Oops

Much to my dismay, I was late getting home to watch the debate.  So the whole drinking thing went out the window.  (I was at a sushi place eating dinner...ate too much...but it was delicious).

Anyway, I'm not even sure a case of beer could have made the debate interesting.  It was a sleeper for sure.  I think I'd have better luck with the Palin-Biden debate (but I'm not going to promise to do that).

I kept switching back to college football when McCain was answering.  Honestly I don't think anyone is going to pick the next president based on their reaction to the fighting in Georgia.

So that's that.

Maybe the next one will be better.  I want some fireworks!

P.S. Obama had a narrow victory, in my view (and in the polls).

Debate tonight

I'm well aware the few people who actually read this space probably do not have the same passion for politics that I do.

So, in the interest of trying to write something someone will actually read, I'm going to try to make the first presidential debate interesting by adding a bit of fun to the proceedings.

Specifically, heavy amounts of booze.

In probably my worst decision since whatever the hell happened last weekend, I'm going to play a debate drinking game and write down my thoughts as I go along.  Whatever I write, I'll post here on the blog.  I can't promise I'll get it up there tonight though, because judging by the rules, I'll probably black out before 10 p.m.

The debate is 90 minutes long and starts at 9 p.m.

My rules are as follows, borrowed and modified from this guy's blog.

Take a drink when...

• When someone says "change," "hope," or "maverick."
• When someone says "I voted for/against" or "He voted for/against"
• When McCain mentions his POW experience
• Whenever McCain says "my friends"
• Whenever Obama compares McCain to Bush
• Whenever Obama talks about "his story"
• Whenever either one claims to be bipartisan
• Whenever someone utters the "Main Street...Wall Street" line (I live a few blocks over from Main Street so I guess I'm fucked either way)
• Whenever someone says 700 billion
• Whenever one of them lies (I'll be the judge)

Chug a beer when...

• Sarah Palin is mentioned by name
• McCain clearly loses his temper
• If Obama messes up so bad it makes me want to chug a beer

I can't promise this will be coherent, or even fun to read.  But I can promise you I'll have a good time doing it.

Why you should care

Although I respect one's right to be divorced from the political process, with all its dishonesty and the frustrating sense that your opinion doesn't matter, I just can't see how one can turn away from this 2008 presidential election, considering the direct impact it will have on your wallet.

Let's say someone walked up to you and reached into your pocket and pulled out your ATM card. That person walks to the bank and withdraws more than $2,200, and just walks away.

You'd be incensed. You'd feel robbed and cheated. And you'd be right.

That's a conservative estimate of the average cost to a tax payer from the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout. But you can't go to the cops after this robbery. Your only recourse for getting that money back is a politician standing up for you in Washington, promising not to punish you for the failures of those financial fat cats who can't stop sniffing their own ass and reaping millions of dollars in profit.

Barack Obama says we need to worry about three things. That's good, but that's not enough. McCain says it might cost each household $10,000, and that the money shouldn't go to rich CEOs. That's good, but not enough.

Demand more. Write them e-mails. Let them know that the person who shows real leadership on this issue, and all issues, will be the one to win in 2008.

Almost everyone agrees this election is about change. But change is already here. Wall Street will soon be unrecognizable. I'll admit, I don't understand exactly what's going on here. I'm not sure anyone does. This has even the smartest economists scratching their heads, and making educated guesses (which is pretty much the whole of the study of economics).

But as a young voter, I'm just thinking, "What the fuck?" What did I do to suddenly find myself in this difficult situation? It's exasperating. Soon I'll find myself out in the workforce, in a shitty economy, with a nearly worthless degree and a pile of student loans. Thanks for that. I thought I was doing what I was supposed to.

I'm not worried, though. America has seen worse, and has rebounded because of sensible regulation and effective leadership. Of course, in the absence of those two things (see Bush, George W.) you get nonsense like this.

Elsewhere

In Carolina Reporter, we've been working on a story about gas prices, and how they were less than $1 per gallon just ten years ago. Remember who was president then? I bet Oval Office blow jobs seem like a small price to pay for such good economic times.

Watch President Clinton on Letterman. I'm not even sure if what he is saying is true, but I believe it. Dude's such a good politician, it's scary. He's much more skilled than Obama. That might be merely because Clinton is so much more comfortable with a good lie, but it's the case nonetheless.

Of course, Chris Rock ripped him a new one just moments later.

Sam Harris, one of my favorite authors, writes a nice Newsweek article on the Moose Hunter.

And in the surprise of the century....

Also: I'm going to start a long piece on a controversial cult made famous by bartender Brian Flanagan (aka Maverick). Is this something anyone is interested in? Leave a comment. Or don't, whatever.

I like...

the new PC commercials. Ok? The first ones with Jerry Seinfeld were no good. Just confusing, really. But this one is like what Obama needs to be doing in his campaign. Good advertising.

That's all.



Goodnight

Jesus is a friend of mine...

I'll link to a site I often visit for some righteous outrage, humor and awesome cartoons.

Or just watch the vid below.

Elsewhere...

Credit where it's due, not where it isn't.

Just to change things up, a little praise for Bush & Co. A great short piece by George Packer gives 43 some credit, then goes on to explain why we should be fearful of McCain-Palin (and yes, perhaps, Obama-Biden).

"A lot has been written lately about the dishonest tactics of the two tickets, especially McCain-Palin. The problem with a campaign based on relentless message discipline, repeated falsehoods, and the habitual perversion of language is that none of it stops after election day. You can’t be indifferent to truth for months on end and then suddenly return to straight talk. If McCain should win, Steve Schmidt won’t be in charge of the new Administration, but his spirit will. Prostitutes hardly ever go straight: the mental atmosphere of a campaign becomes the mental atmosphere of a government. And the results aren’t pretty—ask any Iraqi."

Even though I'd rather cut off my own foot than vote for McCain, I am worried that Obama is coming of age as a campaigner, not as an elected leader. I still feel he is capable of great things, but I hope he knows how to pivot from campaigner to leader in January 2009. As I wrote once when I was fed up after another Clinton victory, "The qualities needed to be elected president, and the qualities needed to be an effective president once elected, are at best mutually exclusive and unrelated, and at worst wholly at odds with one another."

Quick thought

Flip flops are extraordinarily versatile and low-maintenance, as far as footwear goes, but as I learned this weekend, they come with a catch.

If any part of the three-pronged strap somehow breaks free from the sole, what you're left with is essentially useless: a dirty, slightly smelly piece of worn rubber.

In my case, the front thong part snapped off, and attempting to use the sandal after that was like trying to chew food with a loose tooth, only less painful and more annoying.

I was always a flip flop hater until I moved south, where I quickly grew to love the sandal alongside sweet tea, grits and Carolina football. I regarded them as more essential than oxygen. I'm sure broken flip flops are old hat for many, but my useless sandal has forced me to downgrade their importance just a bit. They now rank somewhere above dishwashers.

The bubble shall burst...

So, I'm going to start blogging again, some two years after I first started this blog. My hope is that I'll write something useful enough that my friends will find it worth reading, and then we'll go from there.

I'm not going to say much in this first post other than this. The Palin bubble will burst. Like many other Godless freaks rooting for Obama, this whole Palin nonsense hit me like a train driven by texter. I just didn't see it coming. But the polls are beginning to come around. This fad will pass. I think people would rather have a good economy than a vice president who hunts moose. But, then again, maybe I'm wrong.

It's good to be writing again.