My prejudice is that the CNN-YouTube debates were poorly orchestrated affairs, and have said so on record (Minnesota Public Radio) . This project is a more systematic examination of the questions selected by CNN. After viewing the questions preferred by Anderson Cooper and others I expected to find the following:
Entertainment bias in selection
Gotcha Questions
Themes aimed at Party (GOP) hypocrisy
Issues selection tilted toward conflict/drama rather than consequence
When I examined the individual questions my inquiry took an unexpected turn. Certainly, many of the questions could be viewed through the above lens, but the variety of questions was much richer than their generalized duplicity. Damning the questions as double-dealing alone fails to answer how the questions worked. What were their specific sins?
My reading of the question's "fairness" kept reminding me of classical categories of failed reasoning--notably informal logic's work with fallacies. Many (not all) of the questions can be summed up as violating one or more reasoning standards. Candidates were presented with, from this perspective, loaded questions.
Of course this analysis is arbitrary. I recognize that fallacies are not always fallacies--context matters. Ad Hominen arguments (attacks against the person rather than his/her claim), for example, are often not germane, yet in politics the quality of character is--correctly--more to the point than policy promises. Similarly political arguments--rightly--are often more about political choices than narrow policy. Attendant hyperbole and shaded accents is part of the deal, and these nuances have consequence.
I also recognize that any set of questions, generated by voters, journalists, or candidates, would often be fallacious. Politics is a game of comparison, inviting contrasts, fair and unfair. I also recognize that ultimately it is the candidate responsibility to disarm question's unfair assumptions. Nonetheless we might hope that policy discussions would adhere to rules that allow fair play, and the ideas could be advanced and questioned within some bounds of argumentative ethics.
This project hopes to examine the questions posed in the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate and other primary venues as well. What the compilation below does not demonstrate is if "problems" are unique to CNN's method of selection or more generally characterizes debates. Nor does it explore the relationship between argument form and the answers they solicit. Candidates may commit as many fallacies in ducking the implications of loaded questions. What it does do is show the nature of the questions CNN deployed via their choices.
Preliminary conclusion regarding CNN's questions:
QUESTION SELECTION FAVORED EXPOSING CANDIDATES’ DUPLICITY. Certainly this appears to be the case in terms of questions asked the candidates, but the the greater hypocrisy may be CNN claim to be a conduit for "real voters" voice.
A particularly egregious example introduces my analysis.
Abbreviated Questions are followed by a discussion of their Argument Mode (presented in order asked -- GOP CNN/YouTube Debate - November 28, 2007)
Q1: New York City was operated as a sanctuary city, aiding and abetting illegal aliens. Will you continue to aid and abet the flight of illegal aliens.
Assumes fact, base on unstated definitions. Presumes guilt using the "loaded question" fallacy: "have you stopped beating your wife"
Q2: There are thousands of people in Canada and Mexico waiting to come to America legally. They want to become American citizens. They want to be part of the American dream. Yet, there are those in the Senate that want to grant amnesty for those that come here illegally. Will you pledge tonight, if elected president, to veto any immigration bill that involves amnesty for those that have come here illegally?
Topic is fair; Also potentially the "Either/Or" fallacy.
Q3: (1) I want to know whether I'll have a job next year. (2) What are you going to do to keep these guest workers coming to the U.S. to save our business?
Provides flip side of the immigration question. Order of questions invites contradiction. (1) Emotional but impossible to assess (2) direct policy, good.
Q4: (W)hile governor of Arkansas, you gave a illegal aliens a discount for college in Arkansas. (T)housands of military members currently serving our country in Iraq with children at home. If these children chose to move to Arkansas to attend college, they would have to pay three times the tuition rate that illegal alien's pay. Would you support a federal law which would require any state that gives these tuition rates to illegal aliens to give the same rates to the children of our military members?
Ad Hominem Tu Quoque - The existence of "inconsistent claims" does not make any particular claim false.
Q5: I've noticed that a good number of (Paul Supports) seem to buy into this conspiracy theory regarding the Council of Foreign Relations, and some plan to make a North American union by merging the United States with Canada and Mexico. Do you really believe in all this . . . ?
(1)Guilt by Association or the Company that You Keep Fallacy. (2) Ad Hominem means "against the man" or "against the person." Asks, Paul are you as crazy as these other folks.
Q6: A concern of my generation (18 year old questioner) is the trillions of dollars of national debt and what kind of responsibility we will have for that in the future. My question for you all is, if elected, what measures will you take to tackle the national debt and control spending?
Appeal to Pity. Pity does not serve as evidence for a claim
Q7: The Republican Party once stood for limited government . . . (O)ver the past decade, real discretionary federal spending has . . . increased 40 percent, more than half of which has been non-defense related. So my question is: What are the names of the top three federal programs you would reduce in size. ....
This question is on face an Appeal to Tradition. The use however is to point out insincerity on the part of Republicans. Duplicity is assumed.
Q8: (D)o you support the elimination of the federal income tax in favor of a national retail sales tax, also known as the fair tax? Seems like a fair question.
Q9: Would you promise to the people watching this right now, that you will oppose and veto any efforts to raise taxes as long as you're president?
False Choice, Either/Or
The question is from Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. Not an ordinary citizen invokes the rhetorical traps routinely posed by an interest group.
Q10: Mmmmmm, nothing says delicious like cheap corn subsidized by the American taxpayer. For a lot of Americans, however, a bitter taste is left in their mouth when they learned about how the U.S. taxpayer bankrolls billions of dollars in farm subsidies that mostly go to large item business interests. I'm curious which candidate could label themselves fiscally responsible, will endorse the elimination of farm subsidies.
False Choice, Either/Or - The candidates are either fiscally responsible or for farm subsidies (subtext: Seeking Iowa votes makes for hypocrisy). Also a form of Begging the Question or Fallacy of many questions (a fallacy shared by many of the questions).
Q11: (T)hese are my kids Evan and May. Maya is from China and we adopted her to give her a better life. We never dreamed that she would that she'd be exposed to lead after leaving China, and now we find trains like this that are covered with lead in our home. My question for the candidates are, what are you going to do to make sure that these kind of toys don't make their way into our homes and that we have safe toys that are made in America again and we keep jobs in America?
Complex Question. Use a "loaded question," because it involves asking a question which assumes the truth of at least one extra, hidden premise which is either false or, at the very least, questionable (all toys are dangerous), not to mention the additional complexity of China trade, jobs, immigration, and family supremacy.
Q12: (W)e like our big guns. What is your opinion of gun control? And don't worry, you can answer however you like.
Q13: (T)he Constitution grants us the right to bear arms as a means of protection, why do you (Guliani) believe that citizens should be required to pass an exam in order to exercise their right to protect themselves and their families?
Hypocrisy, complex question. Question order invites flip flop inference.
Q14: Any of you all want to tell us about your gun collection, roughly how many you own, what your favorite make, model and caliber is, if any of them require a tax stamp?
Expose duplicity via personal behavior. Following the other two gun questions asks for self incrimination. Ad Hominem Tu Quoque when actions contradict what is said, and hence is false.
Q15: (W)hat about the war going on in our country, black on black crime? Two hundred to 400 black men die yearly in one city alone. What are you going to do about that war?
Asking about ethic death in the US seems to be a fair question. Tying it the war in Iraq does imply the candidates don't care about domestic violence.
Q16:In the event that abortion becomes illegal and a woman obtains an abortion anyway, what should she be charged with, and what should her punishment be? What about the doctor who performs the abortion?
Expose hypocrisy of Moral issues and Tough on Crime.
Q17: If hypothetically, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and the Congress passed a federal ban on all abortions and it came to your desk, would you sign it? Yes or no?
Always problem with answering hypothetical scenarios, yet the question gets to the heart of the issue via positions articulated by candidates.
Q19: (H)ow you answer this question will tell us everything we need to know about you. Do you believe every word of this book?
(1) Threat, Appeal to force, Argumentum ad Baculum
(2) Bifurcation, Black-and-White Fallacy, Either/Or Fallacy, False Dilemma
Asked to question religious beliefs, just how fundamentalist are you? Really asks the degree candidate will kowtow to the "Religious Right"
Q20: After living abroad, personally, in the Middle East for a year, I realized just how much damage the Iraq war and the perception of invasion has done to the image of America. What would you do as president to repair the image of America in the eyes of the Muslim world?
Assumption on causality assumed. It may very well be that the war drives image in a cause effect, but in the question both relationships are assumed. Could be seen as Post hoc ergo propter hoc or Non Causa Pro Causa
Q21: (C)onsidering that Mr. McCain is the only one with any firsthand knowledge on the subject (water boarding), how can those of you sharing the stage with him disagree with his position?
Q22: We need to make a permanent our long-term military commitment to the region. By staying in Iraq, we provide long-term stability to the region, we provide support for our allies, and we act as a deterrent to the trouble-makers in the region. Which presidential candidate will make a permanent of long-term military commitment to the people of Iraq?
Question order, invites contradiction with question set via Iraq. Causal relationship assumed. Nonetheless, likely fairly represents a sizeable segment of GOP voters.
Q23: Rudy Giuliani is using September 11, 2001, to propel himself into the White House. My question to you is: How do you respond to this accusation.
Circumstantial Ad Hominem, assumption that self interest motivates the claim. That is Rudy only sites 9/11 to get elected, not "legitimate" qualification
Q24: Will you grant your vice president as much power and influence as I've had (Cheney Cartoon)? And remember, before you answer, I'm watching you.
The use of a cartoon leans toward entertainment, yet begs the Question (Petitio Principii)
Guilt by Association, which in itself is fair, but is also a complex question in which presumptions are assumed.
"I'm watching you" Humorous, yet indirect "evidence" of Chaney's defect, an assumption on which the question is premised.
Q25: I'm a graduate of the Special Forces Officer Corp, the Commanding General Staff Course and the Army War College. And I'm an openly gay man. I want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.
Ad Verecundiam or Appeal to Authority. Being a Gay military officer is relevant to gays ability to serve, but not to previewing the candidates positions. Poisoning the Well This is akin to saying "before turning the floor over I ask you to remember that those who oppose gays do not have the best interests of the nation at heart."
Q26: Ask if they accept the support of the Log Cabin Republicans, and why should the Log Cabin Republicans support their candidacy?
False dichotmy. Implication, gay Americans ought to reject Republicans.
Q27: The national debt is now growing so quickly it will have increased by over half- million dollars in just the time it takes to ask this question. Over the years, politicians have borrowed just under $2 trillion from the Social Security trust fund to cover these massive budget deficits, and now the retirements of our generation are at risk. What will you do as president to help repay this money and restore the trust?
Oversimplification and Exaggeration, occurs when "whenever the series of actual causes for an event are either reduced or multiplied to the point where there is no longer a genuine, causal connection between the alleged causes and the actual effect."
Hints of Fear appeal as well.
Q28: JFK's vision put a man on the moon from a nonexistent space program in about seven years. The new vision for space exploration has provided about 15 years for that same feat. Meanwhile, Congress is pulling funding for human-to-Mars research altogether. Is there a candidate amongst you willing to take a pledge on behalf of the Mars Society of sending an American to the surface of Mars by 2020?
Seems like a fair question, specific and fresh to the discussion. Citizen questions can be more than journalist might ask - wow.
Q29: On a variety of specific issues -- gay marriage, taxes, the death penalty, immigration, faith-based initiatives, school vouchers, school prayer -- many African Americans hold fairly conservative views. And yet, we overwhelmingly vote Democrat in most elections. So my question to any of the Republican candidates here is, why don't we vote for you?
Q30: (Does) this flag right here represent the symbol of racism, a symbol of political ideology, a symbol of Southern heritage -- or, is it something completely different?
The question technically is direct. The payoff for CNN, in addition to the stark visuals, is its commentary on elections. The actual question: How far are you willing to go to placate the" prejudiced South" to win the South Carolina primary? Conservatives ignore Black sensitivities (see above question)
Q31: It's been estimated that to fix the bridges, the tunnels, the power grids, the water delivery systems in this country will be in excess of $2 trillion -- that is "t" for "trillion" -- and it is plural. Who among the candidates here is willing to step forward and begin to articulate the very difficult sacrifices which we need to make in order to start repairing America?
Oversimplification and Exaggeration (see above). Question is a good one.
Q32: Mr. Paul, I think we both know that the Republican party is never going to give you the nomination. But I'm hoping that you're crazy like a fox like that and you're using this exposure to propel yourself into an independent run. My question is for Ron Paul: Mr. Paul, are you going to let America down by not running as an independent?
Sounds like the question reporters would like to ask, that is, process and "game" traits are more interesting.
Q33: (C)an you explain why you being a lifelong Yankees fan, that this year, after the Yankees lost everything, you rooted for the Red Sox in the postseason?
CNN's attempt to lighten it up, allow a human side from the candidates. Even this asks, "Can humor mollify flip-flop hypocrisy?
