I won’t say anything mean today about poor Wolf Blitzer, although goodness knows he deserves it.  In general, the people at CNN live in a world that’s unfamiliar to most of us.  They make a t0j of money (but of course like to pretend they’re “just folks”).  They’re excessively concerned about what their journalistic and political peers think of them.  Overall, they inhabit a world where the Republicans are the “bad guys.” 

CNN gave in much too easily to Hillary’s rejection of questions that are “hypotheticals.”  In fact, some of the most illuminating questions are the “whaf if?” variety.  If people want to be President, they should tell how they would handle situations that might come up.  Mrs. Clinton doesn’t want to answer such questions.  Why?  I fear it’s because such questions might somehow penetrate the “candidate barrier” she’s erected around herself.

Another failing CNN exemplifies is its obsession with “gaffe politics.”  Can we please allow candidates to make mistakes – just as all other human beings do?  Can we avoid putting them in a position where they’re hesitant to speak candidly?  We don’t really want candidates who spend months reciting their “talking points” – and saying nothing about what they truly believe. 

I proposed two related questions for the Democrats on abortion:  “When do you personally believe life begins?  And why do you believe that?”  There’s not a single correct answer to that question.  However, it would tell us something about the way a candidate thinks about a critical issue.   I doubt seriously CNN (or any other MSM outlet, with the possible exception of FOX) will ask such a question.

I’d like to see candidates challenged when they use their favorite one-liners.  Tonight, we’ll presumably hear Mitt Romney (not my favorite) use the following anti-McCain lines: “I fear that McCain-Kennedy will do to immigration reform what McCain-Feingold did to campaign finance reform.”  To me, this is pure demagoguery.  There is no current McCain-Kennedy legislation, frankly. 

Also, there are major problems with campaign finance.   There are probably 250-plus Democrats in the U.S. House, the recently indicated Howard Jefferson one of them, who can raise vast sums of money to keep them in Congress forever.  In the last election, John Murtha raised $3.5 million, a greater sum per voter than Senator Clinton raised and spent in New York.  If only one candidate has a chance to win, it’s not exactly democracy.  What is Gov. Romney’s solution to the problems of campaign finance?  (I fear we will never hear an answer to that question or many others.)

Think there isn’t a problem?  Go to www.opensecrets.org and look up the campaign finance situations of Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Charles Rangel, John Conyers, Howard Jefferson, and others.  Yes, campaign finance is a major problem.  And Governor Romney’s solution is to recite a misleading slogan?

I hope (but don’t expect) that CNN – or somebody – will ask the minor candidates what they’re still doing on the stage.  The four I have in mind are Governor Jim Gilmore, Rep. Tom Tancredo, Tommy Thompson, and the profoundly irritating Congressman Ron Paul.  They don’t have a “right” to be up there any more than you or I do.  They’re taking up space and time.

One of the hypotheticals the candidates must answer is:  what kind of judges would you appoint to the federal courts, including SCOTUS?  I hope someone – CNN won’t do it – would ask the candidates what they think about four justices:  Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts.  Do they think, in general, that they’re good justices?  Would they want to nominate future justices SOMEWHAT like those individuals?

I’d also like to hear the candidates discuss what they think has gone right in Iraq – and some things have – and what they think has gone wrong.  What are the specific lessons learned? 

On the question of immigration:  what specifically should we do about the 12 million "illegals?"   Bumper-sticker slogans are not going to solve the problem.  What is the best, most humane way to proceed?  Everyone knows what we should do first (improve security).  However, what should we do second . . . and third . . . and fourth.  Force the candidates to put themselves in the shoes of a Mexican man who can't feed his family and whose children are sick.  What, Mr. Candidate, would you do?  Watch your family starve to death?

I wish the people at CNN were more self-reflective.  They seem to live in such a small Beltway-driven world.  They look at the candidates as "content," or perhaps entertainers.  They don't look at them as fallible human beings who should be allowed not to know "all the answers." 

Yes, I wonder what issues keep the candidates awake at night.  (My impression of Romney and Paul is that do in fact sleep like logs.)