Salon: "We love your outfits on the trail!" (Bush Twins' Online Chat)

[kskiska]

The first twins stick to an RNC-sanctioned script in a suspiciously grammatical online chat with "real" voters.

(snip)

I was not naive. I knew I'd have to flood the zone in order to get my questions answered. So I recruited two young adult women friends. We were careful to be polite, keep the queries simple, and not let partisan politics obstruct this opportunity for straightforward communication with the daughters of the president.

But every time we submitted a carefully wrought question about reproductive rights, we'd refresh our screens to find that the Bushes had chosen to reply to a query like this one, from Stephen Shirk of West Chester, Penn. "Girls, being the children of one of the most admired men in the 'World', how do you perceive your father at this point in your lives?" wrote Shirk. "Is he more like your father or more like someone we call the president? I love your mom as the first lady also. She is the best ever."

Here, reproduced in order of our mounting frustration, are a collection of the questions we tried to ask Jenna and Barbara Bush:

What is your position on gay marriage?

Why should women vote for your father?

Have either of you ever considered getting an abortion?

Would you support your dad even if you didn't believe in his views?

Your dad might get the opportunity to appoint as many as three Supreme Court justices, and with Roe vs. Wade being such an important issue, how is he going to make the choice?

As a young woman, access to affordable birth control is one of my primary concerns. How will your dad make it more affordable and accessible for me?

(snip)

Alas, as the 7 o'clock hour drew nigh, it became increasingly clear that we were getting no love from the Bush women. Maybe we should have sucked up more, like Kyser Thompson from New York, who successfully asked if the sisters got nervous addressing big crowds and who made sure to note that she "loved outfits on the trail!" Or Brandon Kenif from Shawnee, Kan., who began, "You two are awesome!" and requested an autographed photo before asking what inspired them to get into politics. Marshall Sherman from Justin, Texas, added a postscript to his question about whether campaigning is tiring that asked the sisters to "Tell your Dad all of us homeschoolers down in Texas are pulling and praying for him!"

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http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2004/10/29/twins/