questions ask in the next debate. The Brokaw debate was a total waste of time. He let them NOT answer questions! His questions were not hard hitting, with some even lame. Just time and time again, going over the same old talking points with no specifics. We need to hear real answers. Also, what happened to subjects like Immigration, Gun Control, Abortion? Has Obama demanded not to discuss these points? Mr Schieffer needs to be tough, get the answers even if he has to be rude!

[marrinb123]

During the campaign both candidates speak to Americans one-on-one and to millions via ads, debates and news clips. We all know that the presidency can be very isolating. How will each of the candidates stay in touch with mainstreet American when the election is over and one of them is occupying the White House? I think that Obama is more in-touch with the general populace, but how responsive will he be when the isolation of the White House is his daily routine? "polls" and surveys can be influenced by the pollster or the entity taking the survey. How will he know, on a first-hand basis that he is really getting the deepest sense of the citizenry? I think that McCain is out-of-touch with mainstreet America, he hasn''t had to balance a household budget in decades. His health insurance has been provided by the American taxpayer for decades. His wife is one of the wealthiest women in America. How can he touch the pulse of people who do this everyday if he is elected?

[bobo4773]

I would like to ask the candidates why things have gotten so negative? I have always had a lot of respect for Mc Cain, but now I have lost that respect. He tells us all these things he will do if we elect him. Think!!! He has been in Washington since 1983. The last 6 years the Republicans had control of the House, Senate and Presidency. Why did he not push all these things he is promising? On health care, When is the last time he purchased health care? He talks about a $5000 tax credit for people to buy health care. This will only generate $1500 in real money if you are in the 30% tax
bracket. Not many middle class families are in this tax bracket. Plus what about those that have pre=existing conditions. How will you put people back to work? Be exact. I hope that Bob Schieffer will push these candidates during this debate. Make them answer the questions not dance around like they have been doing. We don''t want to hear the same "stuff" over and over. We have heard enough about the "surge", the war in Iraq, how many times Obama has voted. Talk to us about the economy, health care, the environment. This is what the American people care about..thank you

[dillypickles]

I would like to know how either candidate can help those of us who are between years - 60 yrs - 65 yrs old.

I am 60 1/2 yrs old & living on a tiny $500 a month disability check. No health insurance either. I have a roommate to help with making ends meet but things are tough.

I hope that I can make it to age 65 in order to get medicare. I have paid taxes & Social Security into the system since I was 16 years old & have worked all my life until the last 8 years since I can no longer work.

I DID NOT even qualify for the stimulus checks both time!!! It would seem that someone like myself, especially who does not even make enough to pay taxes, would benefit from getting a stimulus check. But noooooooooooo, not us!!!

How in heck is a tax cut going to benefit those who do not even make enough to pay taxes??? Huh????

The candidates keep talking about tax cuts & benefits but that does NOT help those who are in my situation. It makes me so angry because we are the forgotten ones in this society. Thrown away, no longer useful...................

[rlau929]

How will the financial crisis affect young people''s education, and what will you do about it?

[kfrtx]

After watching the debates the other night I had an interesting thought run through my mind. With the U.S. population being about 365 million. Would it not be more cost effective to give everyone in the U.S. one million dollars so that they can pay off these so called bad home loans that the financial system says has put us in this situation, Than giving the loaning institutions 700 billion and still having the main street Americans,as we have been labled, owning the bad loans? I figure if the government helps the main street American pay off these loans it would automatically bail out the loaniong institutions by rebuilding their loaning capacity.

[krismithart]

PLEASE BOB, ASK JOHN MCCAIN WHAT HIS DEFINITION OF "WINNING" IS....AS HE CONTINUES TO SAY OUR SOLDIERS CANNOT COME HOME UNTIL THEY HAVE "WON" ....
WHO "WON" VIET NAM?? WE LOST 58,000 THERE. BARACK DOES NOT SEEM TO PLACE THAT REQUIREMENT ON OUR BRAVE TROOPS.......PERHAPS HE COULD ANSWER THAT QUESTION, TOO Hope you are still painting, Bob! xo Kris

[series75]

The CBS Sunday Morning segment on RACE affecting the 2008 Presidential run firmly placed blame and responsibility to change and accept on White America. What about the fact that 92% of Black America supports Obama? Are the Obama credentials so overwhelmingly solid that Blacks see no edge at all for McCain, or is it reverse discrimination because McCain is White? If White Americans cannot vote for a Black candidate, and Black America cannot vote for a White Candidate......Don''t we share the blame? So why CBS neglected to raise this issue and only point fingers at White America is absurd.

[bdixon9]

I agree that McCain and Palin both need to define "victory" in Iraq. That''s all they want to talk about but I see no way for victory. Maybe Obama also can''t see a way to gain a victory either.

[ubu2008]

I would like to ask Obama why he didn''t tell the truth during the primary debate. I would like for him to define how it isn''t a tax increase for MAINSTREET when our taxes go up when the Bush tax cuts expire. I would like for Obama to explain why he thinks the government can spend its way out of this mess. I would also like to know why Iran puts preconditions on meetings with US, but he doesn''t feel Iran should meet preconditions. I would also like to know why he looks so board when the national anthem is played.

[ubu2008]

I would like to know why John McCain didn''t call Obama on his statements when he heard about the bailout. He paniced and John McCain was calm trying to calm the markets. Markets drop when presidents panic and Obama paniced and made matters worse when he trounced upon the fundamentals are strong.

[cinray23]

I have watched the first two presidential debates and find it curious, even though the economy is extremely important, why the question of where the candidates stand on abortion has not been asked once. It seems to be a subject main stream media has deliberately avoided. I beg of you, Mr. Schieffer, that this be a question you ask at the final debate. Americans deserve to know.