Saturday Night Live strikes again...

Obviously anyone with a brain will not let either of these clips affect the way they vote... but they sure are funny:



Here's one of the McCain/Obama debate. It's obviously lopsided against McCain:

First Presidential Debate

Watched the majority of the debate. It's hard for me to be objective but I'll try.

I think that both the base of the Republican and the base of the Democratic party will be happy with their candidate's performance. The most rabid Republicans and Democrats will think that their man absolutely trounced the other. McCain supporters will see him "giving Obama a lesson in foreign policy (as Guliani's spin was--interestingly Palin declined appearing next to Biden :-) . Obama supporters will see him as hitting the nail on the head issue after issue.

So what will the swing voters think, people like me who hate the party system and the way it pushes candidates to play to their base rather than say what they really think?

First, my hunch is that most younger voters will not react favorable to McCain's snide and condescending remarks and name calling. On several occasions Obama complimented McCain. By contrast, McCain generally responded with dismissive or denigrating responses. I heard Guliani's summary and it's hard for me to see most middle ground people under 40 seeing it as anything other than the despicable spin they have grown to detest and associate with people like Karl Rove. Guliani infuriated me--McCain and Obama did not.

It's really hard for me to imagine how a "Reagan democrat" would respond. I'm not sure. They might like what I perceived to be McCain's "trust me I have experience and he doesn't" approach. On the other hand, Obama's responses sounded intelligent. He didn't come off as inexperienced, even when McCain responded with, "Son, put your pacifier back in because I've actually been to South Ocetia."

Again, it's hard for me to see myself, but I thought McCain repeated himself and often just gave lines that could just as well have been memorized. I thought Obama came off more composed and, in general, more presidential. It will be interesting to see which one America thought won the debate.

Rick Warren hosts Obama, McCain

I caught most of the interviews last night between Rick Warren of Saddleback and Obama and McCain. I think how you respond to the debate depends a lot on your age and, obviously, your political positions.

But let me suggest broadly how people would respond based on their age, trying to remove the political positions part from the equation. In this case, I think how you respond breaks around 40-45 years old.

Those older than 40-45, like Pat Buchanan afterwards, see McCain as a hands down winner. (Of course Buchanan has become a spin meister too.) McCain had clear cut answers, which this crowd sees as leadership. He decisively jumped in even before Warren could get the questions out. He was confident, unlike Obama, who hemmed and hawed and, in Buchanan's mind, surprisingly didn't seem to know Theology 101.

Those younger than 40 might see it differently. McCain wouldn't have even needed to show up because his answers were so scripted to the party line, especially the sterotyped evangelical party line, that anyone could have given them for him. He had the answers memorized like an old time school boy who can hardly wait to get the question right. Oo, oo, can I tell you the right answer to that question too, now, or do I have to wait.

Obama, on the other hand, gave his real answers in the face of a hostile audience. He tried to find common ground with an opposing position. He was authentic, not canned. He gave realistic answers rather than the kinds of dreamy idealistic ones that got us into the Iraq War (you defeat evil--yeah, that's worked for us, hasn't it).

No Surprises, More Bush Administration...

Yawn, ho hum. No surprise that Bush justice department people illegally stacked the deck with lesser qualified Republican automatons.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25348796/

We've also heard that Bush administration people did this with science reports too.

Yeah America, the only nation where the smart kids in high school are somehow made out to be inferior and where we have a culture that makes fun of experts on any subject.

We are truly the smartest nation in the world.

For Keith--the Hullaballoo over Obama and Campaign Finance

This one is for Keith.

I caught the beginning of Meet the Press this morning before church. Moment of silence for Tim Russert. Shocking that he's gone. He was the classic nerd--man did he like politics. He was constantly giddy like a school boy, just a little too excited about his white board. But I really did think he was one of the most neutral people around. He loved the game for the game, regardless of who the players were. To this day I don't know what his personal positions were.

So Meet the Press was debating Obama's decision to opt out of the government campaign money. McCain's camp is all up in arms about him flip flopping.

GOOD GRIEF! How many times has McCain changed his positions this election!!!! The most recent I know of was his reversal on off shore drilling. I'm not sure what I think about this, but good grief McCain has changed positions from 2000 so many times he's the last person who has room to talk.

Of course Obama shouldn't try to pretend he's not taking money because the system is broke. Come on, the grass roots people like him, there's no shame in that. On the other hand, he is quite right to point out that doing this is not going back on his claim about special interest groups. The common person has been his money bag... and the common person will elect him.

I'm not saying what kind of president he will be, except that he'll be different.

Requiem for Bill Clinton

Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article confirms for me all the impressions I've had of Bill Clinton over the years. I could never believe that people bought the shows he put on during the elections of the nineties. I wouldn't want to say that he did not do some good during his years in the presidency.

Some thoughts:
1. The requiem for Bill is a requiem for the boomers, this generation that either can't smell out hypocrisy or, I've come to believe, really doesn't care.

2. Bill, for all his political genius, can't handle the internet generation, the world where everything you say will be played somewhere on youtube.

3. I don't see the sexism angle at all. I think Geraldine Ferraro embarrassed herself. I would be delighted for a woman to be president. Hillary herself convinced me that this was not the time.

4. I don't begrudge Hillary continuing on until this point. But she and Bill don't have some divine right to be king. The lack of press coverage is now because she's lost. It doesn't feel good to lose, but you just have to deal with it.

I think a new day is dawning in American politics, a day I welcome. I think the rising generation of voters is fed up with the older generation of Republicans and Democrats. Whether you like Obama's perspectives or not, I believe his way of doing politics reflects where the next generation of voters is going.

Enough of the Pastor Stuff on Both Sides...

I've had enough of the "death by association" pastor stuff. McCain obviously doesn't agree with Hagee on everything and Hagee doesn't agree with McCain on everything. I pronounce anyone "dumber than a door knob" who thinks that the gyrations of an obscure pastor hammin' it up for a crowd that wants to see him perform must obviously be exactly what Senator Obama thinks.

This is the height of illogic, it's not even worthy to be called the ad hominem fallacy because it's attacking Obama through the back door. I guess you would call it the circumstantial fallacy, attacking the circumstances of the person to smear the person's ideas? Let's come up with a new name, "Smearing someone by finding anything even loosely associated with them that we don't like" fallacy.

I once had liver. You don't like liver. Ah, logically, then, you must not like me.

Come on--are we really this stupid in America??? Obama wasn't there. Obama didn't say these things. How many people agree with everything their pastor says? How many people go to church because of the preaching?

Good grief. If the American people and the media (especially FOX news) are this stupid and unable to reason like homo sapiens, then there's no hope for our future. We're no better thinkers than your garden variety slug.

We will no doubt be taken over in the next 100 years by some other nation smarter than we are.