‘Election’ Posts⁽²⁾

we scored some tickets to the “google ball” through the lady sparkler’s work — she actually asked *whether* i wanted to go (crazy lady!).

it wasn’t a ball as such (no obamas, so no dead swan dress) but was instead billing itself as a sort of pre-/post-ball party for the other (more official) balls.

the space was gorgeous. big enough to be spectacular, but small enough to be (surprisingly) intimate. and, to be fair, i didn’t even know the space existed (it’s in the old IRS building at the corner of 15th and Constitution).

we heard rumors that fancy-pants people would be there, but assumed they would be all roped off in some back room. it was great enough to have an excuse to dress up, but … i mean, JOHN PODESTA was there. and *WOLF BLITZER*!!!

anyway, the conversations were progressing along nicely, when the lady sparkler suggested our little group take a lap around the place. in a back room, the lady sparkler spotted ben affleck, and then it was all over …

i felt safe in my relationship, because i knew that she was only talking to him to get matt damon’s phone number … but it turned out that she wanted a picture, too.

she negotiated her way up to him, and tugged on his shoulder. i have no idea who he was talking to (someone later told me it was his brother Casey) but he barely broke (conversation) stride as he turned around, looked dashing for the picture, and went back about his business … not at all disturbed to be accosted by my wife.

john cusack, on the other hand, turned out to be a bit of an #$%. my beloved slid in for the kill, and he started negotiating with her about whether he would take the picture or not … i finally just took it, and think the expression is, well, perfect.

we actually ran into good friends shortly afterwards who gave us their tickets to a real, official ball (dead swann dress included). we headed over not too much later, but it turns out that the obama’s were gone even before we had the tickets in our hands.

still, one heck of an evening … especially riding home on the metro in our prom attire, with not a single raised eyebrow.

damn, i love DC.

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.

i’ve got a nice pair of inauguration tickets in my hand, courtesy of the immortal jojo, who will *easily* go down as the very best middle sister in the history of the sparkler family.

we headed over to Capitol Hill today, a little after lunch, to pick up said tickets from jojo’s member (who is super cool himself, and someone i worked with a lot back in the days of comrade bernie sanders).

we got there a little after 2pm, thinking it would be an easy in-and-out before they shut down around three … but instead, we walked straight into the fourth circle of hell.

the metro platform was backed up, with an easy hundred people waiting to just get *out* of the turnstiles.

it only got worse when we got topside.

there are probably three entrances to each of the three house buildings, so a total of nine different paths to get to your tickets. when we arrived, each of the lines had hundreds (if not thousands) already lined up.

i was surprised, but then i started doing the math … 435 members of the house (times) two-hundred tickets per member (equals) approximately 87,000 tickets.

factor in that (a) everybody had to be present to pick up the tickets, (b) they only allowed one day to pick up the tickets, and (c) there was only six hours in which to distribute them …

a little more math reveals that the powers that be thought *each* door/security queue/metal detector could move just about 2,000 people *every* hour.

i’m sad to say they were wildly, and stoopidly optimistic.

now, there is a happy ending … because we lucked out. i worked in said house office building for four years and i knew it had a back door … and thought to check to see if there was a line there.

we also lucked out, because the throngs were so bad at the front (it went up and down the length of the building twice) that they decided to open the back door (where we were looking) at the exact moment we arrived.

we were (maybe) fifty or sixty people back from the door when it opened.

after that, it was all gravy.

we just had to find our room, the lady sparkler had to pretend she was her sister (we had an old passport for ID that it turned out we didn’t have to use) and i had to smile, nod, and say “duude” a lot (trying to pass myself off as a left coaster).

it wasn’t until we walked out the front that we realized how incredibly fortunate we were. there was an easy two thousand people waiting to get in just that *one* entrance.

i would love to know how late those offices had to stay open tonight. my guess was that there was a line well past dark.

first the bus yesterday, now the tickets today. let’s see if the luck holds through tomorrow …

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!

for me, this election cycle has highlighted three glaring reasons why the Republican party should be more than a little worried about 2012:

first problem: party unity

the party illuminati are already deconstructing the election, and half the party is saying they lost because they pushed away minorities and the intellectuals by pandering to the conservative base. of course, the other half says they lost when they left the party’s traditional base and moved towards the center (where the minorities and intellectuals seem to be hanging out).

this argument is going to resonate well beyond 2012, but the next nomination cycle is going to be an ugly battle for the Repubs … between a candidate who energizes the party’s base, and a candidate who energizes the party’s intellectual / policy / more progressive center.

that bruiser of a process is going to disenfranchise half the party, and make it very hard the nominee to win out. for those who weren’t paying attention, sarah palin brought about party discord, not party unity. her presence in 2012 is only going to make the situation worse.

second problem: policy not security

we are starting to see the signs that simply changing the subject isn’t going to work anymore. Republican candidates are going to have to retrench to a time when they had holistic policies (contract with america, anyone?) and didn’t just rely on national security to win the day.

sure, it’s great to have two wars going on, and to be under attack by the terrorists, but eventually the repubs are going to have to get comfortable on a new set of issues and not just keep changing the subject to national security.

(oh, and taxes… dems are starting to figure out how govern without raising taxes, so the “all dems raise taxes” line ain’t going to work forever.)

third problem: the “other” conservatives

the republican party seems to be defining itself only through religious and social conservatives. under Reagan, there was room for every flavor of conservative under the big tent (fiscal, pragmatic, progressive, military, intellectual).

today, people who don’t meet the strict social/religious litmus-test are either tossed out of the party (for not being “right” enough) or are forced to assimilate in order to stay. the world is becoming way to diverse (ethnic, religious, cultural) for the Repubs to rely on owning the white, conservative, and evangelical votes.

here is the problem: 89% of mccain votes were from white voters, but they represent only 74% of the electorate. 58% of mccain votes were from conservatives, but they are only 34% of the electorate. 42% of mccain votes were evangelicals, but they are only 26% of the electorate.

this isn’t a knock on any of the above demographics, just a recognition that winning these demographics isn’t likely to be enough moving torward. it’s also a classic sign of “engaging the base,” and not competing on the field of ideas and policies.

---

well, good luck, my republican friends — it’s going to be an interesting time in the wilderness for you. may you come back in less time (and maybe a little more progressive?) than the dems last time around.

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.

after a lovely Saturday of belated anniversary present shopping (we settled on a one-third off console table from pottery barn) the lady sparkler and I settled in for a long evening at home … watching two-month stale coverage of the Beijing Summer Olympics.

a couple things, looking back two months:

• it’s been at least a week since I had heard any one say “michael phelps,” which made me wonder if he had fired his agent considering his best post-Olympic gig has been for Rosetta Stone.
• It seems like (back then) John McCain actually ran ads that weren’t entirely focused on trashing Barack Obama. heck, August was so long ago that I didn’t even know that MILF had a political context.
• I once again contemplated changing my celebrity exception clause to be U.S. Olympic indoor volleyball team silver medalist Logan Tom, but quickly realized I am already married to some one who can kick my @$& so what would the point be?
• Whichever Olympic scheduler put synchronized swimming, canoeing, water polo, and rhythmic gymnastics in the same four hour block should be fired … or shot.

• I got to thinking about politics, the economy and my 401k, and actually got nostalgic for a minute, thinking “wow. that was a simpler time, wasn’t it?!?”. yeah, way back in august.

so, back to the present. much of our weekend was spent on the couch watching soccer.

the taped USA vs. Brazil woman’s gold medal match was one of the best this year. goalie hope solo (I heard she is Han Solo’s niece) pitched a shut out over 120 minutes, making her world cup benching last year — and USA’s subsequent 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Brazil — that much more inexplicable.

but perhaps the best news of the weekend came from the English premier league, where my team (Tottenham Hotspur) finally won their first game after nine attempts (that, and the midnight firing of the entire management structure.) while the win wasn’t enough to get them out of last place, they are now just one win away from a once unthinkably-good 15th place. (weeee!)

to be fair, Tottenham could have actually been the second best news of the weekend … the best may have been the news that the Anchorage Daily News endorsed *Obama,* saying something about “putting her one … heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.”

in the words of conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan, the Anchorage Daily News editorial board is obviously filled with “goddamn East Coast elitist hippies.”

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.

i normally draft blog posts by revision. each post that goes up has probably two hours of typing through a dozen or two versions. i write like a talk, and i have to talk a *lot* before it sounds very good.

the focus of the effort? trying to codify why mccain’s selection of palin has shoved me over the ideological edge.

i fervently believe that the once great republican party has been hijacked by a small group of people who are squandering it’s reagan-era “big tent” appeal in order to further their own shallow, limited political motivations. a lot of people are turned off by palin for a lot of reasons, but this anti-intellectual chauvinism (from the party that brought you lincoln, no less) is the big one for me.

so, i completed 20+ drafts, but i could never get the tone right … i could never scrub my progressive perspective from the piece, and there is such a fine line between constructive and destructive criticism anyway.

then, after all that work, i read this piece by david brooks, a conservative commentator for the new york times … and in 800 words said what i had been trying to say for the last 12 days.

it kills me to compliment a conservative, but this one is worth it … *sheesh.*

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.