Demand Question Time!

MoJo's David Corn is leading the charge to get Question Time to be a regular feature of our democracy, and he's got an interesting left/right coalition of good government types on board.  Politico's Mike "Not Ben Smith" Allen:

David Corn, Mother Jones' Washington bureau chief, describes how the new campaign came about: "It's hard to imagine all of us agreeing on anything (except perhaps John Edwards' future in politics). But we had an idea that transcends ideology-and cable-talk squabbling and blogosphere bickering. On Sunday evening, a group of endorsers worked on a Google document of a shortened version of my original draft. Sharing ideas via email, we quickly resolved any disagreements. . Moffo found a designer who cooked up a nifty logo: a campaign-style button declaring, 'Demand Question Time.'

"None of us are naive and believe that implementing Question Time will cure what ails our country and our political process. We do realize that if QT does become a Washington routine, politicians and their aides will do what they can to game it to their advantage. . But even though there are problems with the presidential debates-which have been taken over by the political parties and a corporate-sponsored commission-those events still have value. . If you want more Question Time-even if only for its entertainment value-you can saddle up with dozens (and maybe it will turn into hundreds, thousands, and millions) of your fellow Americans in calling on our elected representatives to show us their best stuff on a regular basis."

Demand Question Time invites visitors to sign a petition: "We live in a world that increasingly demands more dialogue than monologue. President Obama's January 29th question-and-answer session with Republican leaders gave the public a remarkable window into the state of our union and governing process. It was riveting and educational. The exchanges were substantive, civil and candid. And in a rare break from our modern politics, sharp differences between elected leaders were on full public display without rancor or ridicule. ...

"So we call on President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader John Boehner to hold these sessions regularly - and allow them to be broadcast and webcast live and without commercial interruption, sponsorship or intermediaries. We also urge the President and the Republican Senate caucus to follow suit. And we ask the President and the House and Senate caucuses of his own party to consider mounting similar direct question-and-answer sessions. We will ask future Presidents and Congresses to do the same. It is time to make Question Time a regular feature of our democracy."

Now I'm all for this, and so are a lot of folks, from The Nation's Katrina VandenHeuvel to FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver to Grover Norquist, Markos "Great Orange Satan" Moulitsas and Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds.  It's a good idea.  We need to have more of this.

Demand Question Time and sign the petition.

[UPDATE 10:01 AM] The Question Time site, www.demandquestiontime.com, is getting swamped.  They're working on it.   You can also follow the #questiontime hashtag on Twitter for more info.

[UPDATE 1:02 PM] Demand Question Time is up and running.  Sign the petition!  And if you're on Facebook, join the Demand Question Time group, And follow them on Twitter at @demandQTime.