Peter,
I am also excited to see the VP debate.
If I can see the moon from my house, can I be an astrophysicist?
OR If I can see the road from my house, can I be secretary of Transportation.MOM
PS: I hope Biden does not put his foot in his mouth.
off-topics
Rachel Maddow, in brief
It’s always interesting to read a foreign take on American news media – in this case, a brief Guardian bio of newly minted MSNBC host Rachel Maddow.
Interesting to me is that the article focuses on Rachel’s sexuality – she is gay, and has been out since age fifteen. Not surprising, considering it’s the Guardian. Yet, the revelation still holds some intrigue because:
(a) I had no idea she was a lesbian;
(b) My ignorance nonwithstanding, I don’t think this is a widely known fact in the US;
(c) Yet, clearly it’s known by the media- and political- establishment. is it a component of the “liberal” tag applied to her; and
(d) Rachel is rapidly achieving rating dominance; she has recently topped Larry King in her time slot. This makes her one of the most visible “out” personalities in the media, and from the article it sounds as though she’s more vocal about her sexuality than Anderson Cooper.
Lest it be overlooked, she also holds a doctorate in political science, specializing in AIDS and prison reform. Certainly not a lightweight coming from the world of sportscasting.
(Lest you mistakenly think that was a Palin joke, I’m actually refering to her sometimes-mentor Oblermann. As Palin jokes go it was way too easy.)
Best Reason to Vote Palin
Palin visited Tony Luke’s for her ritual Philly Cheesesteak, rather than either of the horrific, fatty, over-promoted pair of Pat’s and Geno’s.
That’s the best possible Palin-based reason any Philadelphian could have to vote for the Palin-McCain.
Seriously. She won’t be giving you any better reasons than this one.
Annotated debate transcript, and some hindsight
Washington Post provides an excellent annotated transcript of the debate that provides some fact-checking as well as allowing you to watch specific exchanges as you read. Similarly, C-Spans Debate Center offers isolated video and graphs each exchange by speaker over time. The two most effective recaps I’ve found so far.
I’m apparently in the vast minority in my opinion that McCain held a slight edge over the course of the entire debate. I even got flamed for saying so on Huffington Post!
I think part of my opinion was the expectations game. After all the ridiculous, manufactured drama this week from the McCain camp I thought he’d be vastly under prepared. That was not the case. At the same time, virtually the entire country touts Obama’s speaking and debating skills, while not giving McCain much credit at either.
Based on the combination of those two factors I was expecting an Obama blowout, and since it wasn’t I likely graded Obama harder than he deserved. Also, I’m not nearly as liberal on economic and foreign policy issues as I am on civil rights and domestic issues.
Essentially, I’m willing to admit that my deck was a bit stacked against Obama, in this particular instance. But, I have an equally stacked deck against any Republican presidential nominee, so if anything I think this might represent one of the few chances to capture my unbiased opinion on the political process.
I’m interested to see if I have a similar reaction next week to the VP debate, where I have a significant absence of respect for one side and expectations about neither.
Live blogging & recapping presidential debate #1
I think that presidential debates are crucial to our understanding of how we can use our votes to better this country.
I’ve been a supporter of both of these gentlemen at different points of this election cycle – I respect them both, but I also believe they’ve each made some grave mistakes. I can’t pretend to be actually “undecided,” since my lifelong commitment to women’s and civil rights clearly dictates my choice in their pairing, and because of that certainty I don’t know whose side I fall on a lot of the other major issues of this election.
Hopefully after the debates I’ll be able to make a more educated decision.
The debate begins… [Read more…] about Live blogging & recapping presidential debate #1