Hard Times Come Again No More

Thinking about the events that led up to the great depression of the 1930's - reading the Herbert Hoover entry on Wikipedia - this from YouTube:

FSP (Fake Sarah Palin) on SNL: Part Deux

This is really scary. Here's Tina Fey, doing a re-prise of her Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, this time being interviewed by 'Katie Couric'. I laughed like crazy watching the full SNL clip - then when I actually saw this on CNN was appalled!

Who Won the Debate?

I watched the debate last night, as I'm sure many of you did. And of course, I'm pretty biased because I know who I'm voting for already and for me its a clear choice. But I also think this is going to be a pretty close election, and so I was really interested in how the debate might change the prospects for what happens in November. Listening to what Don calls the 'pre-game' show and the 'post-game' wrapup, one wishes this political thing was as clear cut as a baseball game - in the end, there's a score and no question about who won. Its not like, 'well, no one expected the Indians to win against Boston, and they got a LOT of hits and Boston made a couple errors too, so even though Boston scored more runs, we think the Indians REALLY won the game.' Imagine how confusing that would make the pennant races!

Anyway, in thinking about it, the only real metric of success for the debate that makes sense is how it affected the way people plan to vote in November. And in particular, people, unlike myself, who have not already made up their mind. So with that in mind, I went looking for how the 'undecideds' responded. And on that basis, it seems like Obama was a clear 'winner' in the debate. Here's a CBS News poll taken of undecideds before and after the debate, which says that 46% of those polled had a better opinion of Obama after the debate as compared with the 32% who had a better opinion of McCain. Interestingly, only 8% of watchers had a worse opinion of Obama, but 21% had a worse opinion of McCain after watching the debate. Check the link for lots more interesting stats.

CNN did a poll, too, but didn't select out the undecideds from the Reps and the Dems. Their poll says 51% felt Obama did a better job in the debate, compared to only 38% who favored McCain. But since the audience was more blue (41%) than red (27%), with about 30% undeclared, one would expect a skew toward Obama. The CNN pollsters are also quick to point out that a perceived 'win' in the debate does not always translate to a win at the polls. Finally, a feature that I really like at CNN is the 'political ticker' blog on their website that has 'fact checker' posts. How many times last night did one candidate or the other accuse their opponent of not telling the truth? A lot. Go here for the real background, if you're interested in what is true and not just the soundbite.

Now I'm really looking forward to the VP debate on Thursday. Although Palin has been so bad lately, I'm starting to cringe just listening to her. I actually feel a little bad for her, so clearly out of her league, even with Katie Couric who isn't exactly known for hardball journalism. Go here for a video clip if you really want the full 'cringe' factor, but the transcript is bad enough:

COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?
PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters--
COURIC: Mock?
PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah.
COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.
PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia--
COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?
PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state.

Palin On Foreign Policy

Omigod! It just get's scarier and scarier...

Our Prairie Home Companion Weighs In

I'm getting a lot of stuff from friends on the election and especially on what McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as a running mate means to them. What really strikes me is the hypocrisy of the Republican party. They claim to be for less government intervention, but that goes out the window when it comes to gay marriage or a woman's right to choose. They claim to be for free markets, and that's great as long as their friends are making money - but let the rich Wall Street stockbroker/campaing contributors start losing money and jobs, and the Republicans are right in there bailing out the Fannies and Freddies and the AIGs. God forbid they should have regulated the mess a little earlier! They claim to be the party of fical conservatism, but they took a balanced budget with almost no deficit over from the Democrats (who inherited a mess from the last Republican administration!) and screwed it up once again.

Here's a great article by Thomas ('The World is Flat') Friedman called "Making America Stupid", that talks about the need for innovation and how 'drill, baby, drill' is one of the most anti-American slogans you could possibly mouth.

And in case you think Friedman is just another of those New York, East Coast leftie liberals - well, here's a voice from the middle. Here's what Garrison Keillor has to say:

Forget the past - it's only history
by Garrison Keillor
Published:
September 10,
2008


So the Republicans have decided to
run against themselves. The bums have tiptoed out the back door and circled
around to the front and started yelling, "Throw the bums out!" They've been
running Washington like a well-oiled machine to the point of inviting lobbyists
into the back rooms to write the legislation, and now they are
anti-establishment reformers dedicated to delivering us from themselves. And
Rudolph Giuliani of New York City is an advocate for small-town
America. Bravo.

They are coming out for Small Efficient Government the very week that the feds are taking over Fannie and Freddie, those old cash cows, and in the course of a weekend 20 or 50 or (pick a number) billion go floating out the Treasury door. Hello? Do you see us out here? We are not fruit flies, we are voters, we can read and write, we
didn't just fall off the coal truck.

It is a bold move on the Republicans' part - forget about the past, it's only history, so write a new narrative and be who you want to be - and if they succeed, I think I might declare myself a 24-year-old virgin named Lance and see what that might lead to. Paste a new face on my Facebook page, maybe become the Dauphin Louie the
Thirty-Second, the rightful heir to the Throne of France, put on silk tights and
pantaloons and a plumed hat and go on the sawdust circuit and sell souvenir
hankies imprinted with the royal fleur-de-lis. They will cure neuralgia and gout
and restore marital vigor.

McCain has decided to run as a former POW and a maverick, a maverick's maverick, rather than Bush's best friend, and that's understandable, but how can he not address the $3 trillion that got burned up in Iraq so far? It's real money, it could've paid for a lot of windmills, a high-speed rail line in Ohio, some serious R&D. The Chinese, who have avoided foreign wars for 50 years, are taking enormous leaps forward, investing in their economy, and we are falling behind. We're wasting our chances. The Republican culture of corruption in Washington hasn't helped.
And a former mayor of a town of 7,000 who hired a lobbyist to get $26 million in
federal earmarks is now running against the old-boy network in Washington who
gave her that money to build the teen rec center and other good things so she
could keep taxes low in Wasilla. Stunning. And if you question her qualifications to be the leader of the free world, you are an elitist. This is a beautiful maneuver. I wish I had thought of it back in school when I was forced to subject myself to a final exam in higher algebra. I could have told Miss Mortenson, "I am a Christian and when you gave me a D, you only showed your contempt for the Lord and for the godly hard-working people from whom I have sprung, you elitist battleaxe you."

In school, you couldn't get away with that garbage because the taxpayers know that if we don't uphold scholastic standards, we will wind up driving on badly designed bridges and go in for a tonsillectomy and come out missing our left lung, so we flunk the losers lest they gain power and hurt us, but in politics we bring forth phonies and love them to death.

I must say, it was fun having the Republicans in St. Paul and to see it all up close and firsthand. Security was, as one might expect, thin-lipped and gimlet-eyed, but once you got through it, you found the folks you went to high school with - farm kids, jocks, the townies who ran the student council, the cheerleaders, some of the bullies - and they are as cohesive now as they were back then, dedicated to school spirit, intolerant of outsiders, able to jump up and down and holler for something they don't
actually believe.

But oh Lord, what they brought forth this year. When you check the actuarial tables on a 72-year-old guy who's had three bouts with cancer, you guess you may be looking at the first woman president, a hustling evangelical with ethics issues and a chip on her shoulder who, not counting Canada, has set foot outside the country once - a trip to Germany, Iraq and Kuwait in 2007 to visit Alaskans in the armed service. And who listed a refueling stop in Ireland as a fourth country visited. She's like the Current Occupant but with big hair. If you want inexperience, there were better choices.

Palin-Clinton on SNL

Well, its been a long time since I posted - lots happening on the VMF blog, though - check that out.

Loved this clip of Tina Fey doing a wicked Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. (Double click on the black area, it will start!) It borders on the edge of when funny becomes scary: