Topic: CNSNews.com
The sixth round of CNSNews.com interns' ambush questions to members of Congress were perfect gotcha questions -- they called for a yes-or-no answer on a complex issue, one where a yes-or-no answer benefits Repubican narratives, which is the entire point of this exercise. The subject this time was immigration with two questions:
- “Should illegal aliens be given a pathway to citizenship?”
- “And is our southwest border secure now?”
CNS hit up a lot of the usual suspects again:
- Ted Cruz (R)
- Chuck Grassley (R)
- Ron Johnson (R)
- John Hoeven (R)
- Elizabeth Warren (D)
- Dick Durbin (D)
- Mike Crapo (R)
- Dianne Feinstein (D)
- Joe Manchin (D)
- Tom Carper (D)
- Mike Braun (R)
- Joni Ernst (R)
One Democratic senator, however, called the gotcha nature of the questions, and that didn't do down well with the questioner:
Asked whether the U.S. southwest border is secure, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said, “We’re certainly making every effort to make sure that is it,” but refused to answer the question directly.
At the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, CNS News asked the senator, “Should illegal aliens be given a pathway to citizenship?”
Senator Peters said, “That’s part of comprehensive immigration reform. We’re gonna have to take a look at all that.”
In a follow-up question, CNS News asked, “And is our southwest border secure now?”
“Is it secure? We’re certainly making every effort to make sure that it is,” he said.
CNS News asked again, “And is it?”
Senator Peters said, “How do you define that? Yeah, I’m not going to play that game with you.”
But playing games is also part of this exercise as far as CNS is concerned -- to annoy Democrats by demanding yes-or-no answers on complex issues. For questioning the premise, Peters was given an unflattering stock photo illustrating his article.
