The second Youtube/CNN debate will be held on Wednesday, November 28, and I can tell already it's going to be as bad - if not worse - than the first one. They'll ask a series of lightweight questions, and throw in a few humorous entries designed to portray those on the internet of being wacky (in contrast to the "serious journalists" at CNN).

And, CNN isn't even hiding that their goal is to entertain rather than having a real discussion about important issues. See the debate previews at their "Funny, poignant questions pour in for GOP debate" article (link). In the four videos, at least two of them feature an Elvis impersonator and other wacky characters. And, almost all of the semi-serious videos they show would simply be answered with a stock speech.

One way to deal with this is to contact CNN's Political Director and suggest they have a real debate: sam.feist *at* cnn.com

Another is to help discredit CNN by pointing out their lies.

And, the questions submitted for the debate so far fall into three broad categories: a small number of worthy entries, a good number of joke entries by those seeking their 15 minutes, and a large number of entries from people who don't know how to ask questions that can't simply be answered by a somewhat related stock speech. In the second case, I suggest working to discredit them by asking them to seek their 15 minutes elsewhere. In the last case, I suggest pointing out to them that they might want to do some research first.