… but what is to be debated? Is there anything we don’t know at this point? We are deluged by spin doctors and focus groups. Debates are the least of it.
Meanwhile, I share Hindrocket’s amazement at the lengths to which the Mainstream Media have gone to put their man in the White House, their man being Anybody But Bush. John Kerry is the least of it; indeed he is something of an inconvenience. This is the ultimate triumph of lifestyle politics, a kind of victory of self-regard over substance, what I have called elsewhere the Zabar’s Zeitgeist. But watch tonight we must. Maybe something of interest will happen. Or if it doesn’t, Ron Reagan (or another genius of the last five minutes) will explain what we didn’t understand.
Anyway, I offer this non-Zen koan before the debates begin…
While Bush and Kerry parse the fine points of the tax rate, what are the 25 Chechen terrorists who came over the Arizona mountains doing?
Stay tuned here for updates.
How would this be as an example of “no good deeds going unpunished”? John Kerry wins the election of 2004 yet five years from now Afghanistan and Iraq are thriving democracies… well, Churchill lost after WWII, didn’t he? That’s the way life is. Maybe it won’t be this time.
THE DEBATE starts with the weirdness of a moderator from CBS… after everything that has happened. It will be interesting to see how Shieffer behaves. Maybe he will unconsciously tilt to Bush to avoid accusations.
I am not a reliable observer anymore. Kerry puts me to sleep every time.
I must say however that Kerry is doing well. Seems comfortable.
By now both of these guys are like dinner guests you wish would go home. Enough of them. ACtually, I’d prefer tohang with Bush and drink tequila, if I had to make a choice…. but… as they say in the shrink’s office…. time’s up!
WEll, hurray for Bush, he finally got the most important point of the campaign into the debate – that Kerry voted against Gulf War I. He should have nailed him even harder on that.
MY FIRST IMPORTANT THOUGHT OF TONIGHT:
Why did Kerry’s mother feel she had to remind him “Intergity! Integrity! Integrity!” from her hospital bed when he told her he was thinking of running for President? What did she know? My mother would have assumed I would have integrity in the same situation.
WOW! The Fox All-Stars, even Kristol, are saying Bush won big.
Kerry is a strange dude. Bringing in Cheney’s daughter Mary’s sexuality was weird indeed. She’s not running for office.
UPDATE: CNN’s Instant Poll shows Kerry winning by 13 points tonight. I don’t get it. Who are they polling? They did say the poll was conducted immediately after the debate, before the spin doctors made their rounds, but still… I’d like to know where this comes from. It would be interesting information. These post-debate polls become self-fulfilling prophecies, driving water cooler talk the next day. If it ever becomes clear, that they were slanted by the media running them, there will be hell to pay and I will be one of those breathing the fire.
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