Bradley in DC
11-27-2007, 09:11 AM
[ok, fess up, which of you are responsible....]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112602335.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Web Videos Aim Questions At GOP Field
Candidates Expecting The Unexpected at Debate
By Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 27, 2007; Page A06
Among the thousands of videos uploaded on YouTube for tomorrow's GOP debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., a question lasting no more than three seconds may prove to be one of the toughest: "What does the word 'Republican' mean to you?"
Tomorrow night, after months of delay caused at least in part by candidates' concerns about the format, the Republican contenders will face their version of the CNN/YouTube debate. As with the first YouTube debate four months ago, when the Democratic candidates fielded questions from, among others, a talking snowman that asked about global warming, the GOP candidates aren't entirely sure how to prepare.
Mitt Romney, who has criticized the debate's format, was slow to accept the invitation from CNN and YouTube. So was Rudolph W. Giuliani. (By David Lienemann -- Getty Images)
"We don't know what to expect," said Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.).
The period for submitting questions via YouTube video ended yesterday, and almost 5,000 were offered up as fodder for the debate. The videos are as diverse as the questioners themselves, coming from all ages and backgrounds, and from Republicans and Democrats alike. In one, a black woman from Dallas, soon to be out of college and lamenting that she needs to learn Spanish to secure a job, asks how the candidates feel about non-English-speaking immigrants. In another, a middle-age man from Tucson, sitting in his wheelchair, asks about stem cell research. A gay Republican from Atlanta asks: "How can we make the Republican Party a more large, open tent?"
Other questions, many of them pointed, are directed to specific candidates. A former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asks former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon, if he agrees with the belief of the church that people who don't have white skin have been cursed by God for the sins of their forefathers.
There are plenty of offbeat questions. Billiam the snowman is back, this time joined by the likes of Mr. Potato Head and a hand puppet named Mojo. Rep. Ron Paul's loyal, Web-savvy supporters uploaded dozens of videos, all them flattering to the Texas congressman.
But perhaps most striking are offerings from disgruntled Republicans questioning what their party, locked in a fluid and unpredictable primary battle, really stands for...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112602335.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Web Videos Aim Questions At GOP Field
Candidates Expecting The Unexpected at Debate
By Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 27, 2007; Page A06
Among the thousands of videos uploaded on YouTube for tomorrow's GOP debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., a question lasting no more than three seconds may prove to be one of the toughest: "What does the word 'Republican' mean to you?"
Tomorrow night, after months of delay caused at least in part by candidates' concerns about the format, the Republican contenders will face their version of the CNN/YouTube debate. As with the first YouTube debate four months ago, when the Democratic candidates fielded questions from, among others, a talking snowman that asked about global warming, the GOP candidates aren't entirely sure how to prepare.
Mitt Romney, who has criticized the debate's format, was slow to accept the invitation from CNN and YouTube. So was Rudolph W. Giuliani. (By David Lienemann -- Getty Images)
"We don't know what to expect," said Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for former senator Fred D. Thompson (Tenn.).
The period for submitting questions via YouTube video ended yesterday, and almost 5,000 were offered up as fodder for the debate. The videos are as diverse as the questioners themselves, coming from all ages and backgrounds, and from Republicans and Democrats alike. In one, a black woman from Dallas, soon to be out of college and lamenting that she needs to learn Spanish to secure a job, asks how the candidates feel about non-English-speaking immigrants. In another, a middle-age man from Tucson, sitting in his wheelchair, asks about stem cell research. A gay Republican from Atlanta asks: "How can we make the Republican Party a more large, open tent?"
Other questions, many of them pointed, are directed to specific candidates. A former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asks former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon, if he agrees with the belief of the church that people who don't have white skin have been cursed by God for the sins of their forefathers.
There are plenty of offbeat questions. Billiam the snowman is back, this time joined by the likes of Mr. Potato Head and a hand puppet named Mojo. Rep. Ron Paul's loyal, Web-savvy supporters uploaded dozens of videos, all them flattering to the Texas congressman.
But perhaps most striking are offerings from disgruntled Republicans questioning what their party, locked in a fluid and unpredictable primary battle, really stands for...