Presidential Debatage 3.0 October 15, 2008

So tonight is the third (and last?) presidential debate, held at Hofstra University, in Some State Not Near Vaguely Near Me. Those In The Know say that McCain needs to unequivocally hit this one out of the park to have a snowball’s chance in Hell of a comeback. Those who are also In The Know say that such a resounding victory is unlikely, as expectations are high on both sides. McCain has said multiple times that he will “call Obama out” on the whole Ayers thingamajig, so if he doesn’t he will be viewed as weak and more talk-talking than walk-walking. However, if (when?) he does bring the matter up, he is almost positive to get trounced, as Obama will undoubtedly call McCain out on his racist and hate-filled speeches and movement within the Republican party, and also counter with the evidence that just surfaced about William Timmons, current member of his campaign team, having helped out Saddam Hussein. A valid criticism? Perhaps, perhaps not. But excellent for the whole “taste of his own medicine” idea.

Other things McCain is going to have to struggle to make look good:

Presidential Debatage, 2.0 October 7, 2008

Yay, debate! You know the drill by now – drinking games, tallies of popular phrases, hatred of the McCain. I actually do hate him more than usual today – I don’t have the energy to link to anything, but he and Palin have been unacceptably vociferous in their racist attacks and encouragement of same in the past couple days.

Alas, it looks as though I won’t be recapping from the Big Bad Room full of unabashed liberals tonight, but rather from the TV room in my dorm. Ah well; ’twill be good anyway. Pandanose has a bingo for Obama and McCain; Jezebel’s liveblog is here, Feministe has a combination liveblog/drinking game, a play-by-play with actual facts and linkage and such from Alternet showing how McCain is off the deep end, and you obviously know where I am, so I think we’re all set. See you in 50!

8:57 I catch the last couple minutes of 90210. Intriguing. From what I hear, the old one was better. All I can say is that I better not miss any of the debate for this drivelish.

9:00 NBC News has their ridiculous logo, complete with Grecian columns. I’m sorry, but would you mind being just a tad more dramatic? Thanks so much. This will be a town-hall type debate, with 80 preselected, uncommitted voters. Questions submitted by same and by millions of Americans, by e-mail. Let’s get it on! Brian Williams tells us that the economy sucks, like we didn’t already know. The debate is in Nashville, across from the house of one of my friends.

9:01 Tom Brokaw is the moderator, and he tells us that this is the only debate with the town-hall format. Whoople-dee-doo.

Debatage, Veep-Style October 2, 2008

8:55 Gahhh! The moment is upon us! Awesomely, one of the students at my school is dressed as Palin, complete w/ power suit and pearls. She is being escorted by somebody wearing an elephant suit (as you do). There’s also a ‘bipartisan bake-off’ being hosted, but at $1 per cookie and milk, I’ll just have a couple candy corns when I get back to my room. It’s really cool how into it people are – there will be a professor talkback after, and the room is absolutely PACKED. Woot.

8:58 Because it is my school, most everyone has brought some kind of homework. I see a bunch of laptops, but it’s doubtful as to whether or not there are other livebloggers in the midst – I see lots of word-processing and at least one LoggerPro (presumably being used to do a lab report – for those interested in the matter, for at least one recording, the pH of the solution in question was registered at 7.94).

9:00 Wolf Blitzer, what’s up? Did you know that Sarah Palin wants to shoot you from helicopters? This is first and only VP debate, we are told. 90 minutes of pure awesomeness. A cage match, if you will (I’m just vamping at this point, as Wolf is saying such groundbreaking things as ‘Palin is a VP candidate’ and ‘there will be ground rules’).

9:01 The moderator is Gwen Ifill, a woman of color, which is a nice change from the previous, Old White Dude mode of moderating. Again, the sponsor is some boring debate commission, rather than, say, Apple Computers or Tampax. She explains the format, with time limits and whatnot, but I don’t listen as I’m sure the candidates won’t. Apparently, their audience has promised to not make any untoward outbursts – I wish I could promise the same. Palin hugs Biden’s arm and chirpily asks if she can call him Joe. Oy.

9:03 Predictably, the first question is about The Bailout. Biden goes first, thanking everyone for having him. Oooh, Biden totally goes there about the whole Free Market ™ that is the conservative raison d’etre, and how it’s fucked over the economy like whoa. He brings it back to Obama, which I suppose is important as Biden is more of his secret support than his sequined ballgown. Like Obama, he mentions the ‘fundamental disagreement’ between Republican and Democratic models of economics, as one is rooted in fact and the other is rooted in making rich people happier.

9:05 Palin mentions privilege, but not in the way that would make me happy (it’s more a privilege to be there). She mentions being a mom approximately 0.67 seconds into her answer, and I already wish I were drunk. She says the economy is hurting and we need reform and oversight which the Republican government has not provided, but apparently John McCain has been a proponent of? Whatevs, honey. I guess she’s been coached on an actual instance of this, since she couldn’t think of an example when Katie Couric asked her this in person a week ago.

Prebate

So in less than an hour, the most awesome event in the couse of this century will commence. Will Biden roll his eyes once at Palin for a second and earn the ire of Republican ‘feminists’ for a lifetime? Will Palin do a Tina Fey impression? Would anyone be able to tell? Because they are made of awesome, Feministe has made another drinking game about tonight’s debate; I suggest you go look at it (especially if you are one my friends who will be watching the debate from the Pub, or possibly on a bed of pain alone in your room). It made me giggle muchly. For the teetotalers among us who are not ambitious or kickass enough to liveblog themselves, but still wish to feel participatory, I suggest that you print out a card of Sarah Palin Bingo. Verily, I cannot hope to approach their awesomeness.(Speaking of awesomeness, Megan Carpentier at Jezebel is liveblogging the debate again. Go check it out, because that is one woman who has a good head on her shoulders, especially where politics is concerned).

But that doesn’t mean we can’t try! My lovely assistant , C.S.D.L.H.U., will be helping me keep a tally of key matters such as ‘Pseudo-Ingratiating Quips’ and ‘mentions of hunting, skinning, or general outdoorsiness’. In a half-assed effort to be bi-partisan, I (she) will be keeping track of said matters by both candidates, not just the Thrilla from Wasilla.

Palin, Politics, and Something More Alliterative Than ‘Interview’ September 30, 2008

Oh, Sarah Palin. How you make me laugh. In a just-released clip, she makes fun of Joe Biden for being old and a familiar name in Washington, and then explains herself by saying that people want change and new ideas. Um, hello? Sarah? Think about what you say before it comes out of your mouth, okay? This is worse than McCain in the debate, when he said that Iran had a lousy economy because they had a lousy government. To make matters even more exciting, if I understood the CBS website correctly, there is footage from another Couric interview with Palin that is soon-to-be-released. This is, of course, in addition to the other footage that was never released from the first interview (in which, apparently, Palin is unable to come up with a single Supreme Court case other the compulsory pregnancy advocate’s case of choice, Roe v. Wade). So good things are coming!

Debatage September 26, 2008

The debate is starting in less than an hour! ARE YOU PUMPED?!?!?!!1?!

Yeah, me neither. Maybe after I eat.

But! Are we all emotionally prepared? Let’s make up a drinking game! Yes, I don’t drink, but I do know at least one person who will be watching the debate from the Pub, which sounds like a splendiferous idea. Anything to dull the pain of our country’s impending voyage into the Sun.

Truth be told, I’m not quite as excited about making up a drinking game as I was when I first thought of it, because I saw a kickass one created by the gals over at Feministe. And I think we all know that, purely on principle, I could never equal anything from that magnificent domain. So why don’t you just go there. I will, however, excerpt a couple of my favorites:

• Every time the candidate steers away from the question asked to highlight his own talking points (we call that a Palin), drink twice.
• For every mention of failed bipartisanship efforts that failed because the opposing party are a bunch of sniveling assbabies, drink.
• Every time someone mentions terrorism, drink. If someone mentions terrorists in a non-terrorist context, like the Iraq War, drink twice.
• When McCain grumpily alludes to the more important things he has to do, chug.
• Spit out your beer and yell at the TV if McCain insinuates Obama is a) Muslim or b) the antiChrist.

So yeah. You should totes go read the whole thing. See you in 30!

8:59 We’re watching this on NBC HD. How exciting.

9:00 How come my college doesn’t have an auditorium like that, suitable for a debate? Stupid private colleges. We’re reminded that Obama is black and McCain was a POW, like, thanks bud, I hadn’t caught that. I feel that, were I a drinker, I would already need to be throwing back a few.

Tonight’s Debate

So, as I will have access to an actual TV tonight, I’m going to try to liveblog the debate between presidential candidates Obama and McCain [wtf Firefox dictionary, how do you not recognize ‘Obama’ as a word? ].The latest news is that McCain will be attending, either because he’s Accomplished So Much In Washington Already (snort), or because (and this is what I’m leaning towards) Obama handed him his ass when he tried to weasel out of answering questions about his policies.

I mean, I can’t really blame McCain. This whole Wall Street mess is, in large part, the fruits of almost 8 years of very diligent labor to disenfranchise the poor and middle class and give the very rich lots more pretty money to play with. Couple that with McCain’s long history of paying lip service to The Free Market ™ to do everything but brush your teeth for you, and it’s quite clear why he would want to avoid getting asked about his how his economic policies will save us all from the Great Depression, 2.0.

I seem to have gotten off the topic of the debate ever-so-slightly, but while I’m kvetching about McCain’s economic policies, please allow me to share with you a wonderful little graphic that shows the differences between the two candidates’ tax plans.