Last night's debate
Sep. 27th, 2008 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenI watched the debate last night with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stakebait. Dear God was that lightyears different from what we had four years ago. Both sides coming off like they'd read about the issues! Both sides being about to pronounce things! I realize this means my standards are low but after 8 years of Dubya's crud it's just such a blessed relief to not feel like I'm listening to candidates who either don't know anything, or only know something because they saw a sock puppet play about it once.
I also think that, for all that the candidates kept to their talking points (Obama was particularly deft at it) we did still get a jist of what they were thinking and advocating. Obama wants to focus on improving things domestically (e.g. environment, education) while McCain is more interested in shoring up our defenses. Did we really get specifics from either of them? No. But even so it gives us something to evaluate the candidates on. (I also felt it was unfair to push for specifics on the "What would you change about your budget?" issue since the entire economic landscape of our country could be changed by Monday morning. How is either candidate supposed to decide something now? Frankly I would've thought less of any candidate who did give specifics because that's impossible to do right now.)
Besides, anyone with a brain - and I realize I'm giving a lot of credit here ;) - but anyone with a brain would know what's going on with some of this stuff. Like when McCain talks about cutting spending I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to realize that things like welfare and education would be the first areas hit.
Both candidates got some good jokes off. Though possibly my favorite moment of the night was when McCain implied that Obama was like Dubya and Obama cracked up laughing at about the same time I did. I also liked how for the most part the debate was civil. Yes they had the whole "That's not true/let me clarify" and the interruption issues but it was always on actual stuff. "He did such and such" "No I didn't, I did this and that." There weren't any low blows like, say, snarking at McCain for how he couldn't remember how many houses he owned. Possibly the closest that came to a snarky low blow was McCain with how Obama didn't know the difference between a strategy and a tactic. But, again, after years of Dubya it's so freaking refreshing to be listening to people who agree that words have meaning that, comparatively, I'd still call it an improvement. Three words: "He forgot Poland!" I'll take strategy vs. tactic any day.
Also some of Obama's facial expressions cracked me the hell up. I wish I could remember which one it was but McCain was making some insane comment about Obama and the camera cut to Obama with this total "I can kill you with my brain, John." look on his face.
In some ways I felt bad for McCain because he came off as old. Now let me say right now I do not like the whole McCain-is-older-than-the-dinosaurs-Palin-doesn't-believe-in thing because I frankly find it ageist. There's plenty of reasons to have issues with McCain as president. "He's old therefore he sucks" is none of them. That being said, as I watched him last night it was the first time I really felt the guy's age. He's had a hard life and you could see the damage it had taken on his body. Of course some of that damage has been there for a while, but last night he seemed weighed down by it. Like Dole has physical issues too, but when he was running you still felt he had energy, and his body wasn't holding him back. (Insert your own Viagra joke here) But McCain came off like a clock winding down. And I felt bad. I used to like the guy and think he would be a good president. Last night it was like I could see the sparks of the guy I had once liked, but they were fading. Moreover, I felt like he felt that too.
Granted I'm not a mind reader and maybe he just didn't have his coffee that morning. What do I know? I'm just saying that's how it felt watching him.
So there's that. I was going to do a quick radioTBQ but this got wordy so I'll put those links in another post. I look forward to the remainder of the debates. God knows Thursday should be interesting.
stakebait. Dear God was that lightyears different from what we had four years ago. Both sides coming off like they'd read about the issues! Both sides being about to pronounce things! I realize this means my standards are low but after 8 years of Dubya's crud it's just such a blessed relief to not feel like I'm listening to candidates who either don't know anything, or only know something because they saw a sock puppet play about it once. I also think that, for all that the candidates kept to their talking points (Obama was particularly deft at it) we did still get a jist of what they were thinking and advocating. Obama wants to focus on improving things domestically (e.g. environment, education) while McCain is more interested in shoring up our defenses. Did we really get specifics from either of them? No. But even so it gives us something to evaluate the candidates on. (I also felt it was unfair to push for specifics on the "What would you change about your budget?" issue since the entire economic landscape of our country could be changed by Monday morning. How is either candidate supposed to decide something now? Frankly I would've thought less of any candidate who did give specifics because that's impossible to do right now.)
Besides, anyone with a brain - and I realize I'm giving a lot of credit here ;) - but anyone with a brain would know what's going on with some of this stuff. Like when McCain talks about cutting spending I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to realize that things like welfare and education would be the first areas hit.
Both candidates got some good jokes off. Though possibly my favorite moment of the night was when McCain implied that Obama was like Dubya and Obama cracked up laughing at about the same time I did. I also liked how for the most part the debate was civil. Yes they had the whole "That's not true/let me clarify" and the interruption issues but it was always on actual stuff. "He did such and such" "No I didn't, I did this and that." There weren't any low blows like, say, snarking at McCain for how he couldn't remember how many houses he owned. Possibly the closest that came to a snarky low blow was McCain with how Obama didn't know the difference between a strategy and a tactic. But, again, after years of Dubya it's so freaking refreshing to be listening to people who agree that words have meaning that, comparatively, I'd still call it an improvement. Three words: "He forgot Poland!" I'll take strategy vs. tactic any day.
Also some of Obama's facial expressions cracked me the hell up. I wish I could remember which one it was but McCain was making some insane comment about Obama and the camera cut to Obama with this total "I can kill you with my brain, John." look on his face.
In some ways I felt bad for McCain because he came off as old. Now let me say right now I do not like the whole McCain-is-older-than-the-dinosaurs-Palin-doesn't-believe-in thing because I frankly find it ageist. There's plenty of reasons to have issues with McCain as president. "He's old therefore he sucks" is none of them. That being said, as I watched him last night it was the first time I really felt the guy's age. He's had a hard life and you could see the damage it had taken on his body. Of course some of that damage has been there for a while, but last night he seemed weighed down by it. Like Dole has physical issues too, but when he was running you still felt he had energy, and his body wasn't holding him back. (Insert your own Viagra joke here) But McCain came off like a clock winding down. And I felt bad. I used to like the guy and think he would be a good president. Last night it was like I could see the sparks of the guy I had once liked, but they were fading. Moreover, I felt like he felt that too.
Granted I'm not a mind reader and maybe he just didn't have his coffee that morning. What do I know? I'm just saying that's how it felt watching him.
So there's that. I was going to do a quick radioTBQ but this got wordy so I'll put those links in another post. I look forward to the remainder of the debates. God knows Thursday should be interesting.
