Town Hall 2k8 style

Lest you thought tonight's bit of political theater was actually going to be a serious discussion between citizens and their potential leaders, you can cast that notion into the rubbish bin with your letters to Santa. It's stage managed to the point of wringing all interest out of the format.

–The questions will be culled from a group of 100 to 150 uncommitted likely voters in the audience and another one-third to come via the Internet. Brokaw selects which questions to ask from written queries submitted prior to the debate.

–The Gallup Organization makes sure the questioners reflect the demographic makeup of the nation.

–An audience member isn’t allowed to switch questions and will not be allowed a follow-up either. His or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read and a camera shot will only be shown of the person asking — not reacting.

–The moderator may not ask followups or make comments.

–McCain and Obama will be provided with director’s chairs, but they’re also allowed to stand. They can’t roam past their “designated area” marked on the stage and are not supposed to ask each other direct questions.

That's right, candidates will have their explosive collars activated if they roam out of the 'safe zone', people won't be able to ask follow ups lest their question isn't actually answered and face time is taken away from Tom Brokaw, and no reaction shots of said citizen will be shown lest they register anger or disgust at their question being ignored or answered to their dislike, and it doesn't really matter because Tom Brokaw is picking all the questions anyway and no deviations are allowed. Also, these people are supposed to represent the country demographically and be undecided? Are they going to be able to find enough undecided black people to hit 15%?

So there you go, you only get to ask question of your candidates if you are actually witless enough to be undecided a month before the election and have a question that's exactly like the one Brokaw already wanted to ask. Or you can go to a candidate's campaign town halls, where you get pre-screened and are only allowed to ask questions that the candidate wants to let through. Smell the democracy in action. But don't smell too hard, the sound of the air going into your nostrils might upset one of the candidates and you'll be asked to leave.