Style over Substance

I did watch the Vice Presidential debate yesterday. I thought both candidates did quite well. Joe Biden at his worst had a few moments where he basically laughed at Sarah Palin which could be mistaken for being condescending. However, he was also knowledgeable, relaxed, and confident. Sarah Palin did not screw-up. For that reason alone, it was a major victory for the GOP ticket. I think the reason she did better in the debates and she struggled during interviews is host Gwen Ifil did a poor job of asking tough follow up questions. She asked important, but predictable questions like, “What are your thoughts on the bailout? What should we do about Iran? How would you say the Iraq War has been going?” Katie Couric asked similar questions but she also pushed harder. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. When Gwen Ifill asked brought up the terrible mortgage crisis we have in America, Governor Palin said: "Let's commit ourselves--just everyday American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation--I think we need to band together and say, 'Never again.'" Wait a second here. Gwen Ifil should have said, “I completely agree Governor Palin. Specifically about the mortgage crisis, what are your thoughts?” But she didn’t and she let Palin off the hook. Here is what I think. Ifil has been blasted by the Republican media in the past few weeks. Those ratfucks at the Drudge Report uncovered that Ifil is currently writing a book about African American political leadership. Naturally, she has a chapter, a positive chapter, about Barack Obama’s presidential run. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dennis Miller, and Bill O’Reilly and other Conservative radio hosts have basically said that there is no way that Palin could win because the host is clearly in the Obama camp. I think host Gwen Ifil was so terrified of being labeled one of the “liberal media” members that she was overly nice to Sarah Palin. I give Gwen Ifil a D+ for her job as host. Any idiot could have asked the questions and it was embarrassing how soft she was to both Palin and Biden. All in all, I still am optimistic about the election with 32 days to go. The rumors are buzzing that John McCain has pulled his people and advertising dollar out of Michigan, a state with a lot of electoral votes, to Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Yes, I said that last week Obama pulled out of North Dakota and Georgia, but McCain had a much better chance in Michigan than Obama ever would have had in ND or GA.

1. Yesterday absolutely sucked for me. As I was driving home on Hwy 694, I ran over a rock that punctured my tire and bent my rim so badly that I have to get a new one. The damage? $275 for a new tire. No, not $275 for a new set, that is for just one tire. Apparently, the Scion has very special, rare tires that have to specially ordered and are about twice as much as normal tires. The real damage came from the rims. $475 not including taxes, labor, et cetera. Yesterday was an outrageously expensive day. I will become a cheap hermit for a while. Between Vegas, donations to Obama, the tire, the rim, and some let’s just say reckless spending on my part, I need to simmer it down with the spending.

2. Survey USA came out with a new poll that shows in Minnesota, John McCain has a small lead and Republican Senator Norm Coleman has a ten point lead over challenger Al Franken. According to Survey USA, "Minnesota behaves unlike other states in some respects. Among women, there is movement to McCain, at a time when McCain is losing ground among women elsewhere. Among voters younger than Obama, there movement to McCain, at a time when Obama is consolidating support among young voters elsewhere. Among voters older than McCain, there is movement to Obama, at a time when older voters elsewhere are sticking by McCain." I still am confident that Obama will carry Minnesota but he better put more of an effort. I am bombarded with ads for McCain everywhere and I have seen almost no Obama ads. If Obama continues to ignore Minnesota, while McCain continues to spend a lot of time and money here, then McCain could steal it. Let’s not forget that Minnesotans were blasted with all Republican all the time week during the Republican National Convention.

3. Currently listening to Motion City Soundtrack, “This is For Real” from the album Even If it Kills Me.