Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Thrilla In Ole Missilla

OK. Post-debate time.

First, my own opinion: It was a push, but a push is a win for the leader and that's Obama. Also, he pretty clearly showed that he has the cool and gravitas to run the country. I kept waiting for McCain to turn into McNasty, but I was disappointed that we didn't see Mt Saint Helens...more like Mauna Loa, a slow flow of anger and contempt from McCain, but it's getting general play.

Snap polls, with all the usual caveats, seem to be giving this one on points to Obama, despite my thinking.

On the other hand, this was (eventually) the foreign policy debate. If McCain can't take Obama on foreign policy, what IS he going to take him on? Economics? I just don't see it. And I expect the Palin/Biden debate to be nothing more than a train wreck after that Couric interview...sweet Jesus, I'm no longer certain English is that woman's first language.

If the last debate is economic and McCain continues to assert that the way to solve a 400 billion dollar deficit is to focus EXCLUSIVELY on 18 billion in earmarks he's gonna flunk Electoral Math.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Whenever I Hear...

Whenever I hear a Republican say, "It's not a time to point fingers," in conjunction with a major crisis whether its Katrina or a financial meltdown on Wall Street, all I ever hear is, "Oh, God, we fucked up again! How on Earth are we gonna avoid having our noses well and truly rubbed in it THIS time?"

When I hear John McCain say, "The regulators were just not doing their jobs," I substitute, "Maybe if I make the right mouth noises, these rubes will forget that the reason the regulators let this happen is that for 14 years we Republicans have starved them of every resource both legal and monetary for doing their job, and have also spent the last 8 making it ABUNDANTLY clear that their ACTUAL job consisted of resolutely looking the other way."

When I hear Karl Rove say, "The McCain campaign has been a little worse about the lying," I hear, "Oh Holy Fuck...the man is lying like a rug! If he blows our fucking cover we might actually have to campaign on the merits of our policies and then we're REALLY screwed!"

Thank you. This has been an edition of Political Babel Fish.