10/03/2012

First Debate: My Take

The biggest problem with presidential debates is they tend to be all about the zingers in the end. In fact, there was a story floated by the media this week that Mitt Romney has prepared a playbook of zingers for the debate. I think after tonight, that story was bunkum, however, the story that Romney had been preparing like crazy for this debate is very believable. And that's good news. What better quality could you ask for in a president than excellent preparation? (i.e. He does his homework.)

Yes, it's true that the challenger usually does better in the first debate as he tries to land a punch, but it was more than that. Romney was prepared, he was aggressive but not a bully, he took control of the room and answered allegations with lists of counterpoints (Paul Ryan influence?). Obama wouldn't make eye contact with Romney for about the first 30 minutes, seemed to get some kind of rhythm after that and then coasted the rest of the way trying to run out the clock. The MSNBC cabal was forlorned. Obama spokespeople blamed Jim Lehrer.

Deep breath.

Romney won the debate and Obama suffered by not having a teleprompter and more importantly being out of shape debate-wise. As many pointed out on Twitter, he hasn't been challenged, really challenged, in four years (if not longer). If the media actually put him through his trials once in a while he might be better prepared.

I agree with Krauthammer that this isn't a 'total game-changer, it's over, Romney is President' performance but it is a serious boost to Romney's campaign. One more month with this kind of energy and he can win this thing. The next debate will be much different as Obama will be more prepared (right?), so don't get cocky but stay the course you've set tonight.

On another note, Lehrer is gonna get a lot of grief from the MSM, but this is the best debate I've seen in years, and not because Romney won. What's been missing from debates with their stupid town-hall formats, with scripted questions from "real" people, is interaction between the candidates themselves. Lehrer got run over by Romney and later Obama but that was a good thing. The accidental format of "here's the topic: discuss..." was the best thing that could have happened. These two men are the warriors the country has chosen for the final battle in November. Many of us are dying for a little bit of "This is Sparta!" We (at least us red state types) got some of that tonight. 

10/02/2012

Tape Drops: A Theory

The nation's editor, Matt Drudge, has tweeted a scoop about a tape drop tonight:

Curious tape dropping tonight. NOT from MOTHERJONES. Will cause controversy,ignite accusations of racism -- in both directions!
— MATT DRUDGE (@DRUDGE) October 2, 2012
Perhaps, but look at everything we've seen this campaign season. Obama would have to murder an underage prostitute before the polls would show a significant blip while Romney has had everything and the kitchen sink thrown at him.

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I marvel at the idea that there's any piece of video tape at this point in the campaign that can have any effect. We accuse politicians and the media of living in a bubble, but I'm fear the general public may itself have been engulfed inside the bubble. What will it take to shock us to the core? I'm highly doubt we'll be seeing it tonight, and that could be a bigger problem for our country than anything actually on the tape.



UPDATE: Well, here it is. Will it make any difference? My gut reaction is no. It should, but it won't.

10/01/2012

Jockeying For Position On Election Day

It's anathema to a blogger to say "I have no idea." Why blog then? Well, it's about more than just being a soothsayer, but right now I, and many others, face the dilemma of having no idea how the election is going to shake out. We are literally (hat tip: Joe Biden) sinking in a flood of media misinformation with more polls coming out every day either showing Obama winning or the race a tie. This has led to arguments over whether these polls are skewed or not. Limbaugh says this is all for the sole purpose of dispiriting Romney voters while Erick Erickson says the polls are correct and Romney needs to up his game or it's over. While I respect Erickson, I don't think he has any idea but is playing the pessimists so as to have something to hang his hat on in an Obama second term. If he's wrong, we'll all be too excited/relieved to care.

I'd like to think the public is still as angry as they were in 2010. Yes, I said angry. The late Peter Jennings called the 1994 Congressional elections a national "hissy fit," but that was to be expected from a journalist who used to date a PLO mouthpiece. But despite his snark, he was right. People were mad. They elected in 1992 a supposedly moderate Democrat who went full socialists for two years so they reacted accordingly. Now we look on the Clinton years as the good ol' days when small businesses were at least allowed a chance to survive. America had it's "Hissy Fit II" in 2010 but it wasn't enough. We need to go full-blown conniption in 2012.

9/30/2012

The Future Of Blogging (Here At Least)

Readers of this blog will note that I went all minimalist this weekend. I've been pondering whether to continue blogging at all as I fear the the medium itself may be dead or dying. Of course, not for everyone, but the gap between the great blog sites and the second-tier sites has widened and with the ascension of Twitter, many of us (myself included) have left our blogs to rust while we spend our days sending out little quips in the forms of tweets and retweets.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Twitter fits my personality which has always been to make quick, off the cuff remarks. Manifestos have never been my strong suit. But there is a place for blogging when one wants to make a larger point. I've decided it's time to scale back on the site, get rid of the useless widgets and make this blog more of a daily journal in the style of James Lileks. Of course, that will take some commitment as well, but nothing ventured...

I'm also on the fence as to whether I should even call myself the Libertarian Popinjay anymore. While I'm still libertarian in spirit, should Obama win another term I may end up embracing existentialism (assuming that is what I think it is).

How pretentious. Hope you'll join me.
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