Right, and in Britain, they don't provide questions ahead of time, so it'd always be an ambush forum. The Brits themselves admit it's just a political posturing time. Here, it would work every now and then, but as weekly theatre I fear it'd just add to the cacophony of strident voices already arguing everything to death. And if that ass Joe Wilson can call the President a lie to his face on national television, how long before such a gathering would devolve into cursing and name calling--and I fear we Americans would *not* sit still long for that!
----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Baxter" <truthseeker...@hotmail.com> To: "SciFiNoir2" <scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com>, dar...@darylelockhart.com, afrikanm...@hotmail.com, cbilmarket...@yahoo.com, bettil...@msn.com, cinque3...@verizon.net, dorothyh...@sbcglobal.net, duva...@hotmail.com, fis...@bellsouth.net, gwashin...@aol.com, jeffreypbal...@gmail.com, killa...@gmail.com, kalpub...@aol.com, keithbjohn...@comcast.net, imke...@gmail.com, seriousnup...@yahoo.com, logic1...@aol.com, truthseeker...@icqmail.com, mmb1...@gmail.com, gord...@indiana.edu, "michael v w gordon" <michael.v.w.gor...@gmail.com>, "rave" <ravena...@yahoo.com>, rs...@yahoo.com, everything...@nyc.rr.com, valeryjea...@yahoo.com, wendellsmit...@gmail.com, sonofafieldne...@sbcglobal.net, williamsf...@speakeasy.net, beta...@yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, February 4, 2010 3:27:48 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [scifinoir2] White House Shoots Down Regular Question Time Forums I have to agree with that. It's a wonderful idea, but we don't run our Guv'mint in the same fashion as Great Britain. Just not enough time to gather all the parties needed. "If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in bloody hell hired the director?" -- Charles L Grant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik To: dar...@darylelockhart.com; afrikanm...@hotmail.com; cbilmarket...@yahoo.com; bettil...@msn.com; cinque3...@verizon.net; dorothyh...@sbcglobal.net; duva...@hotmail.com; fis...@bellsouth.net; gwashin...@aol.com; jeffreypbal...@gmail.com; killa...@gmail.com; kalpub...@aol.com; keithbjohn...@comcast.net; imke...@gmail.com; seriousnup...@yahoo.com; logic1...@aol.com; truthseeker...@icqmail.com; mmb1...@gmail.com; gord...@indiana.edu; michael.v.w.gor...@gmail.com; ravena...@yahoo.com; rs...@yahoo.com; everything...@nyc.rr.com; valeryjea...@yahoo.com; wendellsmit...@gmail.com; sonofafieldne...@sbcglobal.net; williamsf...@speakeasy.net; beta...@yahoo.com CC: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com From: tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 00:13:04 -0800 Subject: [scifinoir2] White House Shoots Down Regular Question Time Forums Despite the widespread popularity of President Obama's question-and-answer forums and the apparent boost they've given to his agenda, the White House shot down a proposal on Wednesday to make such open forums a regular feature. Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton relayed the news during Wednesday's briefing, calling the idea of standardizing "question time" good in concept but impractical in practice. "David Axelrod has talked about this a little," Burton said. "And what he had to say is: part of the reason Friday was so successful with the GOP conference was the spontaneity that occurred there. And it is going to be hard to recreate the spontaneity that happened." Burton added that the president "thinks that there is space for more open dialogue, and he is going to look for more opportunities to do things on camera and have open discussions on important issues." But it was clear that the administration is not willing to incorporate a British-parliament-style Q&A session into American governance. An interesting question for constitutional scholars is whether Congress has the power to make this happen on its own. Meanwhile, the last time the president held an open news conference with reporters was back in late July . The push was on the White House to commit to such forums on a regular basis after the largely positive reception to Obama's appearance before a gathering of House Republicans on Friday. A diverse coalition of political strategists, bloggers and officials released a petition on Wednesday morning titled "Demand Question Time" . http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/03/white-house-shoots-down-r_n_448022.html Hotmail: Powerful Free email with security by Microsoft. Get it now.
