Friday, October 01, 2004

What I’d Like to Ask George W. Bush

Well, the presidential debates are upon us. At the risk of over-sharing, I’ve managed to turn my daily exercise routine into a weird form of therapy whereby I think up dozens of questions I’d like to ask Mr. Bush. I have an assortment of questions I’d like to ask Senator Kerry, but he just doesn’t get me all questioned up the way our President does. And when I told my honey about this little tic I’ve developed and then asked her what she’d like to ask the President, she said that she had already had four years of answers. But I soldier on. Here are some that I’d just love to ask him:

--Question: in 2000 you said this of the Beatles: “I liked their early stuff. They did some good records. But then they got a bit weird. I didn’t like all that later stuff when they got strange.” Ok, fair enough. Everyone is entitled to their musical opinion. But what, exactly, was it that you liked about “Love Me Do,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and “She Loves You”? What, exactly, was it about “Penny Lane,” “Revolution,” and “Come Together” that left you cold?

--Question: other than the Bible, have you read a book or seen a movie or listened to some music that has changed the way you see the world? What is the purpose of the arts?

--Question: Ralph Nader has said that you are a giant corporation masquerading as a person. Can you prove him wrong? Can you give me an example when you were faced with a decision that pitted corporate interests against labor or environmental or consumer interests and you chose the latter? Have you done one thing that corporate America did not want you to do for them?

--Question: what is “compassionate conservatism” and how is it different from plain old conservatism?

--Question: you often speak of the need to cut taxes because people know best how to spend their money. Why not eliminate all taxes then? What is the purpose of taxes? What is the purpose of government?

--Question: your administration is opposed to affirmative action. How do you explain, then, your acceptance into Andover, Yale University, and then Harvard University? Are we to believe that you gained admission through hard work and high SAT scores? Or was it the personal essay?

--Question: in the lead-up to the war in Iraq you referred to the millions of people around the world who demonstrated against it as a “focus group.” Please explain what you meant by that phrase. What were they focusing on? Were they being controlled by someone or some thing in much the same way that you referred to the civil rights movement as being controlled by communists in the 1970s?

--Question: have you fired or reprimanded anyone in your Administration for providing you with faulty intelligence regarding those so-called weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

--Question: in the presidential debates in 2000 you had this to say about U.S. foreign policy: “I don’t think our troops ought to be used for what’s called nation-building. . . . I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I’m missing something here. I mean, we’re going to have a kind of nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not.” Given that we run, choose the leaders, fight, and die in Iraq, would you consider your present policy an example of nation-building? Or flip-flopping?

--Question: earlier this year, and at one of your rare press conferences, you were asked if you had made any mistakes during your Presidency. You said, “I wish you’d have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it.” Well, it’s been over six months since this question was asked. What’s your answer today?

--Question: Vietnam is back in the news. Earlier this year you said on “Meet the Press” that you supported the Vietnam War when you were in your 20s. Why didn’t you go then? On a related matter, how does the military generally deal with individuals who are AWOL?

--Question: in an interview with Fox news you said with some passion that you don’t read newspapers. Later on, you qualified this statement. Are you or are you not reading newspapers? Do you receive any news that is not filtered by your staff?

--Question: President Kennedy once famously said that “life is not fair.” Would you agree? Can you give me an instance where you caught a bad break? How did you respond?

--Question: do you speak to God? If so, what does he say?

I have a whole lot more questions but I’ll stop here. As they indicate, I harbor the illusion that if Bush was forced to tell the truth, take responsibility for the multiple messes he has created for us and for the world, we might finally come to grips with him. Now, in the interest of fairness, I’ve thought of something that could make me reconsider and want to vote for W. And there is: if I heard him rave about the new martial arts film “Hero,” I would seriously consider casting my vote for a man whose “stove has never been lit” in Michael Kinsley’s apt description.

Broadcast by Jonathan Nashel on October 01, 2004
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