Before each of the presidential debates this year, the New York Times editorial page has invited some noteworthy and some not-at-all noteworthy individuals to pose hypothetical questions for President Bush and Senator John Kerry. Unfortunately, the questions the Times' first feature are no longer available online. But my distinct impression after having read them was that they nothing particular of note. Some of the questions for Kerry were tough, some not -- the same for the questions for Bush.

But today's features are so laughably one-sided that it's ludicrous. Of the questions for John Kerry, only two are really incisive:

CHARLES FRIED, professor at Harvard Law School and former solicitor general:

In the next four years there may well be several appointments to make to the Supreme Court. In order to give the voters an idea of what kind of men and women you would appoint, please tell us whether you approve or disapprove of the decision of the supreme court of your state of Massachusetts to make gay marriage a matter of constitutional right under a state constitutional provision very like that in the federal constitution.

JAMES Q. WILSON, author of “The Moral Sense”:

Why should we make you commander in chief of the United States armed forces after you have said that those forces regularly committed war crimes in Vietnam, and after you voted against new missile systems, the B-2 bomber and the American-led effort to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait in 1991?

The remainder, while some of the answers could certainly be informative, are mostly useless. A couple are just joke softballs.

The questions for Bush are hardballs, except for the last one:

ANA MARIE COX, editor of Wonkette.com:

Personal experience can often change political opinions. So, just hypothetically: Let's say your vice president's daughter was gay ... Oh, wait. Umm ... What if you were responsible for the biggest deficit in American history - oh, ha. O.K.: Let's say you invaded a country based on faulty intelligence ... Er, oops ... No, we got it: How did "The Pet Goat" end, anyway?

She's the most overrated "talent" in the blogosphere. And you can quote me on that.