Politics Debate Prep
posted by on October 15 at 10:44 AM
(How can there have ever not been YouTube?)
1. If you think the Obama-McCain debates have been boring, check out this stultification fest. It really is like watching a silent film:
Has there been a better, more clearly defined, surely-we-can-all-agree-on-this-if-nothing-else, democrat thinking on his/her feet debate moment since this:
Is it not still massively infuriating that THAT guy was the president, and furthermore that THAT guy (fun-size nutbar in the middle) was the only reason THAT guy (so young, so righteous, so convincing, so prelapsarian) was able to beat that monstrous, indifferent, faux-patrician, pure evil, bloodless functionary of a company man? I mean look at him! His son is just a clone—of him:
And finally, we all know Sarah “Don’t Call Me Michael” Palin is an insult to everything anyone could possibly ever believe, but let us pause to consider good old Admiral Stockdale. The fuuck? And while we’re pausing, perhaps we could also consider the built-in indignity of Al Gore having to “debate” a man of Dan Quayle’s fiber:
End of line. Please feel free to go back to being terrified that America’s secret/totally-not-secret racist nature will shatter all our dreams here in a couple weeks.
does anyone know if can i watch tonight's debates at moe bar?
I don't believe that America's not-so-secret racism will put McCain/Palin in the Whitehouse, but it might be used to provide plausible cover for installing them. As in "Gosh-darnit, I guess the polls were off by eight percent. Oh well, I guess we're all secretly racist."
On your comment about Gore and Quayle... I felt the same way about Obama having to "debate" Alan Keyes in 2004 for his Senate position. That was when I was first struck by how calm, even-tempered and rational Obama was. Mostly because I probably would have just said something like, “Why don’t you just shut the fuck up, you stupid moron” to Keyes. Which is why I am not a politician.
poor stockdale, he wasn't as crazy as he seemed there. if i remember correctly he was rushed into the debate, and wasn't well prepared.
i forgot how good bill clinton used to be, and how lame bush was. perot was more legit than bush.
thank you thank you thank you for that reminder of how bad debates can go. Perhaps tonight we will see something that our generation will look at in the same way.
Exactly what was wrong with Stockdale?
Moderator: Do think abortion should be illegal?
Adml Stockdale: No. (Long pause.)
Moderator: You have three more minutes.
Adml Stockdale: I don't need them. (then he rambled some about his family and respecting women.)
That, my friends, was beautiful.
I know it's irrelevant in every sense of the word... but Al Gore was a FOX in '92. (Still think he's kind of hot, in a Jack Donaghy kind of way.)
Come watch the debates at Spitfire - 2219 4th Ave between Bell and Blanchard - great sound, 22 tv's, great food. AND followed by a Project Runway party/ fundraiser for SOAP. Where else could you possibly want to be?
I wish we could get Stockdale's opinion on McCain.
The Bentsen / Quayle "you're not JFK" moment was not, unfortunately, a great democrat-thinking-on-his-feet moment. It was staged (all politics is).
Quayle had used the comparison previously and Bentsen and his advisors planned ahead for it. Michael Shadow, one of Bentsen's advisor's and now a communications/PR consultant in the Seattle area (Shadow and Associates), specifically designed that sound bite in advance of the debate to bite Quayle's ass. I've heard Shadow at a public speaking seminar at UW talk about it. It's a riveting story and a historical moment, but it wasn't spontaneous. We can long for such a smart-tongued candidate, but it's mostly just planning ahead.
Nicely done, yes, but planned in advance.
Al said the word, "thrust"...
Back then, not previously having thought of him this way, I had a dream that I was having furious sex with Al Gore. I had no idea why I had dreamt that, as I seldom dreamt about anything sexual.
When I told a friend of mine about it, she asked if I had a Gore-gasm...
The opening statement by Dan Quayle blasting Bill Clinton was very interesting. McCain and Palin have used similar language (can we trust Obama?) but they have been derided as thinly racist. Is this because Quayle's assertions were based on Clintons questionable past with women? What of the notion that McCain's assertions are based on Obama's questionable past with Ayers and whoever that guy in Chicago is who Obama bought his house from?
Just food for thought...
Poor Walter Mondale. Seasoned, thoughtful, intelligent, a selfless civil servant his whole adult life, and really, really smart. And not an ounce of charisma. Didn't stand a chance.
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