Debate take

McCain “lost” because he wouldn’t look at Obama ever! Even when shaking hands. No one will remember what either man said. Everyone will remember how McCain acted. It was totally classless. Totally non-Presidential. That was his “gaffe” last night. What a strange, strange man. See some examples in the following youtube video:

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=9EsYbhpmjLA

Empathy for Palin

Something has gone terribly wrong with Sarah Palin. Did you see the Couric interview? It was a complete and utter disaster for her. Thanks to the economic meltdown and McCain’s grandstanding, it hasn’t gotten the scrutiny it deserves yet. In fact, many people think that McCain’s act last week was an attempt to keep Palin’s interview out of the news cycle. However, the interview was so spectacularly bad – it will not go away. Ever. Absolutely, completely cringe-inducing. Watch it.

And, what has surprised me, I am beginning to feel really sorry for her. The NY Times Columnist, Judith Warner, describes similar feelings about Palin’s self-inflicted plight in a piece entitled “Poor Sarah”:
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/poor-sarah/?ref=opinion

In a nutshell, Palin seems to have lost her greatest strength – her self-confidence. She was very hesitant, very unsure – stumbling through all the questions searching for the right soundbite. It was truly pathetic.

It was so pathetic that there are beginning to be some conservative grumblings that Palin should drop off the ticket after her self-destructive interview with Couric. Leading the pack is Kathleen Parker of the very conservative National Review. Her opinion: Palin “Is Clearly Out Of Her League”. http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDZiMDhjYTU1NmI5Y2MwZjg2MWNiMWMyYTUxZDkwNTE

So, what happened to her self-confidence? It seemed to be her defining characteristic. Christopher Orr at the New Republic thinks the McCain campaign broke her:
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/09/26/has-the-mccain-campaign-broken-sarah-palin.aspx

While I want her to stay broken – what can I say – I have empathy for her. But, I sleep much better!

The Tina Fey bounce

While the Republican convention bounce (aka Palin bounce) is not completely dead yet – the numbers are, again, moving in Obama’s direction. Most pundits are giving credit to the financial crisis for Obama’s poll uptick. But, something far more important happened to move those numbers: Palin’s interview with Gibson followed by the coup de grace: the SNL’s Palin/Clinton sketch.

Among other things, Palin had this to say about Russia: “They’re our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” Within the context of the interview, it wasn’t quite a silly as it looks. But, it was widely quoted out of context – as reporters always do quite unfairly - and then it came out in the SNL sketch as:

Hillary Clinton character: I believe that diplomacy must be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.
Sarah Palin character: And, I can see Russia from my house.

This was the defining moment for her. Is it any wonder her poll numbers are plummeting from their earlier highs?

This is the stuff that moves elections. Which can be quite horrifying. But in this case, it seems relatively fair.

And, hey, wasn’t Tina Fey awesome?

Menopause and Palin don't go together well

According to one website devoted to anxiety disorders: Hormone imbalances during menopause can create the environment where you are more susceptible to anxiety disorders, but, not everyone develops anxiety or panic attacks so other factors must come into play.

That factor, for me, is Sarah Palin or, rather, the reaction to Sarah Palin from the heavily manipulated masses.

Since her selection, whenever I wake up at night, she pops into my mind and mood-alerting hormones surge through my body. Anxiety takes over. Fear courses through my body. Sleep eludes me. Finally, I calm myself and go back to sleep. But, the cycle repeats three or four times a night.

It is not that Palin particularly bothers me as a human being. She seems pretty cool in a lot of ways. And I love Alaska and Alaskans! Of course, she is way to the right of me and I doubt that we would agree on most policy matters. But that is not why I am having panic attacks. The problem is, she hasn’t thought about most policy matters – foreign and domestic. At all! And, about half the country doesn’t even seem to care. At all! This is just horrifying to me. This is what keeps me up at night.

The prime example, of course, is that she has said that she hasn’t thought much about the Iraq war (even though her son is being deployed there this week) except that “it is a task from God” and that she hopes that “there is a plan”. If she hasn’t thought about Iraq – I think it should be quite evident that she has no meaningful thoughts about any foreign matters. Potentially, one heartbeat away and no meaningful thoughts about our relationship to the world!

To compare Palin with Obama (or Biden or Clinton) is to insult the intelligence of any thinking human being.

And, that is just what the McCain campaign is doing. And, an amazing number of people are buying it. They don’t seem insulted at all! Instead, they are insulted by people like me pointing out how deeply cynical and horrifying this pick really is on multiple levels. This anti-intellectual, anti-rational reaction to Palin makes me truly worry about the future of our nation.

And all these damn menopausal hormone imbalances aren’t helping either.