posted by perkiset on Sep 29

I wonder how many really understand what this means.

Sigh.

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posted by perkiset on Sep 28

ABC News is reporting on a new CNN/Time poll that shows 46% of people that watched the debates thought Obama won, while just 34% say McCain did. This, in and of itself, is good. But reading on, the poll shows much more important numbers. About 21% of people watching had a more favorable impression of McCain, about 21% had a less favorable impression with the remaining 58% unchanged. 30% of people watching said they had a more favorable impression of Obama after the debate compared to 14% a less favorable one, again, the remains unchanged.

In my opinion, this is vitally important because McCain needed to knock it out of the park on this debate to get his Mo back. The trend lines are just really bad for he and Palin, and this was to be his best subject for debate. Obama simply needed to not screw up because the status quo trend is what he needs - a slow but continuing trend towards him is just fine.

Essentially the rest of the poll shows that impressions of strength, ability to handle national security and such were broken just about evenly without any clear winner. Again, since foreign relations credibility is McCain’s strong point, and if Obama had simply tied him, this would be a win for the Obama camp. These numbers suggest that the McCain team has real trouble going forward.

And I don’t know about you, but I am REALLY looking forward to next Thursday. Although I’ve posted that I have sympathy for Palin and the fact that McCain has thrown her to the wolves, by accepting the nomination for VP she chose into the coming ass whipping and frankly, given her smug, hypocritical ignorance, it couldn’t happen to a nicer lady.

You can see the entire results of the poll here:
Obama did better in first debate

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posted by perkiset on Sep 27

My father has a PHd, is extremely well spoken and written, broadly and deeply educated, worldly, is quite liberal, has a very gentle nature and is unshakeable in his convictions. I have tried many times to get him to write here for us, but I’ve failed as yet. I will keep trying as everyone here reading will benefit from his thoughts, perspectives and essays. But I digress.

This morning, while talking to him about the debate, he mentioned something that I found interesting enough to post about. He said that Palin had hurt McCain much worse than anyone may have thought.

First reaction: Duh.
Second reaction, eyes wide and one eyebrow lifted as he made his point.

Sara Palin has been exposed as a breathtakingly shallow and uneducated mess, a liar and unable to put her thoughts together in a coherent way or create anything that looks like leadership. OK good - with you so far. Here’s the rub: America is now attuned to shallow. They are comfortable with the notion that she’s lying. They are seeing, first hand, what shallow and an inability to think strategically look like. And then they turn their eyes to McCain.

It is my father’s assertion, that Palin has actually been pivotal in exposing these unvirtues in such a way that America can get allergic to them regardless of education, left/right leanings or partisanship. Suddenly, rather than looking like a firm and confident leader, they are seeing someone in McCain that is simply better at hiding their shallowness than she is. Suddenly, firm conviction and singleness of purpose looks like distraction from the fact that he can’t handle more than one thing at a time. Suddenly, his repetitious campaign rhetoric looks more like a desperate one-trick pony act than the actions of a man with singular vision.

Combine this notion with NutBalls excellent post on McCain’s inability to look Obama in the eye (see previous post) and you get a real picture of the campaign, the people, and why the trend lines are moving the way that they are.

It is conceivable, that the political process is going to work correctly this time and expose the character of people in time for the election. And it is conceivable that the American people will begin to open their eyes a bit and see that the emperor has no clothes. Or that Oceania is not really at war with Eastasia. Or that a cut in capital gains tax is not really a tax break for the middle class. Or that tax breaks for oil companies is not really good for our own pocketbook.

War is NOT Peace.
Freedom is NOT slavery.
Ignorance is NOT strength.

I find myself uncommonly hopeful today.

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posted by perkiset on Sep 27

Nutballs has posted at his blog, BrainDonkey, a really interesting revelation he had after watching the debate last night. I don’t want to spoil it by paraphrasing, I just want you to go read it. Compliments, NB, on a well identified aspect of the race and a well written post.

Lack of eye contact by John McCain

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posted by perkiset on Sep 26

Good lord - am I the only person that feels like they’ve been battered about the political body all week? This has got to be one of the weirdest 5 days I’ve ever seen, following some of the financially scariest 7 days we’ve seen in a 80 years, following 19 months of the wildest ride I’ve been party to since I could vote. I’m exhausted!

Got a call from my father this morning, who is very concerned that, played correctly, the whole McCain/Washington/No Debate thang could be a profitable October surprise for him. I’m comfortable saying I even heard despair in his voice. Well, I can’t say that I have any kind of crystal ball, but MAN I don’t think this is going to play well for him at all. Some thoughts:

• McCain will have a tough time selling that Obama is the impetuous youth since he’s now demonstrating a minute-to-minute inability to keep focus and Obama has been cool almost to a fault. In fact, this may really give legs to the “Wrong Temperament” argument as well as bring more light to his age and out of touchness. As John Stewart put it, “[paraphrased] Only John McCain can act impulsively about an emergency that is 10 days old.” Although I have a legendary lack of faith in the American populace, I think I’ll have to give them enough credit to catch the foul odor emanating from this one.
• Speaking of odors: how many times did David Letterman say “This is starting to really smell bad” after McCain blew him off, lying about the reason, got caught on tape during make up with Couric then DIDN’T go to Washington as he said he would, then lied again about the reason to Dave? When he looks so bad that even a staunch supporter starts calling him out on national TV the way Letterman did, his ratings trend will not be reversed, to say the least. Then Letterman fans are a fickle bunch but love their host… you don’t want to piss them off.
• OK McCain, let’s see: I’m not debating unless there’s a deal: Fly to Washington, find out that there’s a deal in the works: Within hours of arrival, deal falls apart: Most Congressmen say that his arrival is a huge part of the problem: Decides to debate tonight, even though there is no deal. I think it’s completely fair to ask: What the f&*k? This demonstrates his presidential qualities?
• And his running mate has not fared any better. In fact, if it wasn’t for the continued collapse of civilization as we know it, the real big story would be what a complete and utter idiot Sara Palin is. Her interview with Couric was at best disastrous, at worst, a preview of the coming implosion of the United States. It is fair to say that the bloom is off the rose - the trends are all good, but we need to see more movement. So Sara, please continue to talk … you’re doing just fine.

I could go on and on, but I hope you get the point. Tonight will be interesting - I am intrigued to see how both Obama and McCain handle the political chaos that has been created in the last 10 days, and most particularly in the last 5. Obama continues to surprise me with his deft balancing and cool calculation. I hope that tonight he has his game on, because there will be a LOT of eyeballs on him.

Best wishes for a smooth debate tonight Barack, we’re all pulling for you.

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