Rambling Thoughts on Last Night's Debate....

I've never had such a vested interest in politics before. As many of you know, I've never even voted, my apathy was so great. I'm not sure if it's because I'm older, or because I have kids, or because I'm just so disgusted with the morals and ethics that have been displayed for the last 8 years...but this year I'm SO INTO this election. I just think it's huge - SO huge.

Here's some thoughts I have on last night's debate, feel free to discuss, rebut, or hash out your opinions in the comments section.

I will begrudgingly say that Gov. Palin did better than I expected.....for what she did (more on that in a sec). Considering her horrible blunder(s) with the media this week (in particular that painful-to-watch interview with Katie Couric) I think there were many people cringing as to what she might say next to undercut her own campaign and further betray her lack on knowledge on key issues.

However, last night it was apparent that she was well-coached and was more prepared to speak on some of those issues. BUT, as I said before when I commented that she did well for what she did - what I meant was that what she did was, in a nutshell: Not answer questions directed at her.

She repeatedly would come back to the issues that she was comfortable speaking about (even if they were irrelevant to the question posed) and hammer home the same sound bytes again and again. I think it would've been easier for her to just have a tape recorder up there so that when her turn came up she could just press play and it would spew out her (1) energy policy expertise, (2) John McCain's tax refunds, and/or (3)any of the following words or phrases: "maverick", "Dontcha", "doggone it", "God bless America".

Which brings me to my next "issue" with Palin: I think she's just too "folksy" to be our country's next Vice President. My "northerner" is coming in here, and I don't mean to sound belittling or demeaning, but there is a very real stereotype against people who speak "folksy" (i.e. that they are of lesser intelligence). Is it true? Not necessarily....quite obviously, Sarah Palin is an intelligent woman, but who the heck gets on national television in a freaking VP DEBATE and uses words like, "doggone it"?? Seriously??
So many people comment that they like her because she's "real" or she's just an average soccer mom....but I say #$%&%*!! WHAT?!
I don't WANT an average soccer mom with access to our nuclear codes. I don't WANT a soccer mom who has to cram in the days leading up to the VP Debate in order to be remotely prepared. I don't WANT a soccer mom to have a good chance at becoming the President of the United States.

I also felt like she was John McCain in a suit with boobs and square glasses. Random stories and quips about her family, tangents on subjects that didn't pertain to the questions...all intended to give warm fuzzies and endear her to the heart of the American people - a smart political move I suppose - but I don't want to hear about how you have teachers in your family, and gay/lesbian friends, I want to hear what you've DONE and what JM has DONE and what you plan to do. Skip the stories and the rambling - gimme the facts.
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I like Joe Biden. His answers were (I felt) gracious, to the point, and so filled with facts that they were difficult to refute. I like that his foreign policy knowledge is SO vast - especially during a time when the U.S. has some major credibility to rebuild with Allies and the world in general. I like that he has many, many years of actual experience in the Senate and knows the bills and laws and amendments that it seemed Gov Palin only had a skimming knowledge of.
I heard on CNN last night that people would zone out and get glassy-eyed when Biden would start talking about bills and things that he had and had not voted for, but I found those to be informative because I don't know about them.
And therein lies the problem with the average American - we don't know (to a large extent) what bill they're talking about, or what that means when they say "so and so voted to increase your taxes" We just gasp and say, "WHAT?! HE voted to INCREASE our taxes?! Well, I'M not voting for him!!" and then you find out the whole story is that he really voted to increase the taxes of the wealthy.....or something similar.
So when Biden refutes Palin's claims and says, "the bill your talking about is this........ and John McCain voted the exact same way" - I feel like I'm getting educated and seeing behind all the propaganda and sound bytes.

Palin's talking points last night seemed like lots of fluff with no substance. I like details. I think it's great that you want to end the war in Iraq and have a plan for withdrawal, but what are the details? When? How?
When all you say is empty words like, "give the money back to the middle class", "keep government where it belongs", "create more jobs", "clean energy", blah, blah, blah...but you don't have any specific plans/examples/history of actually making those changes, you're a big giant Republican soundbyte and nothing more.

Okay....I've gone on enough. I've got a lot more to say on this, but I ended up writing a lot more than I intended. I'm totally up for comments/discussion, so bring it on. Dan-o, I know you're itching to lob a gigantor comment at me, so bring it on.

Oh, and go here to write to your Congressional Representative and tell them what you think about the Bailout.

Oh, and here's some polls, for fun: