Every Friday in our Weekend Watchdog feature, we post suggested questions for scheduled Sunday guests. You can add your own questions in the comment thread. We’ll also include contact information for the shows, so we can let them know what their viewers want asked. We’ll post a wrap-up here on the blog on Monday.
The proposed bailout is sure to be the main topic for all the scheduled Sunday show guests: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. (CBS’ Face The Nation); Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. (ABC’s This Week); Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John Kerry, D-Mass. (Fox News Sunday); Former President Bill Clinton, Obama camapign advisor David Axlerod, McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo, and former Rep. Bob Schaffer, R-Colo. (NBC’s Meet The Press).
Here are three suggested questions about progressive principles for any bailout that should be part of the discussion:
1. The economy has been off track for years before this financial crisis came to a head, with lost jobs, wages that don’t keep pace with inflation, weakening infrastructure and crunched state budgets. How can we get the economy back on track if we only bail out bankers without an economic stimulus investing in projects that would put people back to work?
2. Why approve a banker bailout without a new regulatory framework that would prevent such a crisis from happening again?
3. Why help out the predatory lenders without helping the victims facing foreclosures by allowing them to renegotiate mortgages in bankruptcy court?
For more background, see The Deal That Blew Up and
With Whom Should White House and Congressional Leaders Be Negotiating?
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Contact info for the Sunday shows
Contact ABC’s This Week by clicking here
Email CBS’ Face The Nation at ftn@cbsnews.com
Email Fox News Sunday at FNS@foxnews.com
Contact NBC’s Meet The Press by clicking here
Remember: always be brief, polite and respectful when contacting the media, so our voices will be taken seriously.