a few very, very
quick thoughts on the debate.
i missed parts because i was listening on the radio at work, and every once in a while had to go do...work. go figure.
anywho, i'm not feelin too good tonite. really, overall i think this is a "win" for kerry, maybe not a huge one, but a w. none the less.
kerry put bush on the defensive right away, and after the first half hour i was seriously worried. bush recovered a bit, but not nearly enough. the result was that the whole way through kerry looked coherent, intelligent, and on point while bush looked even more incoherent than usual, repetetive, and unsure of himself.
on top of the style issue(which, granted, i was on radio and not teevee, so i only got half of it), bush let kerry slide on several major points. the ones that come to mind right away are as follows: kerry said bush "lied about uranium in his SoTU address"... remember that one? joe wilson? bush let it go. the halliburton thing? kerry saying that knowing now he would not have voted to go into iraq, when he just said the opposite a few weeks ago? north frigging korea? to me, as i said over at ace's, it gave the impression of a man getting kicked repeatedly in the crotch and not retaliating in any meaningful way.
on the other hand, i do think that bush eventually got some momentem back. i think the repeated accusations of waffling came across as more repetetive than driving the point, but still should make an impact. and kerry's constant "quagmire, quagmire, quagmire, doom doom doom" dosen't play well. you can't be president if you think our country sucks. sorry. one of the most memorable lines on him from this will be "question: do you think the war in iraq was a mistake? answer: yes. question: so, recalling your (in)famous line from vietnam, 'how do you ask someone to be the last man to die for a mistake', do you feel that american soldiers right now are dying for a mistake? answer: no."
final analysis: among the politically informed, i think it's pretty much a wash. kerry may have strengthened his base a bit, but certainly didnt' pull in any bush votes. among swing voters...i honestly think this will win him a few points. how many? i can't say, i'm not a swing voter, but i don't think it will be a signifigant amount.
also, i think, in retrospect, i may be being a bit harsh on bush. i know what i want him to say, what i think he should say, since i'm such a partisan hack, and he's not saying it. that definatly soured my opinion a bit (hence the yelling at the radio thing).
all said, i think this one is good for kerry, but there's still two debates left, and he has a large deficit to catch up on.
for some excellent live blogging from someone that thinks more positively of bush's performance than i, check out
the llamabutchers. the spoons also seemed to think bush came out on top, although not by a whole lot. and i wish i had finished this earlier (and had more behind it) so i could send him a link,
allah has an excellent post-debate roundup.
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Vote INDC....or else.
In case you didn't know,
the Washington Post is running a "best of the blogs" contest. All the categories are important, of course, if you're a geek like I. However, there is a more important race than just who wins:
INDCent Bill vs. "
My ass hurts" vs. "
Screw the mercenaries".
Nobody pisses me off more than the disgusting apathy of that last one. And I don't actually have anything against wonkette, I just don't find her particularly funny or insightful. She can go on writing what she writes as long as she wants, and I shall continue not reading her site. It's a nice balance.
Plus, I'm voting for Bill, but I'm doing it based strictly on the moonbatologist posts, just to hack him off.
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think for yourself
i wanted to do a brief eulogy of johnny of my own, personal thoughts and such, but there isn't much coming to me that hasn't allready been said.
live free, enjoy your life. johnny was not only a punk icon, but seemed to be a genuinely good person as well, just happy doing his thing and letting others do theirs, and helping people when he can.
sortof related because i've been in more of a punk phase than usual lately, i've also been meaning to re-post a link and direct folks to conservativepunk.com. punk rock is all about thinking for yourself, don't buy the propaganda. reciting crap learned at punkvoter.com does not make you cool, it makes you sheep. of course, if you get both sides and still disagree with me, great. come back and we'll have an argument, it'll be fun. but if you hate bush because the guy from nofx hates bush, guess what that makes you? poser, no matter where you buy your clothes or what color your hair is.
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say hello to my little friend
in my speech class this summer, a student decided that for his "persuasive speech" asignment, he was going to talk about gun rights, from the perspective of a nra member. neverminding that by and large i agree with what he had to say, it was a horrible speech. poorly presented, poorly argued, the guy came across as just another ignorant redneck that dosen't know what the hell he's talking about, except that he wants his dagum rahfle, guvmint be damned.
after the speech, the class was feeling understandably argumentative. a large, socially-retarded individual behind me asked the question, what criminals couldn't have acces to guns? i turned around and said, in a calm manner, that i think the point is that you can't eliminate guns entirely, if you ban them they'll still be around. this, to me, seems like a simple fact, not an opinion. making something illegal dosen't mean that it ceases to exist; there are some good arguments for gun control, but saying that guns will vanish from the planet if we outlaw them is simply stupid.
well, this hefty 'tard, generally a pretty civil fellow, was outraged. when i told him that i didn't think you could totally eliminate all firearms, his face controted into an angry, condescending sneer, and he issued forth a spittle-spraying, indignant whine: "yes you can! you don't know what you're talking about! yes you can! YES YOU CAN!". it was borderline hysterical, he was practically screaming, i thought he might hit me, right there in the middle of class. all in response to one simple sentance that seems to me to be common sense.
well, i didn't know what to say, i was actually shocked. i was expecting a decent argument, but you can't argue with that variety of fanatacism. i just turned around and started talking to someone else, and the 'tard (thankfully) never said another word to me again.
so, to him and anybody else that thinks like him, all i can say is:
come and get 'em.
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like my pj's?
"You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of check and balances [at '60 Minutes'] and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing."
~Jonathan Klein
i do find the comment telling, though. it's been stated by many others that the "just a guy in his pj's" thing is ridiculous, popular blogs are rigorously fact-checked by their narure, with hundreds and thousands of people wanting nothing more than to prove you right or prove you wrong, and the ability to do so in real-time.
but i think it shows the mentality of big media: folks who read blogs aren't fact-checkers, they're just the ignorant partisan-hack sheeple that will buy whatever line of garbage a pajama-wearing wackjob is feeding them. the people aren't smart enough to get their facts for ourselves and make up our own minds, that's why we need Big Media to keep us in line, make sure we aren't being lied to.
which is truly ironic, considering the nature of the scandal that that comment is in relation to.
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a lame-ass attempt at photojournalism
way off bass has a theory up in which he attempts to define who is the real john kerry, and which one is scariest? war pig, opportunist, psycho, pathological liar?
so i thought i'd provide a visual aid. go read his post, then come back here, because, intreped and daring journalist that i am, i spent about twenty minutes sitting on my ass googling up some pics that, i believe, vaugely resemble previously unreleased photos of kerry in each mode:
1. john kerry: a top-secret war hero, doing the government's dirty work despite his misgivings...
"there are no friendly civilians!"
2. john kerry: shifty, cynical, lying, cheating, political opportunist of the worst degree...
"a prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise."
-niccolo machiavelli, 1469-1527
3. john kerry: delusional, megalomanical psychotic that believes his own dangerous lies...
"a spaceship took me to cambodia!"
4. john kerry: pathological liar making shit up as he goes along, half-believing and barely even keeping track of what falls out of his mouth...
"i did not inhale."
so. who is the real john kerry? cameron puts him in the 3.9 level, i try to give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume he's just a garden-variety liar, making him a 2. but you have to wonder...
p.s. i know clinton is sick, and i honestly wish him nothing but the best. some may say that it is in poor taste to take cheap shots at him right now, to which i say, i never claimed to have anything but poor taste.
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what are all these people doing here?!?
thanx to ace for the linkage. as per standard operating procedure, i have nothing worthwhile to say while there's a ton of people roaming through. but stop back again sometime, i don't post often but i'm not going away any time soon either.
in the meantime, go wish greyhawk luck with his
spiffy new tan hat, complements of uncle sam.
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day 3
i honestly have no idea how
allah does this, he's the live-blog king. but i'm going to give it a shot, and actually leave this window open for thoughts during the speeches tonight.
unfortunatly, right now, someone named "sarah evans" is on...okay, could we get some variety in the music? i know he's from texas and all, but i didn't learn to like country music in the military, it ain't gonna happen now.
wow, it just got worse. and watching republican deligates dance has to be one of the funniest things i've ever seen.
zell miller-great opening, "my family is more important than my party", or somesuch. :: "what has happened to my party?" with a rundown of dem war presidents (which modern dems love to rely on when accused weak on defense) :: ooh, he's even doing a bit of a reagan tribute. :: awesome, lots of great military lines, and a slam on the protestors. :: good, he's talking about kerry's record on defense, the weapon systems cuts. heh, he sounds like sean hannity. well, the mainstream media can't really ignore that anymore, although i'm sure they'll try :: this man is
angry. on the attack, and he is fuckin ferocious ::
wow, is all i can say. go get the archive of that video if you haven't seen it, that guy just blew this place away.
i feel bad for lynne, having to follow that.
lynne cheney- they just rolled right from miller to her, it was like hitting a mud puddle on a bicycle, although not her fault :: heh, she just said, "let me offa this stage!", said some good wifey stuff, made a few jokes, let the audience catch their breath. dick better be ready to come out on stage and announce that he's actually the second coming of jesus christ if the wants to beat miller.
dick cheney - trying to slow the energy down some, a few of the less lame jokes i've seen this week :: eh, he's doing allright, doing the talking points, and rather eloquently, but he knows what speech everybody is going to be talking about tommorow ::
hm. so much for that little experiment, i have to go. that sux, but if you somehow landed here during the convention, go check
captain's quarters and
allah, i just hit there and they're saying most of the same stuff and doing it much better than i anyway.
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