20
Oct
Ask the White House: BTC News asks our readers to chime in
UPDATE: We’ve chosen and submitted six questions from among those suggested here and via email. We hope to have the opportunity to do this again, so please continue to leave suggestions should you have any. I’ve asked Dave Almacy, the White House spokesman who agreed to answer your questions, when we can expect to receive the answers and I’ll pass that along as soon as he lets me know. We’ll announce the questions and answers in a separate post.
Note: this item has been retitled and extensively revised. To see the original version, click here.
If you’ve ever watched a White House press briefing, you’ve probably felt the sensation of drowning in tepid gruel. It can be an extremely frustrating experience and it led me to try, in the wake of the Guckert/Gannon scandal, to place my own unfettered correspondent in the briefing room. In early 2005, I managed to pester the White House press office into providing BTC News contributor — now BTC News White House correspondent — Eric Brewer with semi-regular access to the White House press briefings held by then-press secretary Scott McClellan.
Eric has done a great job under difficult circumstances (you can read his dispatches from the press room here) with both McClellan and Tony Snow, but he’s only one guy, he has a real job and he can’t be there every day. So I asked our press office contact, who is now an official spokesman, if he would field questions submitted by our readers. He agreed to do that on the record, and I’m here to ask you to ask the White House the questions institutional reporters should ask but don’t.
You can leave your questions in the comments on this post. We don’t censor comments so you’re of course free to say and ask anything you like, but keep in mind that we won’t be passing along any profanities.
Also keep in mind that the spokesman’s two-fold job is to place whatever information he provides in the most positive light, and to directly or indirectly avoid answering questions to which the answers might reflect poorly on the administration. The interlocutor’s job is to find a way around that. Our goal has always been to ask fact-based questions that are worded in a way that makes non-answers or non-denials significant, as when Eric invited Scott McClellan to repudiate the Downing Street Memos and Scott wouldn’t do it. Those are the kinds of solid questions we’ll be looking for from readers.
In some ways the process is reminiscent of Kremlin-watching in the glory days of the Cold War: you can often learn as much or more from what isn’t said as from what is, and there’s always hope for an occasional glitch in the fog machine. That last is unlikely since the Q&A in this instance will be via unspontaneous email, but the format also offers us all the opportunity to craft air-tight questions.
I’ve posted the call for questions elsewhere, and gotten feedback to the tune of “what’s the point? They won’t answer.” But the point is to get the questions on the record, whether they’re substantively answered or not, and to disseminate the responses or lack of them. It’s an opportunity for people who aren’t members of the journalistic tribe to put vital questions to the people who run the country. And because BTC News is a Google News source, you have the opportunity to ask questions that will be seen by people who would otherwise not be exposed to them.
We think that’s a worthy cause, and I hope you’ll participate to whatever extent you can. There are a lot of good questions floating around out there, and it’s time some of them got used.
This is a liberal blog, and the majority of our readers are liberals, but we’re open to questions from any point on the political arc so long as they’re substantive and articulate.
Give it a shot: the results might surprise us all.
NOTE: Please provide a first name and hometown, and your country if other than the US. If you would like to use your full name but don’t wish to post it here, you may send your questions to “bushquest@btcnews.com” without the quotation marks.
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Did you mother drop you on your head when you were a baby?
October 20th, 2006 at 8:53 pmThanks, hon. We’ll get back to you. Or were you asking me?
October 20th, 2006 at 9:08 pmPolitical forecasters estimate a high probability that control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, or both might switch to the Democratic Party after the upcoming Congressional elections. This would surely cause dramatic changes in the national legislative agenda.
What does the White House estimate that its legislative priorities would be, if faced with a Democratic Congress? What areas of common ground does the White House see between the current Democratic Congressional leadership and the Administration? What kinds of legislative initiatives would the Administration hope to bring to fruition under a Democratic 109th Congress? Are there any elements of the official Democratic Congressional platform which the President would invoke his veto power to oppose?
October 21st, 2006 at 12:03 amHi, Geoff. Unfortunately I can answer those: “We’re confident that won’t happen.” But what if it does? “That’s a hypothetical and we don’t deal in hypotheticals [unless they provide an opportunity to invade someone].”
October 21st, 2006 at 12:14 amIf strength and power naturally beget sexuality and/or sex appeal, why does one get the distinct impression that there has been no sex in the White House since the Clinton Administration?
And as a followup question: Why do the American people seem to prefer their President to be sexually “neuter”???
(I concede that perhaps this question could be better answered by the White House domestic staff)
October 21st, 2006 at 6:49 amWere you crushed when Ohio State destroyed Texas in the early season matchup of #1 and #2? Do you concede that Ohio State is for real, or are they just a bunch of dead-enders who haven’t lost yet?
October 21st, 2006 at 7:24 amI’d be interested to know who he reads online. A bit of a softball, but potentially interesting.
Has he read the Qur’an?
Ill-formed, but if electing Republicans is important for the war on terror, will/does he see Republican(s involved in) scandals as unpatriotic?
October 21st, 2006 at 8:05 amEnder, those are both good, although I’d bet the answer to the first is “no one.” Damian, that’s evil.
Topazz, the public loved Clinton, and many of them had barely restrained orgasms when Commander Codpiece climbed down from that cockpit. It’s only a subset of Republicans who are afraid of sex.
October 21st, 2006 at 8:24 amFine, strip it down a bit. What are the White House’s legislative priorities for the 109th Congress? They’ve got two years left to get things done. What do they intend to do with it?
October 21st, 2006 at 8:50 amMr. President…
October 21st, 2006 at 11:08 amNow that more information is coming about the events of 9/11/2001, can you tell us why you were so set against setting up the commission, and why you and Vice President Cheney insisted upon appearing together? Also, why did neither of you testify under oath?
When now Secretary of State Rice testified, she referred to the CIA memo “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike In The U.S.” as a “historical” document. If your administration considered such a warning as nothing more than “historical,” how were you protecting the American people at that time, and how do you feel we’ve improved that protection, when you are currently disagreeing with all 16 (of your) intelligence agencies, that the Iraq war is making the threat of terrorism worse?
As during the Joe McCarthy era, when he was asked, “At long last, sir, have you no shame?” When will you finally admit that Iraq is an enormous mess, and really Support The Troops by bringing them home, with your heartfelt (?!) apologies?
Geoff, that works. Georgia, thanks.
October 21st, 2006 at 11:19 amAt what point will we leave Iraq? When insurgency has been defeated? When the Iraquis are capable of taking on their own defense, or at some other milestone?
October 21st, 2006 at 11:20 amThe president said numerous times during the 2000 election that “you can tell the character of a man by the company he keeps” which was an obvious reference to Bill Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. How do you square that statement with the 400+ visits by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff or his associates to the White House, or the 200+ visits by Jeff Gannnon, an admitted gay, male prostitute to the White House, or the president’s endorsement of an admitted adulterer?
October 21st, 2006 at 11:52 amHow many times a day do you receive your marching orders from Dick cheney and Karl Rove?
October 21st, 2006 at 11:58 amI would like to know the president keeps himself informed apart of the news brought to him by White House staff.
What newspapers are your primary sources of information? What websites? Do you read blogs - which did you visit recently?
October 21st, 2006 at 12:06 pmHans, hello! Thanks for stopping by. Send some friends, too: we’re lacking an overseas perspective.
October 21st, 2006 at 12:33 pmOk, I’ll submit a real question:
Aside from the 7 lb fish you caught, what single accomplishment as President do you consider to be your greatest, so far?
October 21st, 2006 at 1:16 pmMr. Bush, are you certain you will achieve victory in Iraq in much the same manner that you will achieve victory in the 2006 election?
October 21st, 2006 at 2:27 pmechoing rundeep: when are we getting out of iraq? alongside that one: when are we getting out of afghanistan?
October 21st, 2006 at 2:52 pm1. Is it true you or members of your immediate family have purchased thousands of acres in Paraguay and that US military is on the site fortifying the perimeter?
2. Will you discuss the KBR contract on detention facilities being built in the US? What exactly are the “special programs” noted in the contract?
3. What exactly is the US relationship with Pakistan re: the hunt for bin Laden?
4. Where are your full military records and when will they be made public as John Kerry did?
5. What is the new North American entity and why doesn’t the American people have a say in this?
October 21st, 2006 at 3:05 pmHere are some questions to ask…
Did US armed forces personnel and/or coalition forces attack or seize Fallujah General Hospital?
Did those forces detain patients or hospital staff?
Do the Fourth Geneva Conventions state the following: “Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.”?
Is the US a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention?
Did the US use white phosphorous munitions in the attack on Fallujah?
Did an article in the US Army’s “Field Artillery Magazine” state that white phosphorous rounds were used for lethal missions in the attack on Falluja?
Is white phosphorous a chemical?
Did the US Government accuse Saddam Hussein’s regime of using white phosphorous munitions against his own people?
Field Artillery Magazine source-(THE FIGHT FOR FALLUJAH - TF 2-2 IN FSE AAR: Indirect Fires in the Battle of Fallujah By Captain James T. Cobb, First Lieutenant Christopher A. LaCour and Sergeant First Class William H. Hight”
October 21st, 2006 at 3:25 pmtwo q’s 1)Ask why they link funding to results in education (thru standardized testing), yet never substantiate that tax cuts create jobs.Lets have a means test on that one. Quantitative evidence that big biz actually creates jobs with the tax breaks…do they expand? do they put it into r&d, or do they just keep the money? I have never seen any offer to prove the tired assertion that tax cuts mean jobs. Nor have I heard any Democrat make this comparison to illustrate the folly of both.
2)If this struggle against Islamo-Fascism is the single greatest cataclysm we face, then why do we only have two football stadiums worth of soldiers fighting it?
October 21st, 2006 at 4:06 pmAccording to the Constitution of the United States of Ameriuca, the president is commander-in-chief of the US armed forces as well as being head of the federal public service. Is it the president’s position that in his military capacity, it is not possible for him to give an order which is an illegal order under the UCMJ and other laws?
October 21st, 2006 at 4:21 pmSir; Do you think that the removal of ilegal nuclear weapons and WMDs from the State of Israel would be a major barganing chip in dealing with the Iranians. Considering their history of aggression,( increasing their land area 1000% plus since 1948 by military conquest), are not their neighbors correct in their efforts of self preservation? Why do we allow nuclear weapons in Israel considering its history of aggression and human rights violations world wide,not to mention their persistant intellegence operations against our government? Is this of no concern to the White House?
October 21st, 2006 at 4:24 pmHow many American and Iraqi lives are you willing to spend to achieve your goals in Iraq, are there any limitations to the numbers of lives you’re willing to sacrifice?
October 21st, 2006 at 6:20 pmHow can we be certain that the Military Commissions Act will never be used against American citizens either by you or by a future administration?
October 21st, 2006 at 6:54 pmA recent book by a former White House staffer suggests that the administration’s commitment to the Christian community is more about politics than principle, and that at least some staffers are contemptuous of the president’s evangelical constituency. Meanwhile, the recent documentary “Jesus Camp” shows footage of a cardboard cutout of Mr. Bush being exalted at a large Pentecostalist prayer meeting. As the mid-term election approaches, what do you see as the political benefits of the administration’s alliance with the evangelical churches, and what concrete agenda items can you point to that President Bush has delivered in exchange for their support? Can you think of a historical precedent for the use of church organizations for mobilization by an American political party? Is there a precedent (in America or elsewhere) for the organized worship of a country’s leader in a house of prayer?
October 21st, 2006 at 7:25 pmI’m not quite overseas - I live in New York - but until August of this year I lived in Singapore and before then I lived in Tel Aviv.
I have two questions:
1. “The study of Iraqi civilian casualties published in the Lancet used a standard methodology for counting the dead after a disaster. Why did the President say that the methodology was discredited?”
2. “On August 10th, Britain managed to prevent a terrorist attack using good old-fashioned police work. It asked for a warrant for every wiretap, and concentrated on gathering information. Why does the United States keep trumpeting a military approach to terrorism, instead of emulating Britain’s success?”
October 21st, 2006 at 7:41 pmFollowup: President Bush has now ruled two years longer than Caligula. Just as President Bush imitated a soldier by dressing up in a flight suit and landing an airplane on an aircraft carrier, Caligula performed for the Roman populace by having a pontoon bridge built and riding his horse out to the port of Puteoli wearing the breastplate of Alexander the Great. Is the president worried about the poor track record his apparent model?
October 21st, 2006 at 8:29 pmgiven that innocent individuals who where eistablished to in the end have no terrorism ties have been tortured as part of the war on terror (see the Mahar Arar case) how can the administration contiune to justify such extreme measures. and at what point does the United States, which was founded on principals of equality justice and other englightened concepts, cease to exist?
October 21st, 2006 at 10:53 pmMr. President,
Have you considered making three states in Iraq, one for each religious group represented therein?
Beverly
October 22nd, 2006 at 12:19 amQuestions for George W. Bush: You have said that we will remain in Iraq until “victory.” Can you tell us what “victory” means? Does it mean someone will surrender unconditionally? Does it mean we will finally have killed all those who are fighting us there? Does it mean we will have brought peace to Iraq and the Mideast? Just what does “victory” mean to you?
You say that the interrogation methods we have used are not torture, and have pushed through a bill (the Military Commissions Act of 2006) that redefines torture. My question is this: Are you willing to undergo water boarding, and have Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, and your entire staff undergo it, to show us that it is not torture? How about being stripped naked, thrown into a bare concrete cell in 50 degree temperatures, and then sprayed with cold water? If these treatments had been used on our military personnel, would you be as uncaring about these methods? Would you make a public statement that these methods are acceptable?
Why did you default on your promise to serve as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard? Why did you walk away with more than two years left on your solemn promise? Was it Fear of Flying? Were you that bad a pilot? Are you proud of your service and your defection and dereliction of duty? Why can’t you come clean about this part of your life?
October 22nd, 2006 at 3:21 amIf the Supreme Court again rules that detainees are entitled to access to American courts through Habeas Corpus, as they have been for over a century, will this Administration abide by the Court’s ruling or will it invoke “unitary executive” power?
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:47 amLet’s see if we have this story straight. We invaded Iraq because they were a threat to their neighbors, the world, and the United States. We now have to provide 140,000 [or more] U. S. troops and limitless $$$ to protect Iraq from unknowable outsiders!!
October 22nd, 2006 at 6:17 amIs there irony here?
Today, it has been widely reported that a senior diplomat characterized American actions in Iraq as “arrogant” and “stupid.” Do you believe that the Bush administration has been damaged more by its failure to gain control over the State Department, its failure to gain control over the military, or its failure to gain control over the CIA?
October 22nd, 2006 at 6:53 amRic, the state department says Fernandez says he was misquoted.
October 22nd, 2006 at 7:04 amOnce a new Democratic controlled House is installed do you plan to send Democratic Representatives anthrax letters? or will you just quietly blackmail them and threaten their families?
October 22nd, 2006 at 7:40 amMr. President, do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?
October 22nd, 2006 at 8:00 amIf the president declares an American citizen or other human being an “unlawful combatant” and that human being undergoes the specialized interrogation that would have been construed as torture had the president not reinterpreted the Geneva Convention, and that declaration is shown to be in error, do you think that would be an abuse of human rights, whether or not the charge as such, is actually made?
October 22nd, 2006 at 9:02 amA question for you: will you continue tubthumping for the Democrats if they should manage to capture both houses in November or will you simply blame the presidency/president for the Democratic failures, divisions, and lack of rational policies that are sure to ensue [provided the Dems win–by no means a certainty]?
And 3 questions for the White House: (1) Does the apparent lack of agressiveness in policies regarding Iran, N. Korea, and Sudan mean that the president privately considers the military initiatives in Iraq and Afghanistan to be unqualified failures? and (2) Does the President have any concrete plans to make the democratization/liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan more effective or at least possible? and (3) Any plans to liberate Lebanon from Hezbollah & Associates? [they certainly and urgently need it]
Ensley
October 22nd, 2006 at 11:01 amNova Scotia, Canada
Hi, Ensley. I’ve been consistently critical of Democratic politicians over the years of their standing as an ineffectual opposition party; I just think, justifiably so, that Republican rule has been disastrous, a position you translate into “Democratic tub-thumping.” I also think and have said repeatedly that should Democrats gain control of one or both chambers of Congress, their ability to impact foreign policy and military affairs will be extremely limited. Where they may do some good is on the domestic and investigatory fronts. I will continue to criticize their failings when and as I see them.
Thanks for the questions. I may stop by your place to see if we can frame them in a fashion likely to generate a meaningful response.
October 22nd, 2006 at 11:16 am1) The President frequently invokes the cause of freedom to justify his foreign policy aims. Clearly, as evidenced by his positions on the issues of abortion and gay marriage, he doesn’t believe in absolute individual freedom. Will the President be outlining, at any point, his exact definition of freedom for the American people?
2) The controversial recent Lancet study citing the number of deaths attributable to the US-led war in Iraq at 655,000 has been dismissed by the administration and others as flawed. Assuming the data is flawed, and overstates the figure by a factor of ten, the number is still 65,000. Is this figure acceptable to the administration? Phrased another way, will the President put a figure on the number of civilian casualties acceptable in achieving the war’s aims (whatever they may be…)?
October 22nd, 2006 at 11:48 amWeldon, that would be fine. I would welcome your visit. My blog had become more or less defunct but I have now posted to it and will check it later to see if you have posted any comments or queries.
I must confess that I haven’t visited your blog much in the past and seldom post a comment to it, but that is usually attributable to laziness and time constraints–mostly the former.
At any rate, it’s always a pleasure. Congratulations on the success of your blog. If I perceive any chance of making it viable for myself, I may even buy a website myself. For now, I intend to see how much fun running a blog can be (or how much excrement I can get myself into–whatever).
Ensley
October 22nd, 2006 at 1:03 pmGiven the proliferation of nuclear weapons to unstable and hostile regimes, what reason can you offer why we don’t hand inspect every shipping container that comes into the US? Certainly not cost. At 6 million shipping containers/year[1], if an inspector could only inspect one a day, an absurdly low number, that would require 16,500 inspectors. If they each made $50,000 a year in salary, that would cost less than $1 billion dollars/year. Just so far, the Iraq war has cost us enough to give us total shipping container inspection for hundreds of years. Moreover, we have spent on the order of $400 billion a year for decades on our military, and $100 billion more specifically on missile defense. What is the point of spending $100 billion on missile defense if our adversaries can just ship nuclear weapons to us? Similar questions apply to border security.
Are you serious about -defending- us, even if it’s boring like inspecting shipments and borders, or are you just interested in doing Big Manly Things, like ordering in the troops?
For that matter, is -any- party or politician serious in this way about defending us from the one really serious threat?
- Kolmogorov
[1] http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/281572_container17.html
October 22nd, 2006 at 1:10 pmSorry, forgot to give hometown.
October 22nd, 2006 at 1:14 pmI am a proud American. My mother taught me how her father, my grandfather was deemed a “threat to the nation”, arrested, and tortured, sentenced to death by a tribunal with no independent trial and executed, and that this could never happen in the USA to ANYONE, even if they were guilty. And THAT is what made the USA different from nations like North Korea with is Police Security Agency, East Germany with the Stazi and the USSR with its KGB. How is your right as CinC to deem someone a threat to the US because they are “an enemy combatant”, have them arrested, held by the CIA and interrogated by the same means the KGB considered one of the most effective means of torture (stress positions), convicted by a secret tribunal and executed? Is the only difference ‘your good heart’ and the ‘good heart’ of those that serve in the military?
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:00 pmOh yeah, hometown Seattle WA
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:00 pmSecond question
It has been widely reported that as shortly as two months prior to the start of the Iraq Invasion, President Bush was unaware of the differences between Sunni and Shia sects prevalent in Iraq. Is it true that President Bush was unaware of the existance of deep religious sectarian divisions between Sunni’s and Shia in Iraq prior to the January 2003 State of the Union speech, Yes or No?
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:09 pmUnder the No Child Left Bbehind Act, how can nondiagnostic testing improve education in schools under academic emergency? In other words, if our schools do not receive test results until the following year, how can teachers address the needs of particular students?
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:13 pmQuestion #3.
The Convention Against Torture - to which the US is a signatory, in Article 5 Section 2, requires that all signatories establish judicial means for indicting and prosecuting violators of the Convetion Against Torture, if those violators are found to be under their jurisdiction.
Already we have seen that some individuals who were US Government Officials in previous administrations, and who have been seen as violating the Convention On Torture by other nations of the world, have restricted abilities to travel to some of the allies of the United States.
Does Mr. Bush expect that he and all the other members of his administration who have had a part in the ‘harsh interrogation techniques’ will be able to freely travel through all US Allies without having to invoke Diplomatic Immunity?
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:14 pmSorry that last Paragraph should read
Does President Bush expect that he and all the other members of his administration who have had a part in the ‘harsh interrogation techniques’ will be able to freely travel through all US Allies after leaving direct US Government service, without having to invoke Diplomatic Immunity?
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:16 pmThough our recent free trade agreements arguably create more jobs, without safety, labor, and human rights protections, how do these free trade agreements promote global security in a way that makes us safer as a nation?
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:25 pmWhat would President Bush do with an advisor who told him “I’m not really sure what the difference between Sunni and Shia are. I think one’s in one location, another’s in another location, or maybe its differences in their religion or different families”. And then went on to say “It’s the difference in their fundamental religious beliefs. The Sunnis are more radical than the Shia. Or vice versa. But I think it’s the Sunnis who’re more radical than the Shia”.
Would such an advisor be considered credible and deserving of a senior role in the War on Terror in Iraq? And this is not a hypothetical. These are the answers given by Terry Everett vice chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee on technical and tactical intelligence, and Representative Jo Ann Davis from Virginia charged with the House Subcomittee overseeing the C.I.A.’s performance in recruiting Islamic spies and analyzing information.
Is this an acceptable level of knowledge for a White House staffer on Iraq Intelligence, and if it isn’t, why does the President accept this sort of ignorance among senior members of his own party whom his staff works with every day?
October 22nd, 2006 at 4:58 pmOn the topic of “Cut and Run”, the only words Mr. Bush can come up with… Why did Mr. Bush cut and run in the search for the “guys that knocked down these buildings” as Mr. Bush promised while standing at the site of ground zero?
October 22nd, 2006 at 5:08 pmThe US has 7,822 miles of land borders and sea borders make up just about 13,000 miles (almost twice as much border) - which the Coast Guard patrols with 25 ships (7 of which are not designed for the open sea and one is an old fashion squarerigged sailing ship_ and 211 aircroaft. Radar on these ships and airplanes can only see ocean-going sailboats and motorboats when they are 2 miles away.
How are US Ocean Borders being secured against terrorists entering undiscovered along our coastlines? Why hasn’t the President alerted the nation to this unguarded danger?
October 22nd, 2006 at 5:09 pmWhen the President took office he promised to uphold and defend the Constitution. Can the President recite any of the 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution and explain to the people what they really mean? Which of these 10 amendments, or of the other amendments in the Constitution, is still in effect according to the President?
October 22nd, 2006 at 5:24 pmSince President Bush has such a close relationship with God and consults with Him frequently–He even told Dubya He wanted George to be President–has anybody at a press conference asked Bush whether he thinks God gave him good advice on Iraq?
October 23rd, 2006 at 3:54 amIf the Russians and Chinese refuse to permit sanctions on Iran and Iran becomes the most powerful political entity in Shiite Iraq, what are our options as their nuclear program advances? In what ways do you believe our invasion of Iraq has strengthened Iran?
October 23rd, 2006 at 5:59 amAccording to the Unitary Executive Theory that the President ascribes to, the President is authorized to detain even US citizens, in the interest of national security, and hold them indefinitely, deny them access to evidence, and subject them to varying degrees of enhanced questioning.
My question is whether, after the President’s term expires and he is once again a private citizen, the next president would be justified in using the same unitary executive powers to detain Mr. Bush, if the President considered him and the millions who follow him to be hostile to the constitution and openly acting against it?
If not, what means do you think would be appropriate for citizen Bush to challenge the judgment of the next president?
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:00 amMr President,
Why do you feel it is part of your job as President of the United States to raise money for Republican canidates? Are we paying you $300,000+ a year to influence elections? That doesn’t sound very democratic, does it?
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:05 amMr. President,
In the event of a Democratic takeover of Congress in the mid-term elections, will you immediately pardon all administration personnel, wait until indictments are handed down, or make it your last official act in office.
Are you and Karl really afraid of Nancy Pelosi? If so, does that make you “girly men?”
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:30 amThe President recently stated that the oft-repeated (by him) phrase “stay the course” is not a fair characterization of his administration’s policy towards Iraq. Would the President care to explain why the phrase “cut and run” is a fair characterization of (all) Democratic policy?
October 23rd, 2006 at 8:08 pmA question concerning reliable voting results.
As we all know, Mr. President, you experienced firsthand the chaotic aftermath of an election that yielded uncertain, and some might say, suspicious results. In the six years since then, very little has been done to insure that election results will be completely and accurately verifiable to the American public. It is undeniable that an accurate and un-impeachable tabulation of the vote is a cornerstone to a healthy democracy.
As you may be aware, there is growing concern in America that our election results have become unreliable, untraceable and quite vulnerable to outside manipulation. Calls for reform are often countered by those who say that effective nationwide remedies would prove too costly.
We are currently spending $2 Billion a week in Iraq, ostensibly, in your own words, to bring democracy to the Iraqi people. You took great pride in bringing free elections to Iraq.
My question is this: Would you support a referendum to create a US election reform non-partisan panel and to fund a program which would enable all fifty states to purchase standardized voting equipment which would provide transparent and accurate “paper trails” for re-counts and verification ?
Helios | Oct 24 2006 - 8:17am |
October 24th, 2006 at 2:25 amLancet released a report on October 11 estimating that 300,000 to 900,000 Iraqis had died from violence after the US-UK invasion in 2003. George Bush’s response to this report was “No, I don’t call it a credible report.”
October 24th, 2006 at 3:55 amWhat was his basis or his staff’s basis for discounting the methodology of the report?
Can the Press secretary elaborate on why the POTUS is so confident of republican victory in the upcoming election?
October 24th, 2006 at 6:30 amWhen are you going to stop killing people to relieve your erectile disfunction?
October 24th, 2006 at 6:30 amIn the lead up to the iraq war, it was discovered that a memo had been forged and passed to us intelligence which was intended to cause the us to erroneously believe that iraq had sought to buy uranium from niger.
Whoever forged this memo was obviously trying to provoke the united states into taking action against iraq based upon false data.
Does the united states know who forged this memo, and if not, what actions is it taking to discover this. What should the punishment be for the forgers of this memo?
October 24th, 2006 at 6:53 amWhy hasn’t the president asked for more sacrifices from the American people (other than privacy). During the world wars, people rationed food, saved gas, and bought war bonds to finance it. Wouldn’t it be better to pay as you go.
October 24th, 2006 at 6:56 amOne question I’d like to ask is did Bush see the 1st plane hit the WTC or not on TV?
A couple of times Bush said he saw this, but as far as we know, the only footage (Naudet firemen film) that shows the 1st hit wasn’t avaiable until late on 9/11. So what did Bush see?
Also, why is Bush such a #!@ asshole?
October 24th, 2006 at 7:00 amWhat is the president’s current justification for starting an unprovoked war without being certain that he was right and that the United States would win?
How does the president justify lying about it?
October 24th, 2006 at 7:06 amOn October 27, 2004, President Bush referenced an “ongoing” military investigation into invading soldiers’ failure to secure 380 tons of IAEA-sealed high-grade plastic explosive at the al-Qa’qaa weapons depot. Those weapons were looted sometime after April 18, 2003, after the 101st Airborne had moved on from the facility.
What is the status of that investigation, almost precisely two years on?
Follow-up about the investigation: If the Iraq invasion was motivated by the need to prevent proliferation of massively destructive weapons, how serious a failure in the chain of command would have been required to cause an error of this magnitude?
If no one in the chain of command has been held accountable for such a serious undermining of the invasion’s ostensibly primary strategic objective, how can we avoid concluding that other objectives were in fact much more important than WMD?
October 24th, 2006 at 7:12 am64. I agree that a more probing question on The Lancet study is important.
I would rephrase the question something like, ‘President Bush said of the methodology of the recent Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health study, which reported it’s likely some 655,000 more Iraqis were killed than otherwise would have perished in the Iraq War, was quote “pretty well discredited”.
The methodology used was cluster sampling.
The CDC website contains 242 mentions of cluster sampling, a 9-part tutorial on cluster sampling and it’s uses, and uses a sample cluster sampling study as an example of how to study mass casualties in a harsh environment. CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding has herself published studies that used cluster sampling as the study methodology.
So when the President says the methodology is ‘pretty well discredited’ - on what basis is he making that statement? If the President stands by the statement, will he push to end all cluster sampling studies in the US government?
October 24th, 2006 at 7:14 am1. You have stated that you consider abortion to be murder, and on other occasions, that you favor exceptions in cases of rape or insist. How do you justify the murder of innocent babies based merely on their ill luck at conception?
2. Before the Fitzgerald investigation, you repeatedly stated that you wanted to know who had leaked the identity of the CIA agent who turned out to be the lead investigator of WMDs in Iraq. We now know that I. Lewis Libby was one of those leakers; he admits having done so, while stating otherwise to the investigators, and is pressing a defense based on forgetfulness. Will you rule out pardoning Libby before his trial begins?
3. You have expressed your disbelief in the credibility of the Lancet’s estimate of 600,000 additional Iraqi dead as the result of the war. The cost of carrying out such a study amounts to less than one minute’s worth of the cost of the war itself. Are you willing to carry out a new study to confirm or supplant the Lancet’s?
Hometown: New York City.
October 24th, 2006 at 7:21 am4. Do you agree that the Constitution you swore to uphold makes it clear that you can’t initiate war against Iran without Congressional approval?
Hometown NYC.
October 24th, 2006 at 7:23 ami think it is important to stick to factual questions about the past, instead of hypothetical questions about the future.
October 24th, 2006 at 7:28 am1. You’ve said that the US military will remain in Iraq “as long as” you’re president. How can you be so sure that we won’t win the war and be able to withdraw later this year? Or in 2007? Or even in 2008? Isn’t that a long period of time to commit American troops without even the hope of winning in the next two-plus years? Are you afraid that everybody will recognize what you already know, which is that we’ve already lost, and the only thing that keeps everyone from realizing it is that if we stay there, we might still win, or at least, we can claim we might?
2. You’ve said that “the terrorists” want to see you and the GOP defeated in elections in 2002, 2004, and 2006. Assuming we don’t win the war on terrorism before the 2008 election - and as many Republicans have said, we’ll be fighting it for a long time - are you willing to suspend the 2008 election to make sure that they don’t misinterpret the symbolism of your leaving office after your second term expires? (you’ve heard of the twenty-second amendment, right? do you plan to comply with it?) How long will you need to stay in office to prevent them from getting the wrong message from your departure from the presidency, even if it means violating the Constitution, or would you rather have the twenty-second amendment changed, either legally or by a signing statement?
2A. What would you do if the courts didn’t agree with your unilateral extension of your term?
3. Why do so many of your supporters worship you with the adoration of a misguided cult following a false god? As a self-described Christian, does this bother you at all, that you’ve become a golden idol of sorts? There are people who pray to you. Not *for* you, *to* you. What kind of Christian can be comfortable with that?
4. Matt Yglesias once suggested that the effects of so many of your administration’s policies have been to strengthen the hand of Iran that you might be an Iranian mole (Jeff Foxworthy is in talks to do a spinoff series, “You might be an Iranian mole if…”), but there are other countries with interests that are antagonistic to ours (countries that under other circumstances we might call “enemies”) that you’ve also empowered, from China to North Korea to Sudan to Russia. How many of these countries are you actually actively working for, how many do you passively aid, and what do you get out of it?
October 24th, 2006 at 7:29 amQuestion for President Bush from Joshua in Ann
Arbor.
Are you prepared to renounce and abandon America’s Permanent Bases in Iraq if that would
October 24th, 2006 at 7:41 amsatisfy the insurgents enough to reduce the
insurgency? Are you prepared to permit a Free,
Democratic, and Sovereign Iraq to re-Nationalize
the oil fields, and are you prepared to permit
a Free, Democratic, and Sovereign Iraq to cancel
the Production Sharing Agreements which the
current Iraq Interim Government reached with
American oil companies?
Much has been made of the fact that you have not asked Americans to sacrifice in a time of war. Now that you have given the oil fields of the Middle East to the Russians and the Chinese, do you expect Americans will have to sacrifice?
October 24th, 2006 at 8:17 amMr. President,
Who rolls up your sleeves?
October 24th, 2006 at 8:18 amMy question to the President:
“Why do they call it ‘extraordinary rendition’?”
(lightly stolen from a DemocracyNow! interview)
October 24th, 2006 at 8:20 amHow do you sleep at night?
October 24th, 2006 at 8:26 amWhy did the President lie about not ever saying that “stay the course” was a policy in Iraq?
October 24th, 2006 at 8:51 amWhen the President recently said to George Stephanopoulos, “Well, listen, we’ve never been stay the course”, who did he mean by “we” and what did he mean by “never”?
October 24th, 2006 at 9:18 amRemember people, this is for a White House spokesperson, not the President, and it is not live, as far as I can tell. So the “gotchya” questions (”Do you know the difference between a Sunni and Shiite?”) aren’t worthwhile. Instead, let’s rip off an old Josh Marshall post:
No Child Left Behind. Social Security Privitization. Medicare D. The Iraq War. Tax Cuts. Privitization of Government Tasks and Deregulation.
Can you please name one major proposal of the President’s that is more popular now then when it was enacted? (Maybe with the exception of the Ahghanistan War?)
Dan, Boston, MA
October 24th, 2006 at 9:20 amHow do the president and his staff keep his memory clear on what he has and hasn’t said–on what is and isn’t policy?
It seems to me that if he weren’t very careful and very well informed, he might make statements that are premature, confusing, or untrue. How would you characterize the president’s performance?
October 24th, 2006 at 9:59 amHey BTC:
Caught the first few minutes of this: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6374613
If you’re not quite satisfied with your list of questions yet, I thought there might be something in there you could tailor for the President.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:26 amWhere is President Bush campaigning today and for whom?
Is there a precedent for the President and Vice President essentially stopping all White House business except for fundraising on behalf of Republican candidates for six weeks prior to an election?
October 24th, 2006 at 10:40 amEthan’s question: “When the President recently said to George Stephanopoulos, “Well, listen, we’ve never been stay the course”, who did he mean by “we” and what did he mean by “never”?”
Proposed addition: What did he meen by “been”?
October 24th, 2006 at 10:46 amI’m with Joshua 77. Would he trade trade oil for peace?
October 24th, 2006 at 11:59 amMr. President: If Satan forcibly impregnated Ann Coulter, and she was bearing the antichrist, would late-term abortion be okay in that case?
October 24th, 2006 at 12:31 pmDearest President,
I have two questions: -
1.How do you sleep each night, do you get nightmares?
2.As a Born Again, do you think you will go to heaven?
Cheers
October 24th, 2006 at 1:15 pmMr. Press Secretary,
Is there anything that the Constitution and the laws prevent the President from doing? In other words, is there any power that the President does not have? If so, what is it?
If not, explain why the President is not the same as a king.
In particular, does the President have the power to order an assassination on American soil?
If there are in fact legal limits on the President’s power, and he does something that is outside of his legal power, what should happen then? If not impeachment, then explain why you supported the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
October 24th, 2006 at 4:41 pmFollow-up to Ed’s question (at 87)– Who is running the country while you are out campaigning? If you are the war president, shouldn’t you be setting strategy for the military instead of campaigning for Joe Lieberman?
October 24th, 2006 at 4:59 pmIf the economy is so good, why are we still borrowing over $1 Billion a day?
October 24th, 2006 at 5:12 pmDoes the president repudiate the racist TV ad run by the RNC in the Tennessee senate race?
October 24th, 2006 at 5:41 pmPlease ask this question of the White House denizens:
Junya (substitute the title of “President Bush”, but only if you really, really have to) says that the US does not and has not “tortured” detainees/enemy combatants.
Why then does he need (and the WH insisted upon) “retroactive immunity” in the Torture Bill he just signed?
Only folks who commit crimes need “retroactive immunity”. You know, criminals.
Is Junya now saying that he and the other denizens of his administration are criminals?
October 24th, 2006 at 6:03 pm“Given the administration’s well-documented record of lies, why should we believe you this time?”
Good followup to ANY BS answer. Particularly if you’re carrying the documentation of the lies with you.
October 24th, 2006 at 11:37 pm1) When are you going to sit down with the leaders of Iran and Syria to broker a cease-fire to the current civil war in Iraq?
2) What sort of contingency plans does the US have if Iraq is partitioned and a series of regional wars, involving Turkey against Iraqi Kurdistan, Syria against the Shiite South, Iraqi Sunni Islamicists against Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and internal Sadrists against the Iranian-backed Badr brigades, break out? What would “victory” look like in light of such a situation?
3) Again today you made mention of scandals and corruptions, and tried to deflect it onto both parties. Even if we accept your premise, would you please explain the discrepancies in the White House’s account of the 400+ contacts involving the White House and convicted felon Jack Abramoff? Why did you not tell the American people the truth about how frequently you had had contact with this known criminal? Are you planning to fire anyone who was known to have engaged in ethically or criminally-suspect behavior involving Abramoff? Wouldn’t doing so be a sign that you really intended to bring “dignity” back to the White House, as you promised back in 1999 and 2000?
October 25th, 2006 at 9:29 amI wanted to ask this question for years (3 and half to be exact):
If bush thought Saddam had WMD - why did he give him a 48 hour warning? To Give him a head start?
October 26th, 2006 at 7:06 amHow does this administration define ‘victory’ in Iraq? If the definition has anything to do with a stable, democratic, sovereign Iraq, does this administration commit to pull all US troops, bases, military presence out of Iraq when ‘victory’ is achieved?
October 26th, 2006 at 7:33 amIn the opening remarks in Wednesday’s press conference, President Bush made two statements which I think need explaining.
First: “Other developments were not encouraging, such as the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, the fact that we did not find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, and the continued loss of some of America’s finest sons and daughters.” Who, exactly, was discouraged that we did not find WMD’s, and why?
Second: In the same opening statement, Mr. Bush said this: “We learned some key lessons from that early phase in the war. We saw how quickly Al Qaida and other extremist groups would come to Iraq to fight and try to drive us out. We overestimated the capability of the civil service in Iraq to continue to provide essential services to the Iraqi people.
“We did not expect the Iraqi army, including the Republican Guard, to melt away in the way that it did in the face of advancing coalition forces.
“Despite these early setbacks, some very important progress was made in the midst of an incredibly violent period.”
Please explain why Mr. Bush considers the “melting away” of an enemy army, something which may have saved hundreds of American lives, to have been a “setback.”
October 26th, 2006 at 8:09 amWhat exactly does “job done” mean in Iraq? When will we know we have finished the job?
Why did Mr. Bush allow Gen. Franks to say “we don’t do body counts”? Isn’t paying attention to the civilian deaths caused by our actions a significant part of showing the Iraqis that we are sincere about their well-being?
How does Mr. Bush explain that the electricity supply in Baghdad is less today than four years ago, and that most of Iraq does not have adequate sewage systems? Does Mr. Bush think that the electrical supply, clean water, adequate sewage treatment and adequate heath care as the responsibility of the occupying forces? Why are we failing to provide these things for the Iraqi people?
October 26th, 2006 at 11:42 amDoes Mr. Bush realize that we started a war of aggression on Iraq in violation of the Nuremberg Principles?
Did Mr. Bush really think there was nuclear WMDs in Iraq? How come a pediatric audiologist was able to figure out that this was not true in 2002 and he was not able to figure it out?
October 26th, 2006 at 11:45 amHow come no one got fired for missing 9/11?
How come no one got fired for claiming there were WMDs in Iraq when there was none?
How come no one got fired for messing up in Iraq “seven ways from Sunday” as Senator Graham has recently said?
October 26th, 2006 at 11:47 amHow come the US is building permanent bases in Iraq after the US Congress passed a law against this?
October 26th, 2006 at 11:48 amMy license plates for my car say “IMPEACH”. How does Mr. Bush feel about people driving around with IMPEACH on their license plates?
* might be interesting to see how many such license plates are out there
October 26th, 2006 at 11:49 amand then find out how many back in the days of Clinton had such plates
October 26th, 2006 at 11:49 amOn October 25, 2006, Mr. Bush made the following statement:
“I believe when you get attacked and somebody declares war on you, you fight back.”
My question is: who in Iraq attacked us, and where and when, and who in Iraq declared war on the USA?
repeat for Afghanistan
October 26th, 2006 at 12:01 pmWhat steps, if any, does this administration plan to take to actually reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in the United States within the next two years? Does the administration intend to take steps to meet the Kyoto target of reduction to 5% below 1990 levels by 2008-2012?
October 26th, 2006 at 1:27 pmYou keep talking about victory in Iraq but you have never defined what you mean by victory so would you define victory for us?
You keep mentioning social security and that you are going to fix it yet everything you have done so far has been a failure so my question would be why should we trust you to fix social security when it is so important to people?
Considering the almost unparalleled corruption that now exists in congress in the last two years of ;your office would you implement election reform that eliminates the undue influence of giant corporations that is the base root of this corruption?
October 26th, 2006 at 3:30 pmPrior to invading Iraq, the U.S. ordered the UN weapons inspectors to leave Iraq. Since no WMD’s have been found in Iraq, does the President regret not allowing the weapons inspectors to finish their job, which might have spared the costs to U.S. troops, Iraqi citizens, and the stability of the country?
October 26th, 2006 at 4:36 pm1) Since the U.S. military began torturing P.O.W.s to get improved information out of them, what sorts of helpful things have we learned?
2) What sorts of accomplishments does President Bush hope to achieve in the last 2 years of his administration?
3) How does Christian doctrine inform President Bush’s day-to-day activities?
October 26th, 2006 at 4:53 pmMr. President, how many people will have to die in Iraq before you admit this “war of choice” was a mistake?
October 27th, 2006 at 3:47 amWhy wasn’t Ahmed Chalabi tried for espionage for giving US state secrets to Iran?
October 28th, 2006 at 12:30 pmThe same argument could have been made for waterboarding in any previous war. One could just as easily say that each German soldier captured on the battlefield should be tortured to find out information about enemy forces in the name of saving lives. That is exactly the same argument given today. It was illegal then (Geneva conventions and all that) and it is still illegal, a war crime in fact.
October 28th, 2006 at 11:34 pmQ: Why is it deemed OK for the US to commit war crimes?
Froomkin’s column today has a great set of questions (link below):
“So we don’t torture — but what we mean by torture is classified.
How can that possibly be acceptable to the American people?
Here are some questions that should be asked of every White House official, until they answer:
* How do you define torture?
* Name some interrogation techniques that are clearly illegal. Name some that you consider legal.
* Do you think it’s acceptable, for either domestic or international consumption, not to define what you mean by torture?
* What sorts of interrogation techniques are and are not acceptable for use on our troops or intelligence agents?”
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/10/31/BL2006103100629.html
October 31st, 2006 at 7:55 amSpent some great time in your site, really enjoyed it
January 18th, 2007 at 4:56 amI agree 100 % that a more probing question on The Lancet study is very important.
April 26th, 2007 at 9:51 amBodacious view about Ask the White House: BTC News asks our readers to chime in. Thoroughly love this point of view!
December 11th, 2007 at 4:44 am