Wednesday, October 06, 2004
VP Debates:I Nailed It At the Start, I Think
I called it a draw last night and, at the time, I think I was right on. Hell, I knew Cheney was lying like a crack whore although I wasn't aware to what extent the son of a bitch was DAMNED LYING until I read Josh Marshall and watched the story breaking today on the Nooze channels... it all seemed like a delayed reaction. Although "a CBS News poll of uncommitted voters who watched the debate... found that 41 percent said Edwards won, 28 percent said Cheney won," an ABC News Poll gave Cheney the edge (although CNN reported the "ABC News poll (had) more Republicans than Democrats in its sample"). Those polls were taken right at the end of the debate so first impressions seem to indicate a draw.
My ambivalence towards polls is well-documented here but when you look at the sample differences between the CBS poll and the ABC poll, science gives Edwards the nod. Most of the friends I talked to after the debates reacted to my "draw" conclusion with "Are you out of your FUCKING MIND?!?!" (of course, all my friends hate Bush/GFY with a passion). Yes, I said, Cheney's full of shit but NASCAR dads don't know that because the media has been repeating the same lies for years, no one cares.
Looking at the extent Cheney lied, although I was judging the debates on style and not substance (which, I think, most Americans judge these things on), I have to say that I was wrong. More surprising than that, the media has picked up on how BADLY Cheney lied. It was pathetic. My 3-year old can lie better than that.
Friday brings us The Hooey in St. Louie and even if Bush has given himself a major work-out since his complete embarassment last week, he'll get STOMPED. Look, it's a so-called "Town Hall" debate and although that sounds fairly fast-and-loose, it's somewhat scripted:
OK, Charlie Gibson gets the questions, not the candidates. Kerry has been doing unscripted Town Hall debates all summer while the Bush camp has been vetting everyone who attends his rallies. Take the performances of the last debate and add in the fact that one of the debators has been doing push-ups for a Town Hall debate for months while the other contestant has been choking on pretzels... well, I can pretty much tell you where the smart money is.
After the debates are over, count on the media once again jumping on administration lies and distortions like cats on a toy mouse. The media might not have a grain of objectivity or integrity but when they're onto a sure thing, they can't shake it loose. Pathetic thing is, these lies and distortions have been going on through the extent of the Bush administration's tenure and the media chose to ignore unadulterated bullshit when reporting the facts might have saved tens of thousands of lives.
Good God. Ann Coulter is on "Scarborough Country" looking like the squirrel your kid buried in a shoebox out in the back yard last year. Just when my faith in the media has been minutely restored, someone pulls a shrill cipher back from irrelevance. As Atrios said tonight, "This election is going to come down to whether truth or fiction prevails. In the last election, fiction did. Let's hope we, and our media (my emphasis), do better this time."
Let's hope. They've lied as readily as Cheney did last night and they're just as craven. Difference is, they're yipping like dogs at a fresh kill and they think it's clever to tell who's pants are on fire. I mean, look what they did to Dan Rather and he was, to his credit, telling the truth.
My ambivalence towards polls is well-documented here but when you look at the sample differences between the CBS poll and the ABC poll, science gives Edwards the nod. Most of the friends I talked to after the debates reacted to my "draw" conclusion with "Are you out of your FUCKING MIND?!?!" (of course, all my friends hate Bush/GFY with a passion). Yes, I said, Cheney's full of shit but NASCAR dads don't know that because the media has been repeating the same lies for years, no one cares.
Looking at the extent Cheney lied, although I was judging the debates on style and not substance (which, I think, most Americans judge these things on), I have to say that I was wrong. More surprising than that, the media has picked up on how BADLY Cheney lied. It was pathetic. My 3-year old can lie better than that.
Friday brings us The Hooey in St. Louie and even if Bush has given himself a major work-out since his complete embarassment last week, he'll get STOMPED. Look, it's a so-called "Town Hall" debate and although that sounds fairly fast-and-loose, it's somewhat scripted:
Section 7 (subsection e) on Page 13 of the 32-page Memorandum of Understanding that was hammered out by the Bush and Kerry campaign handlers and agreed to by the Commission on Presidential Debates. It outlines how questions from an audience of 100 to 150 people must be submitted in advance to a moderator,
(PHIL REISMAN, THE JOURNAL NEWS)
OK, Charlie Gibson gets the questions, not the candidates. Kerry has been doing unscripted Town Hall debates all summer while the Bush camp has been vetting everyone who attends his rallies. Take the performances of the last debate and add in the fact that one of the debators has been doing push-ups for a Town Hall debate for months while the other contestant has been choking on pretzels... well, I can pretty much tell you where the smart money is.
After the debates are over, count on the media once again jumping on administration lies and distortions like cats on a toy mouse. The media might not have a grain of objectivity or integrity but when they're onto a sure thing, they can't shake it loose. Pathetic thing is, these lies and distortions have been going on through the extent of the Bush administration's tenure and the media chose to ignore unadulterated bullshit when reporting the facts might have saved tens of thousands of lives.
Good God. Ann Coulter is on "Scarborough Country" looking like the squirrel your kid buried in a shoebox out in the back yard last year. Just when my faith in the media has been minutely restored, someone pulls a shrill cipher back from irrelevance. As Atrios said tonight, "This election is going to come down to whether truth or fiction prevails. In the last election, fiction did. Let's hope we, and our media (my emphasis), do better this time."
Let's hope. They've lied as readily as Cheney did last night and they're just as craven. Difference is, they're yipping like dogs at a fresh kill and they think it's clever to tell who's pants are on fire. I mean, look what they did to Dan Rather and he was, to his credit, telling the truth.
