It’s the most wonderful time of the Olympiad, and while I’m not exactly where I thought i would be right now (e.g. marooned in Austin waiting for DC to thaw) I’m still clearing as much of my calendar as i can for the Games. Thank God i had the sense to setup my TiVo before I left for Austin.

A few thoughts about tonight’s Opening Ceremony:

5:42 pm	Wait, Jim Carrey is Canadian?
6:13 pm	Is Lindsey Voss’ shin the new Dwight Freeney’s ankle?
6:38 pm	Lindsey Jacobellis is never going to live down that awful, showboating mistake from Torino. I hope she gets a gold, just to shut the media up. Seriously, people. She was like 14. People make mistakes.
6:44 pm	Wait, Michael J. Fox is Canadian?
6:44 pm	Wait, Ryan Renolds is Canadian? I’m sensing a theme to my posts so far …
6:45 pm	Wait, Erick McCormack? Kim Cattrall? I feel like the Canadians are an alien species, walking among us … unknown, undetected.
6:50 pm	If I could rip on the new version of “We Are the World” without being a callow, heartless bastard … I would.
7:02 pm	The opening ceremony starts with an video, which (*surprise*) ends with the virtual snowboarder actually *entering* the stadium. Who saw that coming?!?
7:05 pm	This is going to be a long, cheesy night.
7:07 pm	Rocky and Bullwinkle has completely ruined my ability to look at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with a straight face.
7:08 pm	Wait, Canada has a military?
7:09 pm	“O Canada” as a jazz ballad? Thank God there are no fundamentalist, patriotic Canadaians … else there would be rioting in the streets of the Canadian heartland tonight.
7:18 pm	After the dance-inspired welcomes from the Aboriginal nations of Canada, who else was looking for the English tribes to dance in with tea, and the French tribes to dance in with pea soup?
7:39 pm	It might have been the editing, but Georgia didn’t get quite the standing ovation that i was expecting after that horrific accident (the footage of which NBC has now shown three times in the last two hours).
8:12 pm	The U.S. enters, looking not quite as jingoistic as i was expecting. Is this a reflection of the post-Bush humility?
8:19 pm	Nelly Furtado and Bryan Adams. Insert your own punchline here.
8:33 pm	Giant spirit bear emerges from the floor. Giant spirit bear is hungry. Giant spirit bear will now eat the dancing gnats before it. Mmmmmmm.
8:37 pm	As screwed up as the United States is, at least we don’t count Sarah MacLachlan as one of our national treasures.
8:53 pm	Tap-dancing, neo-punk wearing fiddle-players with sparklers coming out of their shoes. Now there is a stereotype of Canada that I missed somehow.
9:12 pm	Canada has a beat poet. They found him on YouTube. I wish I was making this stuff up.
9:15 pm	Maybe it’s too soon for perspective, but all the memorials for Nodar Kumaritashvili (the aforementioned Georgian slider) seem really forced. I wish they had found one really poignant way to remember him, instead of sprinkling in lots of superficial attempts.
9:33 pm	Wow. k.d. lang. I didn’t know she was Canadian, but I’m really glad to know she’s not American.
9:39 pm	Hey, i just *knew* Anne Murray would get dragged out before too long. Wayne Gretsky’s got to be next.
9:58 pm	Gretsky. Spoke too soon.
10:00 pm	One of the four pillars of the Olympic cauldron didn’t make it out of the floor, so one of the four torch bearers (Steve Nash) get’s screwed. Shouldn’t one of the other three bearers invited him over to “help” light their pillar? So sad.
10:07 pm	Even worse, Wayne Gretzky gets to light *two* cauldrons? Now I feel REALLY bad for Steve Nash.
10:09 pm	Who thought five minutes of Wayne Gretzky carry a torch on the top of a pickup truck was good television?
10:15 pm	It’s over. It wasn’t great, but at least it didn’t feature thirty-six pickup trucks full of cheerleaders roaring around the stadium.

PHOTO: Courtesy of Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

i was seated for jury duty this month, and — as with all major life events — my initial response was that i should live blog the whole thing.

but, a couple things held me back.

first of all, while the jury is free to talk about the case after it has been decided, it’s not permitted to talk about it before a verdict has been rendered. needless to say, this puts a pretty big damper on the “live” part.

second, i respect the whole judicial process enough to (a) be hesitant to air my version of other people’s dirty laundry, (b) not want to be focusing on blogging when i should be concentrating on the evidence before me, and (c) i really don’t want there to be enough specifics for anybody associated with the trial to track be down and either thank or assault me.

as a result, there’s nothing here that discusses the substance of the case, i didn’t publish anything until well after the case was over, any times have been redacted and the times would have been unreliable anyway because i did all my “blogging” during recesses.

so, yet again, my live blog is pretty far from being live.

xx:xx	why am I always the first one to show?  I should have learned by now.  in government, the early bird just waits longer.
xx:xx	the Boston red sox used to be the cincinatti red stockings.  not sure how I feel about that, or the fact that I learned that today in the jury room.
xx:xx	too much oxygen is pumped into the juror services staff room.  the prople giving the orientation are way too happy.
xx:xx	no more Ken Burns baseball, we’ve moved onto crowd-favorite (and queen latifa vehiccle) secret life of bees.
xx:xx	female attourneys/clerks wearing heels on tile floors sound suspiciously like clydsdales.
xx:xx	Dakota fanning would make a credible meth addict.
xx:xx	fellow jurors?  jeans and sweaters.  potential perps?  best suits I’ve ever seen.
xx:xx	man, some of these attourneys look really young.  or really old.  did anyone graduate law school between 1950 and 2000?
xx:xx	being seated.  i’m 54th of 70 for 14 jurors.
xx:xx	person next to me’s light reading material: 10 Year Strategy to End Homelessness.  further proof our city ain’t like your city.
xx:xx	person next to her?  reading the Belgian inheritance.
xx:xx	who architects courtrooms?  really, is there a practice/specialty required to make everything round and panel the walls with cheap pergo?
xx:xx	the whitenoise machine they use to keep bench conversations confidential is going to come to blows with me.  I feel like there are subliminal messages in there telling me to kill, kill, kill.
xx:xx	this trial is about stuff that is waaaay more exciting than I really want to be participating in.
xx:xx	i’m pretty sure “au bon pain” is French for “stale, crappy food.”
xx:xx	I got nervous about making it to the bench, but apparently they interview everyone, and come back through again for the formal selection.
xx:xx	the good news is if I don’t make this jury, it’ll be difficult to imagine that I’ll be back in the lounge for enough time to get selected into another one.  the bad news is that i’m going to make this jury.
xx:xx	if I ever saw a DC cop that wasn’t 6 ft 2 inches, 200+ lbs with a buzz cut, I’m not sure I’d believe they were legit.
xx:xx	this, but still not wild about being legally responsible for deciding someone’s residence for their forseeable future.
xx:xx	seated as part of the last group.  that keeps up my perfect “selection” record, having been seated each time I’ve been summunsed.
xx:xx	jury is 60% female, and two-thirds white. I wondered if I was going to have problems when the five of seven people excused before I was seated were 30ish white men. big departure from my previous experiences.
xx:xx	sam waterston has created such a high bar for prosecutors, it’s a wonder that anyone gets convicted anymore.
xx:xx	I want to google the defendant’s name so badly…
xx:xx	paranoia is sinking in.  I’m genuinely skiddish that I’m going to be approached by someone associated with the case, even though it’s never happened to me on any prior cases.
xx:xx	do people really do illegal things just for kicks?  on tv everything is always a crime of passion, and for some reason that’s more okay to me.
xx:xx	no one on either side of the aisle knows how to craft a narrative.  I honestly think both lawyers need message training, or should let me ask the questions.
xx:xx	heard the story today of a juror who was late coming back from lunch because she went shopping.  judge asked her what she bought, and then fined her the cost of those items.
xx:xx	one of the attourneys’ is trying to force being angry (and doing it very badly) to throw the witness.  feels like he must watch the “You can’t handle the truth!” scene from A Few Good Men every night before he goes to bed.
xx:xx	… oh, and his forced histrionics are really pissing off the Judge.
xx:xx	if I ever go on a crime spree, I’m going to retain good counsel beforehand.
xx:xx	people make me sad.
xx:xx	more juror reading material:  International Economic Management textbook, the New York Times, Other Boleyn Girl, an Excel spreadsheet, three iPhones and two Blackberries.
xx:xx	the phrasing of “The Govenment calls ______ to the stand” really skeeves me out.  Way too Orwellian for my taste.  The fact that DC’s “local” procecutors are actually Feds (an artifact of our being a Federal district) just makes it worse.
xx:xx	I’m pretty sure that i’ve caught the counsel smirking (twice) as witnesses have beaten back clumsey, ham-fisted attempts on cross to discredit their testimony.
xx:xx	It seems obvious in hindsight, but I’m having a hard time coming up with anybody who wants to be in this courthouse right now.
xx:xx	If we need juries for cases like this, I think juries should be required for weddings held up stairs … it seems unfair to know that, as soon as you get seated, you’re going to be depressed for the next week.
xx:xx	Turns out that the person who was most ornery about being seated is an executive assistant to a member of Congress.  Why is that not surprising to me?
xx:xx	… she’s also taking notes with a holiday Christmas light bulb pen.
xx:xx	can’t imagine how lonely it must be to be a defendant on trial.
xx:xx	pretty sure a juror is wearing a tennis skirt and running tights to court.
xx:xx	the marshall (?) tasked with guarding the defendent has fallen asleep.
xx:xx	the attorneys can identify and discuss evidence that doesn’t meet the burden to be formally introduced.  that strikes me as strange … if they can talk about it, why can’t we see it during deliberations?
xx:xx	overheard during deliberations, thrice: “maybe I am watching too much television, but why didn’t the police ….” damn you, CSI.
xx:xx	I’m struck by how civil jury deliberations are, even in the face of strong opinions and widly differing world views.
xx:xx	just heard not one, but two references to “Twelve Angry Men” during deliberations. i honestly thought i was the only person under 60 who had seen that play/movie.
xx:xx	during jury instructions, judge mentioned a case in another jurisdiction had to be retried because jurors became facebook friends and discussed the case during recess from deliberations.
xx:xx	the jury definately has it’s lions and it’s lambs. half are actively debating the merits of the case, and half seem content to follow along.
xx:xx	the guy next to me is/was a Leeds United fan.
xx:xx	I will say that the thoughtful, inclusive nature of the deliberation has restored most (if not all) of the faith in humanity I lost during the trial.
xx:xx	Consensus. I’m going home and hugging my baby girl.

in other news, I’ve been summoned for grand jury duty this spring … which I am actually looking forward to a bit more. in grand juries, the burden of proof is lower, and the reprocussions (an indictment) are less severe.

grand juries are also allowed to indict a ham sandwich, and that sounds like fun.

UPDATE: You’ll never guess what happened the week of my grand jury summons. this and this. i’ll never be this lucky, again. ever.

again, i tried to live blog, but there was little chance with the telecom issues down on the mall. we’ve got an inaugural ball tonight (not one that he’s going to) so more thoughts later. here we go:

5:12 am	we’re up: go, go, go, go!
5:35 am	people are so … happy. I am sleep deprived, but “people” are awake, sunny and happy.
5:44 am	green line, Columbia heights station to l’ephant. trains are crowded, but not slammed.
6:15 am	tons of people backed up getting out of l’efant. saw man with “bush is a punk assed chump” bumper sticker on his back. nice.
6:22 am	in silver ticket screening line. line “starts” at third and independance. we’re on independance, a little before sixth.
6:43 am	20 ft closer.
7:10 am	another surge. now we are *halfway* to fifth.
7:24 am	cops need to chill with the sirens. we’ve heard it before. hundreds of times. all this morning.
7:32 am	saw James carville, walking *away* from the Capitol. he did NOT look amused.
7:41 am	it’s getting markedly colder… just dipped below 20 degrees.
8:12 am	through the gates! onto the mall! storm the reflecting pool!
8:33 am	so, we went up to the front section, but all the spotsleft were obstructed views. picked a spot a little farther back, but with good view of the Capitol/jumbotron.
9:12 am	people have started singing (good) but first up is “if I had a hammer” … (bad)
9:18 am	“this little light of mine…”
9:35 am	“American Pie…” dear god.
9:48 am	people are booing Gingrich. we’re with a nasty, petty bunch.
10:08 am	Muhammad Ali just walked in … “Ali! Ali! Ali!”
10:24 am	john cusack? john cusack!
10:41 am	biggest ovation so far for ted Kennedy, tho ho-ho dean wasn’t too far behind.
10:48 am	huge jeers for liberman (youch!, but a great, warm reception for colin Powell. I guess the US took his side in that whole Bush/Powell divorce thing.
10:51 am	hova! hova! encore, do you want more …
10:59 am	well michelle’s dress makes up for that election night shag rug disaster.
11:01 am	bush is smiling so much he looks vaguely unbalanced.
11:12 am	bush one ain’t looking too good. didn’t realize he was hobbling so much. he needs to get health tips from jimbo carter, who looks like he could build a house, today, single-handedly.
11:15 am	can’t wait to see how hilary is announced. mrs. clinton? secstate elect? oh right, senator… (oops!)
11:20 am	catcalls for the bush twins. easy boys, this one’s taken!
11:29 am	try as I may, I can never get my hair to look like Lynn Chaney’s.
11:35 am	dick Chaney looks even meaner in a wheelchair. looks like old man potter from “it’s a wonderful life”
11:42 am	di-fi not looking so good, either. she’s hobbling more than bush one.
11:52 am	ick. not enchanted by that convocation. gene Robinson’s at the concert was 10 times better, and way more appropriate. too Jesus-ified doran official state event.
11:55 am	sing it areatha! first time Obama has smiled was at the end there.
12:00 pm	that whole “you may now be seated” thing is getting old for the odd million or so of us stuck back here in the fields.
12:02 pm	damn, yoyo and yitzak’s fingers look *cold*.
12:07 pm	I think I like Obama *more* for flubbing the oath.
12:28 pm	great speech. hit all the right notes. little bummed his first words were “I’m humbled by the task ahead” as opposed to being humbled by the moment, his surroundings, the warm reception, his colleagues, etc. more thoughts later.
12:34 pm	it’s begun to snow :)
12:43 pm	me and my two million closest friends have decided to leave, starting riiiight about … now.
1:14 pm	we made it one whole block!
1:28 pm	there is something creepy/apocalyptic about “evacuating” the mall through an interstate highway tunnel. don’t get me wrong, it was a brilliant idea … but still creepy.
2:18 pm	well, we walked up the 395 tunnel (goes under the mall, following what would be third street) up to N street, and across to Scott Circle … where I just ordered a beer and a hamburger. god bless America.

Live blogging the Inaugural Concert on the mall today. Actually, not live blogging — because AT&T can’t maintain a #$%& signal on the mall — but kept blogging into my iPhone and uploaded it after the fact. Here you go:

11:01 am	on the 42 to the inaug concert on the mall. there is standing room only two stops in.
11:42 am	made it through security. no where near as nuts as I thought. no bags … except purses, shoulder bags, backpacks, bodybags …. *sigh.*
12:10 pm	lots of jumbotrons. early tweeters said there was only one. were they trying to drive down attendance?
12:18 pm	pre-flight entertainment has started. wonder if they will use the same 20 songs from the manassas rally.
12:35 pm	why does my blanket always end up as a prime cut through for people wandering the venue?
12:38 pm	elmo leading a chant of “we are one.” sweet Jesus, take me now.
12:53 pm	it’s nuts down here on the mall. two hours ’til showtime, and the place is packed.
1:10 pm	amy Hawthorne!
1:25 pm	The Lady Sparkler flipping out that people are stepping on her blanket. gonna be a long hour-twenty.
1:52 pm	Yup. same soundtrack.
2:10 pm	just noticed snipers on top of the Lincoln. btwn that and the low planes coming in to national, I’ve become temporarily distracted by mundane safetly concerns.
2:20 pm	convocation.
2:31 pm	nice reception for the first couples.
2:36 pm	denzel actually got more screams than Obama did in our little section. ear drums bleeding from pre-teens behind.
2:44 pm	Bruce Springsteen and a 100 person gospel choir. Sparkler’s happy. I think we can leave now. Oh, wait. Not until U2.
2:49 pm	mlk3 just mentioned the peace corps and half the crowd holla’d. think there are hippies around?
2:52 pm	jamie foxx doing an Obama impression is creapy good.
2:56 pm	clapping with gloves on makes people sound stupid.
3:00 pm	some just screamed “run forest run” when tom hanks took the stage.
3:06 pm	is it too much to ask for ATT to keep a functioning network for 2m people in then mall?!?
3:11 pm	I’m in such a good mood today, that I don’t even hate James Taylor … well, not *as* much.
3:19 pm	at the climax of mellencamp’s “pink houses” we had a dramatic fly-over by a perfect formation of 20 very confused looking Canadian geese.
3:22 pm	wow, the Daughters of the American Revolution just got thrown under the bus for denying African American singer Marian Anderson the right to perform at Constitution hall … in 1939. ouch.
3:25 pm	someone just asked if josh groban was an American idol winner. ouch.
3:28 pm	Is that the guy from “Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo bay”? what do you have to do to not deserve to appear at this thing?
3:32 pm	tiger woods? hmm.
3:41 pm	Garth Brooks singing American pie? this is the atlanta-olympics-memorial-36-white-pickups-stuffed-with-cheerleaders moment of the afternoon.
3:43 pm	nope. garth brooks just medley-ed into “shout.” *this* is the stuffed-with-cheerleaders moment. I guess “pie” was just the white-pickups part.
3:47 pm	celebrity #239 and #240 just spoke. can you imagine how big the greenroom must be?
4:01 pm	not one, but TWO songs by U2? Sparkler has left her mind. I repeat. Sparkler has left her mind.
4:07 pm	how do you follow that? two tethered eagles? ick.
4:10 pm	or, maybe, Obama?
4:18 pm	great speach. well written. made up for the awkward eagles thing.
4:24 pm	sing-a-long. I get the feeling I am in kindergarten, and beyonce is my teacher (WOHOO!)
4:35 pm	walking out.
4:38 pm	there is a boy on a leash rolling around on the ground like a dog. interesting lesson in socialized behavior.
4:46 pm	no way we are getting on public transportation. no way.
5:10 pm	wow! made it on a bus. a metro manager stopped a south bound S2 and turned it around in the middle of L street. it has these fuzzy seats, as if it were a charter. strange.
5:16 pm	Being interviewed by the Washington post. can’t wait to see how that story pans out. (pdf)
5:21 pm	final thought: if this many people showed for the concert, the inauguration is going to crazy. CRAZY!

i’m posting out of order, but the lady sparkler and i went out to Manassas last night for barack obama’s final campaign rally, at the Prince William County Fairgrounds. (see the pictures on facebook, or check out the panorama above.)

i’ll have more thoughts later (ie. tomorrow) but the rally was spectacular. they estimated the crowd at 90,000 and i’d absolutely believe it. he’s every bit as charismatic as clinton (mr, not mrs, who i met in early 1992) but hopefully without the, er, prominent character flaws. the lady sparkler and i went to the rally on a complete whim, but it felt great to be there for (hopefully) a little bit of history.

we didn’t get back until just about 2am, so i am way too tired for coherent thought, much less coherent election night coverage … but we’ll see what happens as we get through the night.

7:00 PM	i love numbers! just like crack, only they are a little more addictive … and have a little less nutritional value.
7:03 PM	vermont is the first to go blue! as a former cog in the rep. bernie sanders (i-vt) machine, i am proud (i say) proud of this development … and can feel the entire city of Rutland (viva, rut-vegas!) having a conniption fit.
7:18 PM	cnn is using faux-hologram technology to project a chicago-based reported into the atlanta situation room. help me obi wan, you are my only hope. @#$%ng ridiculous.
7:31 PM	cnn has mccain up 8 to 3 … if that ratio holds, it’s going to be a landslide.
7:40 PM	What we should be watching … Early tells: Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina. Must McWins: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri. Late flags: Montana, Colorado.
8:02 PM	on a bus, away from CNN and it’s killing me. I trust nothing important is happening?
8:11 PM	CNN mobile says electoral college is 77 to 34 in favor of Barack, but only KY and VT have been called. That’s a Palin sized WTF?!?
8:27 PM	oh, the northeast happened. and Maryland. and Illinois.
8:34 PM	Obama won granite staters who “never attend church” and “make less than 25k” … not sure that’s a good thing.
9:02 PM	dole goes down… burn, dole, burn! you godless heeeethan.
9:10 PM	51 senators and Michigan. it’s early. why do the people on fox look so sad?!?
9:13 PM	it’s silly, but I was really hoping for Georgia. sad.
9:20 PM	fox calls Ohio for obama. stick a fork inmac, he’s gone!
9:34 PM	I [heart] the CNN magic state/county map. it may be my new celebrity exception. mmmmmmmmm.
9:37 PM	malvo (CNN) went a little heavy on the orange bronzer.
10:13 PM	giddy. just giddy.
10:15 PM	breaking news! CNN announces that a source in the McCain count says that he may have lost!
10:20 PM	Jessica Simpson appears to be providing election coverage on fox news, and seems to have just high-fives Brett Hume.
10:28 PM	Steve Forbes is on comedy central, and BET seems to have a “magic map” made from refrigerator magnets.
10:35 PM	William bennett looks like he wants to blink out of existance.
10:42 PM	Jon King just touched Joe Lieberman’s blue tile and it turned blue! Will someone please, please call something.
10:55 PM	wow, this has been a slow, slow 10-minutes…
10:59 PM	you heard it here first, BET just called virginia for Obama.
11:00 PM	that’s it kids!
11:06 PM	wow, Jesus. wow.
11:09 PM	ten minutes ago, this had nothing to do with race. now, it’s hard to see anything but …
11:17 PM	is saying “our long national nightmare is over” too strong?
11:19 PM	no, boos, repubs. no boos.
11:24 PM	McCain: Dude, if you gave this tone of a speech six months ago, you would have won. Who wrote this? Why now? Legitimately beautiful.
11:27 PM	This is the pre-2000 McCain … the one I could have been content as president way back when.
11:29 PM	well, lots of repub boos, but atleast no “drill, baby, drill!”
11:41 PM	Am I the only one who honestly doesn’t believe that this has happened?
11:51 PM	Florida, Nevada? Montana would be the end zone spike.
11:56 PM	CNN: “people are celebrating in front of the white house.” that’s not celebrating, bob. that’s taunting…
12:00 AM	Michelle Obama’s dress made me think nice things about Cindy McCain. Damn her!
12:10 AM	God, he makes a lot of sense.
12:16 AM	how long has he been writing this in his head?
12:17 AM	this is really happening, huh?
12:25 AM	seeing Jesse Jackson cry makes me hate him just a little less…
12:45 AM	the steers are a wall of noise. horns honking everywhere. trucks, cars. it’s beautiful.
12:49 AM	people are litterally shouting and clapping on each street corner. And I just face planted because i should have been walking instead of typing.
12:56 AM	if park road is half as noisy as Connecticut Ave, I won’t be sleeping tonight.
1:05 AM	I’ve seen a hundred people since the returns, maybe two… but not one hasn’t been happy, laughing, smiling, honking or shouting. even the one repub I’ve seen was happy.
1:33 AM	18th and Columbia is a parking lot of people high-fiveing, strangers making eye contact and grinning, people shouting “yes, we did.” it’s like DC melted away, and became Portland, Oregon for a couple hours.
1:34 AM	screw people who say that DC isn’t a sports town. our sport is politics, it’s just that we don’t win often enough …
2:20 AM	watched CNN’s replay of obama’s acceptance speech. it’s even better the second time around.
2:20 AM	g’night.

i’m desperately trying to come up with something else to liveblog tonight, mainly because i am struggling to come up with anything original that i could possibly say during another ninety minutes of political discourse.

sure, mccain could come out with some kind of plan, and sure, obama could suddenly start spouting in arabic about the downfall of the great satan … but i am thinking the odds of this are a little low.

I will say that there has been a lot of ink floating around lately which seems to be setting up nicely for an Obama win. The most interesting are from (admittedly moderate) Conservatives such as David Brooks:

He’s phenomenally good at surrounding himself with a team,” Brooks said. “I disagree with them on most issues, but I am given a lot of comfort by the fact that the people he’s chosen are exactly the people I think most of us would want to choose if we were in his shoes.

… and Andrew Sullivan:

… McCain would have to concede that he didn’t vet her, made his decision impulsively based on no real knowledge of her, and that his first serious judgment as a presidential candidate was so monumentally irresponsible that it doesn’t just disqualify her for the vice-presidency. It disqualifies him for the presidency.

This story line is the most interesting to me, as someone who was on the hill during the later part of Gingrich’s Republican revolution. I can say, the prevailing wisdom was that we had seen the death-knell of modern American liberalism, and that people we’re hoping that the Conservative lock on the halls of power would only be a couple of decades long.

Sure, I’d take an Obama presidency in it’s own right, but just the possibility that we haven’t become a country of one permanent majority party is what’s making me feel warm and fuzzy right now.

8:54 PM	just heard five minutes on CNN where I couldn’t make out one pundit making one discernable point. it’s going to be a long, long night.
8:58 PM	tired of hearing deal people talking about real problems. can we have some fake voters talking about some artificial problems?
8:59 PM	john king: “john McCain is George bush’s older brother.” ouch!
9:03 PM	the candidates almost hugged. what are they up to?
9:06 PM	mccain has now started two-thirds of the debates with a hospital update about a prominent political figure. some one needs to explain to him that the demographic he should be targeting isn’t exactly on hospital watch.
9:10 PM	schaeffer: “senator mccain, would you like to ask a question?” mccain: “um, no.”
9:11 PM	obama: “senator mccain has obviously been listening to his own ads … now, let me tell you what I’m *actually* going to do.”
9:12 PM	eating 53-week old wedding cake. third slice. it’s *that* good …
9:13 PM	this is much more socially awkward that usual, and i honestly didn’t think that was possible.
9:18 PM	McCain shouldn’t talk about the Depression era like he was there. Oh, wait. He *was* there.
9:20 PM	I wonder if there is a “debate moderators” support group, where they go through therapy as a result of the candidates refusing to answer their questions.
9:21 PM	Ooo, McCain is getting feisty. “I’m not President Bush. If you wanted to run against him, you should have run four years ago.”
9:22 PM	… and he just tanked the rest of his response. a promising attack, snuffed out in its youth.
9:27 PM	multi-tasking. just posted pictures of a weekend of hiking in sky meadows state park, virginia.
9:29 PM	wow. jesus. finally. mccain brought his “a” game to this debate. him looking so hurt about the john lewis thing kinda made him look like a wuss, though.
9:31 PM	it seems like a slippery slope for either of them saying that the other one is going too “negative.”
9:32 PM	i’ve decided … these two need marital counseling.
9:36 PM	mccain pressing how he has been treated by the obama campaign is a bold gambit. i wonder if it pays off … or makes him look completely unfocused on the issues.
9:40 PM	obama: “I think that your focus on [Ayers and Acorn] shows more about your campaign, than it does about my campaign.”
9:41 PM	okay kids. that was fun. can we get back to the issues the rest of us care about now?
9:48 PM	i wish i had more to live blog, but nothing terribly original is happening … other than the rising levels of condescension.
9:50 PM	i wish the campaigns would watch the stupid little audience response graph on cnn. talk about issues? graph goes up. talk about each other? graph goes down. how hard is this to understand?
9:52 PM	the lady sparkler and texas in africa said within minutes of each other that this debate is waaaay too inside baseball.
9:53 PM	tee-hee! i’m going to start playing the “drink everytime McCain slips an attack in on Obama” game. think i will make it through the next 3 minutes?
9:55 PM	you know, we were *just* talking about how much better a model that Peruvian free trade pact was over the Columbian one. like, last night over dinner. this is the best debate ever!
9:57 PM	the lady sparkler just broke out the vodka. i was going to avoid telling you that it’s lemon vodka, but that tidbit was just too tasty.
9:58 PM	obama: “i was just talking to a couple of women who had to be in their mid-50s…” i hope they don’t turn out to be 40, because he may have just lost their votes. thank god he didn’t guess their weight.
10:02 PM	if mccains smile becomes any more forced, people are going to think he died.
10:05 PM	why does Joe the Plumber get all the love??? how about Evan the Fundraiser, or HGM the Freelancer, or Texas the Professor? oh, that’s why. we’re the white intellectual elites. damn.
10:07 PM	HEY! mccain is a self professed federalist. dig out those papers, kids!
10:09 PM	john, saying justices must strictly adhere to the consitution *is* a litmus test.
10:11 PM	I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of televisions cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.
10:12 PM	we have to change the culture of america, john? i thought america was the most perfect country around. you can’t change it! that’s un-american …
10:16 PM	that stupid little audience response graph just went through the roof when obama started talking about education, and working to reduce the demand for abortions.
10:16 PM	last question! oh, thank god …
10:21 PM	i love soldiers too, but making them all teachers without requiring certification? i’m not sure that is such a great idea.
10:25 PM	the CNN pundits’ scorecard is currently 46% mccain, 54% obama.
10:25 PM	YES, SARAH PALIN KNOWS ABOUT AUTISM. YES. NEXT SLIDE, PLEASE.
10:29 PM	john mccain’s closing statement was perfect. it’s a damn shame (for him) that the rest of his campaign hasn’t carried out that theme …
10:31 PM	go vote now, it will make you feel big and strong …
10:32 PM	cindy needs to adjust her vertical hold, or her white balance, or something … i mean, daaaaaaaamn girl.

final thoughts

the pundits are saying that mccain was great out of the gates (agree) that it was mccain’s best debate (agree) and it wasn’t obama’s best (agree) and that obama was on the defensive for the first third of the debate (agree).

but they are also saying that mccain let obama back in the debate by dwelling / looking emotionally disturbed by the ayers / john lewis thing (agree a hundred times over). mccain looked angry. obama looked like an academic. wonder how all this translated into the masses …

after the last debate, there was a lot of conversation about how mccain’s window was closing, and that this closing window means he would have to take larger risks (attacking obama) and those risks would have a greater chance of backfiring.

i certainly think that mccain has either slowed or stopped the hemorrhaging, but did he fundamentally change the course of the debate? dunno, but my guess is no. and i am certainly not going to loose any sleep about it.

speaking of which, good night. god bless. i’ll most likely kill you in the morning.

crap. there is a debate tonight, isn’t there. ugh.

8:07 PM	who am i. why am i here? no, really. why *am* i here?
8:59 PM	blah, blah, red states. blah, blah, undecided voters. blah, blah, obama, blah, blah, ohio, blah. blah, blah, debates don’t matter. blah, blah.
9:01 PM	if tom brokaw is approving the questions, why doesn’t he just ask them? i hate the townhall format. does that make me an elitist?
9:02 PM	i think we need to reevaluate making me a despot. i promise to be benevolent.
9:08 PM	mccain looks like a compassionate human being. what is he up to?
9:14 PM	oh, man! naked gun 2 1/2 is on. what am i doing with my life?!?
9:16 PM	obama isn’t looking good pointing so many fingers. just ignore mccain, and talk about a PLAN.
9:18 PM	NO ONE OUTSIDE OF THE BELTWAY THINKS THAT WRITING A LETTER IS DOING ANYTHING AT ALL. DROP IT.
9:23 PM	i hate this format. now instead of not answering the media’s questions (which we all agree is perfectly acceptable) they are now ignoring the questions of the general public. how is this good thing?
9:25 PM	mccain is going to cut entitlements and build a bunch of nuclear plants. i’m guessing he isn’t trying to turn dems to his cause …
9:26 PM	good for Obama knowing the price of gas in Nashville. nice touch.
9:30 PM	mccain is really spending a LOT of time talking about his record. are there that many who are unsure about it? if the are unsure about it, are they going to take his word at face value? i’m guessing not.
9:30 PM	“we’re not rifle shots here.” what exactly does this mean?
9:38 PM	CNN: the little audience response graph at the bottom of the screen *flatlined* on mccains crack that keeping track of obama’s tax plans are like nailing jello to the wall.
9:42 PM	social security reform isn’t tough, why hasn’t it been done yet, John?
9:45 PM	i’m thinking john’s record on climate change is a little suspect if his veep isn’t even sure global warming is caused by human beings. speaking of, i wonder if she falls into the “caused by cow flatulence” camp.
9:49 PM	don’t do it, obama. don’t go negative on mccain. we expect it from him, not from you.
9:51 PM	i have to look up that “politicians haven’t done anything in 30 years about energy, and mccain has been there for 26 of them” comment. if you *have* to go negative, that’s the way to go. let people draw their own conclusions. lead the horses to water, and most of us will drink.
9:58 PM	health care as a right for every american. god bless that man. god bless him.
10:02 PM	john mccain’s response to when to use military might is the best he has ever given … right up until that patronizing part at the very end.
10:03 PM	either i’m drunk or these things are getting easier to sit through. wait a second, i am drunk. nevermind.
10:07 PM	CNN has these analyst score cards … and i added up all six results for both candidates — Obama, 60. McCain, 11. Youch.
10:09 PM	I’m so tired of McCain’s hero-worship of Petraeus and Reagan. Why does he feel he needs to do it, and what would the analogy be for Obama. Clinton? Kennedy? LBJ?
10:12 PM	Hey, McCain’s got a new hero!!! It’s Teddy Roosevelt, now. Maybe he will shut up about Petraeus. (Or maybe not…)
10:19 PM	McCain’s negative comments flatlining on the audience response graph reminds the missus of McCain’s heart flatlining, which reminds her that he’s old, which makes her sad.
10:21 PM	gawd, he really is old.
10:22 PM	crap, Obama forgot his lines about Russia. slow and steady, my friend. noun first, then try a verb, then maybe an object … nice and slow.
10:27 PM	i am soooo tired of the “pre-conditions before talking to iran” issue. even if you are right, it’s not a campaign issue. NEXT SLIDE, please.
10:29 PM	stupid question! iran will not attack israel, and (if they did) china and russia would never oppose a response. the entire question is non-sensical. not to mention, isreal would beat the bejeeebus out of iran, so there would be no need to respond by the time we could muster the troops.
10:31 PM	question from new hampshire: “what don’t you know and how will you learn it?” damn hippies. wiskey-tango-foxtrot?
10:32 PM	wrap it up kids, i’m done.
10:34 PM	there is such a generational gap between the two candidates, and it shows in every single word, look and response.
10:35 PM	Final score from CNN — McCain, 29. Obama, 69.
10:37 PM	the disdain between the two candidates is actually pretty sad, especially considering they have both run a (relatively) clean campaign … at least when compared to the last two elections.
10:56 PM	three debates down, one to go. i hope i’m out of town for that one. maybe i should start planning a trip …

final thoughts

The generational gap was more apparent tonight that it ever was before … and i’m guessing it was due to the absence of the podiums. McCain looked old, and the more he looks old, i think the more the rank and file Americans (who aren’t beguiled by Palin’s neocon-ly charms) bail on his campaign.

I’m glad the onslaught of personal attacks didn’t come … i think slinging mud would hurt both sides more than they’d help, because it causes the middle to stay home. We’ve had enough elections in recent memory that were about mobilizing the base, and that doesn’t help the national discourse by any means.

Yet again, I don’t there was anything here to change the conversation, and status quo favors the guy in the lead. My main concern is as it was after the very first one … Obama needs to start building up a lead, because once the white people are in the voting booth alone, all polls and predictions become bogus.

update: i just heard cnn’s republican and democratic analysts hand the election to obama (pending major implosion, etc). basically, the argument was that the things that mccain would need to do to take the lead are either too late (policy shift, separation from bush) or have too high a potential to backfire (personal attacks).

other interesting tidbit … in the initial poll, 50%+ thought that obama won (not news) but mccain’s unfavorable ratings are at 46%, while barack’s fell to 34% after the debate. if mccain is really 12% behind in unfavorables, there is no way he wins … you just can’t overcome a gap like that.

I’ve been looking to avoid this evening since I heard the veep nominations…

The expectations for Palin are so low, that if she strings two coherent sentences together she wins. If Biden crushes her, she wins. If the moderator asks her hard questions, she wins. If she shows up with a star-spangled swimsuit and poses with a gun, she wins.

To quote the pimply faced boy from the Simpsons: this is only going to end in tears.

7:33 PM	To get warmed up, some favorite veep-debate quotes:
7:33 PM	“Who am I? Why am I here? I’m not a politician…” – Admiral James Stockdale
7:34 PM	“I will never have another Jimmy Carter grain embargo, Jimmy, Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter grain embargo, Jimmy Carter grain embargo.” – Senator Dan Quayle
7:36 PM	“George Bush taking credit for the Berlin Wall coming down is like the rooster taking credit for the sunrise.” – Sen. Al Gore
9:01 PM	Ahhh … back on PBS, but I am already missing that little audience response graph on CNN.
9:02 PM	If you flip between CNN and PBS, CNN is on a 5 second tape delay. Are they expecting a wardrobe malfunction?
9:04 PM	How come Joe in a black suit looks professional, but Sarah in a black suit looks like she is going to a funeral?
9:07 PM	Well practiced responses from both candidates. Palin stumbled right out of the gate, but settled down quick.
9:12 PM	Wow. I mean, like wow. Satan prepped this woman. She is on point, on message, and (like all good pols interacting with journalists) completely ignoring the question.
9:15 PM	Joe’s gotta watch it … he’s going to come across as a inside-the-beltway wonk, and she is going to become the guardian of the people.
9:18 PM	Satan, i tell you, Satan. Ham-fisted (barking at Gwen where there is nothing to bark about) but is going to do great for the anti-PBS vote.
9:20 PM	She’s stumbling just enough to increase her foloksy cred, but not enough to embarass herself.
9:22 PM	Flip over to CNN. Human’s are perverts. I can understand the audience response for men jumping when she speaks, but the audience response for women jumping when *he* speaks?
9:26 PM	Oh. Need something to distract me.
9:28 PM	How is she being allowed to successfully stake out their ticket as the one of change? Joe’s got to step up his game …
9:33 PM	Am i the only one who is a little disappointed that she didn’t say that Climate Change is just God hugging us closer?
9:39 PM	Oh, my. She just used tolerance as a reason to be intolerant. Artful.
9:44 PM	She just paused about 5 seconds before responding to a question about Iraq, and you could actually see her sifting through the mental file folders / media training looking for the appropriate canned response…
9:45 PM	When, exactly, is she going to start drooling again?
9:49 PM	I think she wants to sleep with Petraeus, too. What is the deal?!?
9:55 PM	Joe Biden shouldn’t talk about Joe Biden in the third person …
9:57 PM	Is anybody buying Sarah Palin as the harbinger of change? The Dems are “spending too much time pointing backwards” to convince Palin that they are going to move us forward. Ouch.
10:00 PM	I want to live in the parallel universe that she’s living in.
10:06 PM	I never thought in a million years that Palin would be the one who would need to watch coming off as being condescending.
10:07 PM	SOMEONE BRING ME A DRINK!
10:09 PM	“a team of mavericks.”
10:15 PM	This folksy thing is at the point where it’s just making me mad … literally, and certifiably, angry. You, betcha!
10:17 PM	Does Cheney have a doctrine now? And is she actually supporting it? How in God’s name does she think that a more active role for the veep will get her ticket elected.
10:22 PM	Sarah Palin: the candidate of change and tolerance. Doublethink. Blackwhite. She must be a closet fan of Orwell.
10:35 PM	thank god that’s over.
10:36 PM	observation number one: this answers the question about whether she can be properly media trained, not about whether she can be a chief executive.
10:37 PM	observation number two: mark shields called her “relentlessly colloquial” and i think that hits the nail on the head. the open question is whether or not the people want that right now, after 8 years of someone who couldn’t pronounce “nuclear.”
10:41 PM	observation number three: she threw the bush administration under the bus. i know that it won’t be remembered in 50 years, but if bush is expecting a positive legacy … oiff.
10:52 PM	that’s it. i’m done. good night, kids …

a couple more thoughts after the debate … it’s fascinating the sea change we have seen in regards to women and their roll in society. i’m sincerely happy that a woman can go into a veep debate with a folksy, soccer mom schtick and hold her own against opposition in a power suit.

let’s be honest, if geraldine ferraro went for this approach 24 years ago, she would have been run off the ticket on a rail.

to me, this election was all fun and games until tonight. honestly, i suspect i could live under a McCain administration … even if i would prefer pre-2001 as opposed to this particular incarnation. but, imho, the country just can’t survive even two years of a Palin administration.

the way she looks down on intellect, forces herself to be colloquial, follows her politico-driven script, her obviously ultra-conservative credentials … that’s just a continuation of the bush approach which has proven bankrupt.

that’s it for me. i’m (right now) going to go donate a lot of money to the Obama campaign, and go to bed to get the nightmares over with.

Guess who live blogged the debate tonight? Tonight’s coverage came from waaaay out in suburban Maryland — home of the very mighty baby boig. Also, in case you missed it, I live blogged that joint appearance by Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton on Saturday night two weeks back.

thoughts from the debate

8:05 AM	I honestly can’t imagine a better prologue for the debate than McCain calling for it to be canceled, and Obama educating John that a President needs to be able to walk *and* chew gum at the same time.
12:08 PM	debate is looking like it’s a go. washingtonpost.com reporting that mccain has agreed to participate, citing “significant progress” on the bailout.
12:14 PM	in case you hadn’t heard, mccain has already won the debate … and this “happened” while he was still trying to kill it.
5:10 PM	i’m more than a little nervous about rolling out new technology (posting from iPhone) in a live broadcast event … even if it there are just three of you watching/reading.
8:18 PM	at the party … negotiations have commenced as to which network coverage to watch. it doesn’t look good for PBS.
8:55 PM	So we have the option of watching RoboCop or the debate. Dunno, I do like Peter Weller.
9:01 PM	Here we go, in the land of the stars and bars. On CNN. *Sigh*
9:03 PM	I [heart] Jim Lehrer.
9:05 PM	Interesting how McCain entered from the *right* of the stage … hmmm.
9:05 PM	Barack = too much makeup.
9:07 PM	McCain trots out Kennedy’s illness? Nice try, but poor form … especially for what was deemed a “mild seizure.”
9:08 PM	At least McCain practiced his response to the financial bailout question. Barack should have had that speech polished. You’ve *got* to map out your first fifteen offensive plays if you want to coach in this league, kiddo.
9:10 PM	It’s going to be a long night if they don’t start answering Jim’s questions…
9:11 PM	How is the financial crisis like the landings at Normandy? I got WAY confused on that one…
9:13 PM	Point to John McCain for making a joke … proof that he’s actually alive. Especially important as he (a) isn’t moving much, and (b) his makeup makes him look like a corpse.
9:16 PM	That lighting makes McCain look like he has a comb-over … or maybe that’s just reality doing that.
9:20 PM	“I didn’t win Miss Congeniality in the US Senate..” NICE!
9:27 PM	Barack is looking great … and I don’t think McCain is winning many points being *so* focused on pork barrel spending. It’s a bullet point, John. It’s not the whole speech.
9:31 PM	Is McCain running for President or Accountant-In-Chief? Next slide, John-boy.
9:35 PM	Barack is much more nimble at jumping from issue to issue … John-boy isn’t flustered, but isn’t exactly fleet of feet here.
9:44 PM	I hope Petraeus doesn’t retire … who is McCain going gush over when he’s gone.
9:48 PM	Watching on CNN, I am fascinated by the little graph on the bottom of the screen measuring audience response, one line each for dems, indies and repubs … I know it prolly has no substance what-so-ever but I can’t tear my eyes away
9:51 PM	Barack is calling McCain out for “misrepresentation” a lot. People here are standing saying “Hallelujah,” but I wonder how the confrontation is looking to the undecideds.
9:52 PM	I feel like McCain keeps fighting the last argument.
9:56 PM	Is McCain sleeping with General Petraeus? I know about this “don’t ask, don’t tell” thing, but maybe John-boy should do a little more “don’t tell…”
9:58 PM	John-boy supports extinction for North Korea and jokes about bombing Iran? Two good lines to Obama. I’m thinking he was well prepped.
10:00 PM	McCain’s jowells are twitching … I think he’s getting ready to combust.
10:01 PM	Oy. A verbal battle of soldier’s mother’s bracelets … unseemly. You can see that Obama is wearing the bracelet, John. Why bring it up?
10:05 PM	McCain just called Iran an “existential” threat. Was that “existential” as in “existentialism,” as in Albert Camus and Friedrich Nietzsche … as in “I create my own reality?” Heck, I’d agree that John-boy creates his own reality …
10:07 PM	I know that I’m partial, but I’m pretty sure Obama is doing waaaay better keeping McCain honest than vice versa.
10:09 PM	“Punishing countries by not talking to them does not work…” *great* line from Obama, putting McCain square in the Bush camp.
10:12 PM	So, this reminds me of a funny joke I heard: Raul Castro, Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Obama walk into a bar — stop me if you have heard this one …
10:18 PM	I can’t hear the word “Russia” without thinking about Tina Fey saying: “I can see Russia from my back yard.”
10:20 PM	You know at least a hundred people outside Atlanta just called the Georgia state police to report that the Russians have invaded.
10:24 PM	That smirk on McCain’s face is positively Bush-ian. Do you think the general public finds it as pompous (and vaguely unstable) as I do?
10:26 PM	Does anyone know what Nunn-Lugar is? Two of you? Great. Are you an undecided living in middle America? No, not so much …
10:28 PM	If the U.S. is safer now than after 9/11, can we get step down from that “Code Orange” thing that’s messing up all the airports?
10:30 PM	I know Obama isn’t going to say it, but could the biggest threat to our security be to remain in Iraq? Or, for us to not fix our standing in the world?
10:31 PM	Spoke too soon. Obama just said “we must restore our standing in the world” and that statement shoved that audience reaction graph through the roof. Dems and Indies are way up. Even the repubs are up, up, up. Who knew America cared? Or, who knew a focus group in Atlanta cared?
10:33 PM	McCain just said “blood and treasure.” Which brings up an important point … does middle America celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and do they know it was actually last week?
10:36 PM	McCain just said Bush and Obama shared foreign policy stubbornness. Sharpest knock on the president so far, though (imho) it seemed a bit forced.
10:37 PM	John is tiring out, Barack. Just smile and nod… and say you love America, a lot. And babies.
10:38 PM	It’s over, enter the Stepford Wife!
10:45 PM	Well, that’s done … not sure anyone really won or loss, but I’m drooling over the next round of polling.
10:46 PM	How far up does Obama have to be to overcome people swapping teams in the voting booth due to the latent racism of Americans? Someone here at the party said 15%, though I’d guess Palin may have moderated that a bit (target for latent sexism).
10:47 PM	Okay, gotta drive home. More thoughts later …
10:51 PM	Not leaving quite yet. Was there any moment of this debate that we will remember in 20 years? I am thinking not. And it seemed to me that debating with McCain sullies Obama. I don’t like seeing such a gifted orator have to deal with a bean-counter like that.
10:55 PM	Lotta people talking (in person, on the telly) about Obama saying “John is right” so much, and that being a sign of weakness … I’m not so sure. A sign of bipartisanship, yes. Weakness? Maybe not.
10:56 PM	Okay, now I really am leaving…

a couple thoughts from the drive home

first, i liked how approachable obama seemed … he had a “kitchen table” schtick about him, and it think that will serve him well. it’s not him at his most eloquent, but i think everybody is expecting a good state of the union already. it’s still a question of if you want to drink beer with him, and the debate was a personal win for him here.

second, that stupid audience reaction graph seemed to map indies and dems very closely together, with repubs more often swinging the opposite way. if that graph has value, which is a bold assumption, then this correlation is a very, very good sign for Obama. actually, anecdotally, i’d say that the three lines were more “together” when barack was speaking, and a little more separated when mccain was speaking. that could be good, too.

finally, a Conservative commentator (not sure who) mentioned that foreign policy and national security are the bread and butter issues for McCain, and that if he doesn’t score in this debate, he probably isn’t going to score at any debate. Now, call the debate how you will, but i don’t think anyone is saying that McCain did any better than “holding his own” … so, that could be good, too.

well, good night! god bless you … and god bless the united states of america.

p.s. i want you to know i did this whole thing from a couch using my iPhone. come on in, my friends … drink the kool-aid. the water is *mighty* fine.