Category: Political

Recovered from the Wayback Machine

From the hits I’m getting, I just found out that I own the Google phrase winner of the debate.

By the way, I lied and did watch the debate tonight. Well, the domestic part towards the end. I’m not going to address each issue because I don’t get paid to do this, and spent too much time jumping up and down going, “He’s an idiot! He’s an idiot”. Hard to effectively report in these circumstances.

(My roommate has sworn never to watch another debate with me. Ever. Again.)

My respect for John Kerry has increased with this debate, considerably; that for Bush lowered even further when the only mistake he would admit to is who he has appointed, but he can’t divulge the names, so as to not hurt feelings. And I’m sorry, but tort reform will not magically create health care insurance for 45+ million people currently without any coverage; nor will it significantly lower the cost of drugs. And Bush, your forest initiatives are going to kill the last virgin forests left in this country.

For those who see no difference between the two candidates, you’re not looking hard enough. George Bush sees the world in black and white, right or wrong, with us or against us. He appeals to people who want the world to live in black and white, right or wrong, or to be with us or against us. Kerry, on the other hand, can see the gray, and this isn’t necessarily reassuring to some folk.

But I want my President to see the gray, as well as the black and white. And I want a president who is willing to admit when he’s made a mistake, and learn from it. Bush never will.

You might as well fire me, right now. Yup, just give me my marching orders and strip me of my feeds.

The candidates are in town tonight and I’m not going down to take pictures. Not only that, but I’m also not going to the DNC party, to see John Kerry make an appearance and take more pictures. I won’t be there to fact check that yes, Kerry is 6′ 4″, white, male, and speaks English.

In fact, I doubt I’ll even watch the debate tonight. I know, I know. There is no excuse. How can I provide my analysis, or point out any of the many gotchas that Bush, or Kerry, is sure to commit if I don’t watch?

I’m not sure what’s come over me. Flu? West Nile Virus? Too much interesting experimentation with drugs earlier in my life?

Personally, I think it was turning on the TV today to get a feel for the traffic problems and watching political ad after political ad, and not one was positive; every single one was a negative ad aimed at a candidate for one office or another, with largely unsubstantiated attacks that made each person seem like the Devil incarnate.

It was like watching snippets from political weblogs come alive on TV. I’m going to have nightmares for a week.

If someone were interested in robbing a bank in St. Louis, now is the time to do it. Most police are being pulled into details covering the joint appearances of Kerry and Bush here from Thursday to Saturday, culminating in their next debate, Friday night.

I didn’t even attempt to get tickets for this, but there is a party at Missouri DNC headquarters I can attend. And I also thought about hitting the ‘mad as hell’ pens, otherwise known as the remote Public Viewing Area for protestors, to take photos. It is, after all, in visual range of the complex where Kerry and Bush will speak. But then, so is the moon.

What think – do you want to see photos of the demonstrations at St. Louis? I think I’d rather pass on robbing a bank.

I do believe that John Kerry was much more relaxed and confident during the debate. President Bush seemed very pressured at times, very uncomfortable with the venue. He stumbled quite a bit more than Kerry, though usually did recover himself.

(Kerry toasted Bush! On a scale of lightly browned to burnt, President Bush was too done to even feed the hogs.)

I especially appreciated Kerry’s nods when Bush was making statements about his voting records, as if to say, of course I vote that way–but that’s not the point, and this isn’t the issue. I think his point on the tax cuts was a very good one – they benefit people like him and Bush, not the rest of us.

(Yes sir, yes ma’am, he did. Kerry fried ‘em all up and served ‘em semi-sweet, dusted with confect’ner’s sugah! )

I believe that one of the more important points that Kerry made throughout was that when our attention should have been focused on Al Queda in Afghanistan, we misdirected our people to Iraq, and now we’re in the midst of difficult times in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Too much time has been spent on Iraq. And now we have no choice but to continue focusing on that country, to our detriment elsewhere.

(Toast! Toast! Toast! That man was toast! Toast! Toast! He’yah! Sing it out! Toast! Toast! Toast!)

I also believe that Kerry made a very good point about how Iraq is now taxing our resources dangerously, leaving us more vulnerable to terrorism rather than less. I also don’t believe that President Bush’ statement about the Patriot Act (though not specifically named) was a very persuasive counter-thrust.

(To-o-o-o-a-a-a-a-s-t!)

Towards the end President Bush hinted again about how ‘dangerous’ it could be to switch leaders now, about how it sends mixed signals. No, it does not. It sends a message to the world that in this country we can change leaders when we, the people, want, not when it suits them. That was probably the think that irritated me the most the last year in this election–the implication that we can’t change presidents now or something Bad will happen.

(Bad toast. Bad.)

I supported John Kerry before the debate, so I didn’t go into this undecided. However, I now feel that much more strongly about John Kerry as my choice for President.

(Toast.)

Okay, okay, let’s face facts: those who supported Kerry will see him as ‘the winner’ of the debate and those who supported Bush will see him as ‘the winner’; we haven’t heard from the undecided voter, and won’t until election night. But it was fun to let loose a purely partisan reaction. Let me hear you brothers, and sisters…toast!

The American people.

The Presidential debate tonight was one of the best political debates I’ve seen. Yes, there was time to bring in canned speech and talking points, but the moderator was exceptionally good at clarifying points, showing when both candidates were similar and both were different. More than that, I thought it was a class act to see the cordial nature of the two men following the debate, as well as the relatively civil discussion during the debate – and we owe much of this to PBS’ Jim Lehrer.

Not that he didn’t turn the heat up; he did. He directly addressed many of the topics and statements that have been tossed around in the back rooms and along the sidelines the last several months. But by doing so, he forced both men to make their statements directly in front of each other, when the other had a chance to immediately refute, or at times, concur with what was said. No more speculation, no more innuendo – what you saw was what you get.

As for which person won, Kerry or Bush – it really does break down into: which man proposed the course you most want to follow. Gone were the memos and the Swift veterans and all of the other folderol that has plagued this campaign. What we saw tonight was what Kerry would do, what Bush would do, their reactions to the questions, how they were different, and how they were the same.

These are the men in the light now. The election really does revolve on what they will do in the next four years if elected. All of those who have grabbed a bit of the light until now, gleefully following this rumor or that, dipping their toesies in the muck, guess what: Your ten minutes are up.