In humble attempt at casting this in the tradition of Socrates, a (slightly altered) quote:

"The unexamined vote is not worth casting."

Monday, January 14, 2008

Candidates Asked About Crime & Punishment, Economic Disparity, Darfur, AIDS

"This week billionaire Warren Buffet said that the very wealthy aren't taxed nearly enough. In fact he noted that he's taxed at a lower rate than some of his employees that earn much less. Do you agree that the rich aren't paying their fair share of taxes, and what would you do about it?"
So begins the "economic disparity" section of the Democratic portion of the "All American Presidential Forums on PBS." On the website, the forum was described in this way:
"Inspired by the book the Covenant with Black America, The All-American Presidential Forums on PBS marks the first time that a panel comprised of journalists of color is represented in primetime. Many of the questions asked of the candidates focus on key domestic priorities that were originally outlined in the book."
The forum was held for Democratic candidates on June 28th, and Republicans on Sept. 27th. I just discovered this today, and really appreciate the pressing subjects that were covered in both forums, along with the effort this represents to consider issues particularly affecting the African American community. The length of the primary race--running over a year as it has--makes a forum held seven months ago feel irrelevant, but that's simply not so when you are a voter considering where to place your support; what the candidates who are still in the race said in this debate is key, and offers insight into who they are and where they stand (and there's of course importance in understanding issues holistically by listening to those candidates who have dropped out if possible; if you are looking for a particular candidate's responses though, the video screen is setup a little differently than most online videos, and you have to use the fast forward button on there to do so). The uniqueness of the subjects covered in this debate really do make for a standout forum though, and although the amount of time given to candidates is fairly quick in some parts, this does allow for short, to the point clips on each topic. Here is a link to the page with a video screen and a list of all of the topics for the Democrats' section, or you can just click on any of the links below to go a video on a specific topic:
And the same for Republicans, with a link to the video page of all the sections here, and a list of the topics covered below, each with a link to a video on that section:

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