(CNN) –On the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama each take the stage to discuss service and civic engagement in a forum at Columbia University.
What do you think of their ideas? How does the role of service determine what kind of nation we live in? What does national service mean to you?
Along with CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley, CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider, CNN Political Analyst Roland Martin, and Republican strategist Bay Buchanan, thousands of you weighed in.
Click "comments" below for a look at the entire conversation.
From CNN Politics
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It's great if bill and hillary are going to help Obama, but I hope that Obama apologizes if not publically then privately for not saying that they are not racisit. Also I hope that the dnc and democrates take notice how the republicans took up for Sara, and learn. It makes me ill to think that no one from dnc spoke up on Hillary's behalf on the sexsim, and then only did so meekly after the primarys it quite obvious now who they wanted to win.
Unfortunately, John, the people who don't volunteer are the ones who need to learn how to give the most. Making it compulsory for a certain age group, even for a couple of weeks, would allow millions to explore the altruistic magic of service.
ok if avg. citizens do the most service why reward the rich with your tax policy mr mccain??
Isn't McCain touting change in Washington? After 27 years as a Washington insider? One more thing that doesn't sound right.
Wow he just side stepped the education debt question,
Roland. THANK YOU. I just don't get it, and I'm sure a great many Americans are saying the same.
Dusty, I am in agreement that we should have defended ourselves. But where we went wrong was diverting our attention to Iraq. THat's not why we went to war!
All due respect to rich people? It seems to me that all of the respect due to the rich people was pawned when George Bush decided that they shouldn't carry the same tax burden as the "average American".
Mccain just said that the rich usualy do the least in the community.. They why give them the biggest tax break under his plan?? Should the rich get the biggest tax break and do the least to help the community?
McCain may be in his element but, Obama will def be in his as well
Is it true or false that Georgia invaded a territory and Russia went in to stop them?
I'm with Roland– I don't get the point of this forum. It seems like the candidates are being given a big tent called "Service" and the forum to see which of their talking points will fit under it.
Bot, he just elevated community organizers from Harvard with that one...
McCain is so full of it... volunteer effort... please....come on... this is a personal debate... what the hell... what is this forum about?
OMG _He just ADMITTED why the trickle down theory does not and will not work – because the rich dont care about anyone else but themselves. In his words, "they do not respond".
Roland,
Thanks for bringing up the LGBT community.
he is try to be funny when is not funny at all, this guy don't know anything. if McCain if please with voluter effort then what is wrong with community organizer.
I totally agree with McCain on the volunteering !
Now we find out about Governor Palin's willingness to go to war with Russia in her upcoming national interview. Maybe she knows more about Russia than I do because she lives right next door, but I find such dangerous comments to be the rantings of an uninformed dangerous religious zealot. When you put them together with her idea of Iraq as a holy war, one has to seriously question McCain's judgement in putting such an ignorant person a heart beat away from the presidency.
To Bill Schneider...
I don't see how he can disentangle himself from the web of Washington. His top campaign advisors are lobbyist–bet they get some time to 'bend his ear.' Secondly, his message has chaged notably and his positions have become murky. Can you really flip-flop on the issues–without sufficient explanation and bring change to Washinton?
How is McCain going to comment on service when he made such comments against community service work that Obama has done? I find it really heard to listen to someone who is talking out of both sides of his mouth on such a basic level.
well, roland, the republicans have been spinning the term "community organizer" as some scary instigator from the city who is a threat to people in small towns
How can McCain promote National Service when his campaign was trying to make a mockery of being a community organizer?
Does anyone remember the Keating 5?
Why isn't CNN making a bigger deal about Palin's affiliation with the Alaska Independence Party? You know - the secessionist party with the motto, "Alaska First - Alaska Always"? I can't think of anything more un-American!