Weekend Watchdog: Open Thread

Summary: 

It's that time again. Time for the watch to patrol the Sunday shows, on the look-out for a relevant question — should one get through. Which ones should get through? Make your suggestions and pose your questions in the comments, and when the guests are announced this evening we may pick some of your questions for the Watchdog. Come back and check out our usual Weekend Watchdog post to see who's on the guest list and whether your question is on the Watchdog list.

It's that time again. Time for the watch to patrol the Sunday shows, on the look-out for a relevant question — should one get through. Which ones should get through? Make your suggestions and pose your questions in the comments, and when the guests are announced this evening we may pick some of your questions for the Watchdog. Come back and check out our usual Weekend Watchdog post to see who's on the guest list and whether your question is on the Watchdog list.

If you've read the headlines, you know what's probably going to be the main topic — if not the topic — on just about every show. The presidential race is down to two candidates, and the debate has begun [1].

But a quick review of the headlines [1] shows that there are some other big stories out there that somebody on at least one of the Sunday shows ought to be asked about.

A few come to mind right away:

• Last week, Scott McClellan became the most recent ex-Bush aide to "tell all," and told us that Bush was not "open and forthright" on Iraq [2] and rushed into an unnecessary war. This week, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee reported that, in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, both Bush and Cheney made claims they knew weren't supported by intelligence [3]. This comes months after a report by the military's Joint Forces Command concluded — after pouring over 600,000 Iraqi documents — that there was "no smoking gun" to back up Bush's claims about a Saddam/Al-Qaeda link [4], and after the Pentagon buried the report [5].
  
  
• Bear Stearns has finally been sold [6], and Countrywide's sale can move forward [7] now. But we're still reeling from the crisis they've wrought. Americans' net worth has plummeted, to the tune of $1.7 trillion [8], and more than 1 million homes are now in foreclosure [9]. Where's our relief?
  
  
• In the meantime, is the next bubble about to burst while we're still recovering from the last one? George Soros thinks so. He says there's a "bubble in the making" in oil [10] and other commodities, and there may well be. Federal regulators disclosed an oil trading probe [11] last week. This week, we learned that hedge funds and Wall Street investors are buying massive amounts of oil contracts [12] thanks to some handy loopholes in federal trading limits. How messy is that bubble going to be when it pops?

That should get us started. What's on your mind? If you could ask one question on "Face the Nation," "This Week," or "Meet the Press" what would you ask? Let 'em rip in the comments. And, as always, keep things polite and respectful, as practice for when you contact the shows with your question.