Am I the only one who's sick of hearing all these ridiculous numbers from the candidates? 300 billion in new taxes! 800 Billion in new spending!
5 million jobs! 18 billion in pork spending!
Who could possibly understand or even care anymore about all these numbers? They are all wishful fantasies or outright lies--- Abstract numbers that reflect nothing of reality and are merely spouted to the point of meaninglessness to scare off or attract voters.
I'm bored to tears by this entire campaign-- Even Ms. Wolf-killer is getting to be less entertaining.
I wish it was election day tomorrow and we could just get it over with-- Hopefully send McCain back to Las Vegas and Palin back to Alaska to deal with impeachment by her own state legislature.
Also, the sooner the election, the less chance the desparate criminals in the current administration and their surrogates (McCain, et. al.) have a chance to set up some really awful occurrence to throw things their way.
Mike
(mikefeder@nyc.rr.com)
Friday, October 10, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Yom Kippur
Walking around Manhattan today I was struck with a great feeling of exclusion and alienation... In this case, particulary from my own "Tribe"--Jews.
And, I hasten to add, its not that any one person or group is excluding me-- I have only myself to blame for this outsider state I'm in.
I have never been a religious Jew and I don't belong to any Synagogue or congregation. Yet, on these days, known to Jews as The High Holidays-- I feel an ache, a nostalgia and feeling of apartness more than any other time of the year.
Part of it is, I'm sure, that universal feeling one gets (no matter what group or religion or "tribe" you were born into) when certain holy or important times of the year come around. Its really family more than anything else.
If you're lucky, you still have your family and its still a close and basically caring situation... If you're not lucky, or you're merely older and people have died off or moved away, you are seized with a great longing for that warm feeling you once had...
Even in my Olympic-class dysfunctional family, I recall some religious celebrations and dinners, some organized (especially when my Grandmother was alive) attendance at the local Synagogue we belonged to.
I remember a warm, sunny October day, when we fasted all day long, didn't listen to the radio or ride in a car... The neighborhood was about half Jewish so there were people, dressed up and feeling the great signifigance of the holiday, walking on the street, greeting each other.
I guess part of this whole bittersweet experience for me is also the feeling of, not just family, but belonging to a coherent group of some sort--a group that shares beliefs and values and even a good deal of DNA...
And then, of course, there is always God... Religious or not, there is, for most people (and especially as mortality approaches) that incomprehensible but deep vibration in your soul-- some feeling that there is a greater and deeper connection-- Most of the time you are apart from it and, even if its not conscious, you feel the apartness. So, we have Yom Kippur-- The day of Atonement-- of At-one-ment; the day when you re-coonect with that great spirit or force or whatever you might want to call it.
As I walked around Manhattan today and saw families going to and from Synagogue, I was pulled again by deep old, nostalgic feelings...
With that preamble, I'm posting an essay I wrote about Yom Kippur four years ago on my website: http://www.federfiles.com....
Yom Kippur is here—The Day of Atonement for Jews who observe (and for most who don’t think they observe but really do). It is a day—and I’m always open to correction on subjects I know little about—when Jews reconcile themselves with their God.One tends to drift away from God during the course of a year—how could we not—being only poor defective human creations of an all-perfect being. Where does it say—in which part of the bible—that God made man “in his image.”? Well, if that’s the case, it seems like a pretty lousy deal for poor “man”—humankind. You get the form but not the substance. You get the resemblance to the father/mother/parent who created you, but not their strength, their will, and their infinite mercy—among other qualities.Well, anyway, we drift away from God and we are given, each year, this brief time to realize our departure from God, and attempt, by sacrifice, fasting, prayer and repentance to reunite—to Atone. Atonement being, in fact, At-one-ment—to be, once again, “at one” with God.
But speaking of Godlike qualities, the one that comes into play on Yom Kippur—more than the others—is infinite mercy. Because it is not just God with whom one has to reconcile themselves, it is also, one’s fellow creatures.
God is supposed to be infinitely forgiving; and, called upon with a sincere and repentant heart, will certainly forgive—whoever and whatever. The German poet Heine, when asked on his deathbed whether he should ask God forgiveness for his sins, is reputed to have said: “God will forgive, that’s his business.” Well that’s a little flip, and maybe Heine didn’t get forgiven, but you know what, I’m guessing he did… What parent, seeing the suffering of his child, no matter how unrepentant or disrespectful, would not forgive?
But much, much harder than securing the forgiveness and blessing of God the Father/Mother is securing the blessing and forgiveness of other people.We are not possessed of eternal wisdom and infinite mercy. We are, or can often be, petty, selfish and unforgiving (I know I am). We imagine that all our woes are caused by others. Indeed, some of us (and I know whereof I speak here) spend our lives demanding retribution for the crimes, real or perceived, that were committed against us.
On Yom Kippur, according to my source, a very well educated orthodox Rabbi, one goes about asking for forgiveness in the following manner: Truly repenting of the sin/crime you have committed against a fellow creature, you go to them and ask them to forgive you. If you are lucky and they are in a forgiving mood, you are forgiven (to what extent, only the forgiver knows in their heart). If they don’t forgive you, you go and ask again. If still turned away, you try one more time.If, after the third attempt at receiving forgiveness, you are spurned, then you have done all you can do and are free of the bond, of the debt (this is presuming its something intangible we are talking about here—but such things are generally, or can be, the worst and most enduring of crimes).
And, conversely, if someone comes to you and asks your forgiveness truly, you have three chances to unharden your heart and forgive them—and thus, you are free of your burden too—the burden of anger, hatred, vengeance, hurt pride.
It seems to me that I have carried both of these burdens—that I have been the unforgiving and the unforgiven for most of my life; in fact—right up until this very minute.Without going into great detail, I got a very raw deal from my parents when I was a kid—and even right up until the moment of both of their untimely deaths, I kept getting a raw deal.And one of the worst parts of this crummy deal was being told that I was the cause, the reason, for all the bad treatment I received as a child and young adult. I was given to understand, sometimes subtly, sometimes directly, that I was responsible for the mass of grief and suffering my parents had to go through. I still believe this.But, such an irrational situation is absurd. Part of me knows that I was essentially blameless for the sufferings of my parents. However, down deep, I really don’t understand this—and still feel—at bottom, an overwhelming sense of guilt about my parents. So I have both, a great sense—no matter how undeserved—of guilt and need to be forgiven, AND a deep, abiding and massive rage against such unfair treatment—including, of course, being made to feel guilty about my alleged crimes.
I have—to the absolute detriment of every other part of my life—nourished and cherished this hatred, vengeance and unforgiving implacability against my parents for almost sixty years—just as I have carried the false guilt all this time.
In fact, I have two burdens to carry—and to try to set down—this Yom Kippur (and every other day in the calendar): How do I forgive myself and how do I forgive my parents—after all this time? Because, though it seems a sort of self-help truism by now, I know in my heart that if I don’t set these burdens down, life will just be a pale imitation of what it could really be.So, that’s my question for myself, and, perhaps, if it seems familiar, to you, on this day of atonement. You can reconcile yourself with God, and you can try to reconcile yourself with other people, but how do you reconcile yourself with and to yourself?Because, to live, to actually exist and have life mean anything, you must forgive yourself and you must forgive others. Vengeance, hatred, rage, the enduring hurt of unjust behavior… is a fire that keeps re-igniting itself until it consumes you.The only real things remaining are sadness and forgiveness. Sadness and forgiveness— And we pray for them to come into our hearts.
And, I hasten to add, its not that any one person or group is excluding me-- I have only myself to blame for this outsider state I'm in.
I have never been a religious Jew and I don't belong to any Synagogue or congregation. Yet, on these days, known to Jews as The High Holidays-- I feel an ache, a nostalgia and feeling of apartness more than any other time of the year.
Part of it is, I'm sure, that universal feeling one gets (no matter what group or religion or "tribe" you were born into) when certain holy or important times of the year come around. Its really family more than anything else.
If you're lucky, you still have your family and its still a close and basically caring situation... If you're not lucky, or you're merely older and people have died off or moved away, you are seized with a great longing for that warm feeling you once had...
Even in my Olympic-class dysfunctional family, I recall some religious celebrations and dinners, some organized (especially when my Grandmother was alive) attendance at the local Synagogue we belonged to.
I remember a warm, sunny October day, when we fasted all day long, didn't listen to the radio or ride in a car... The neighborhood was about half Jewish so there were people, dressed up and feeling the great signifigance of the holiday, walking on the street, greeting each other.
I guess part of this whole bittersweet experience for me is also the feeling of, not just family, but belonging to a coherent group of some sort--a group that shares beliefs and values and even a good deal of DNA...
And then, of course, there is always God... Religious or not, there is, for most people (and especially as mortality approaches) that incomprehensible but deep vibration in your soul-- some feeling that there is a greater and deeper connection-- Most of the time you are apart from it and, even if its not conscious, you feel the apartness. So, we have Yom Kippur-- The day of Atonement-- of At-one-ment; the day when you re-coonect with that great spirit or force or whatever you might want to call it.
As I walked around Manhattan today and saw families going to and from Synagogue, I was pulled again by deep old, nostalgic feelings...
With that preamble, I'm posting an essay I wrote about Yom Kippur four years ago on my website: http://www.federfiles.com....
Yom Kippur is here—The Day of Atonement for Jews who observe (and for most who don’t think they observe but really do). It is a day—and I’m always open to correction on subjects I know little about—when Jews reconcile themselves with their God.One tends to drift away from God during the course of a year—how could we not—being only poor defective human creations of an all-perfect being. Where does it say—in which part of the bible—that God made man “in his image.”? Well, if that’s the case, it seems like a pretty lousy deal for poor “man”—humankind. You get the form but not the substance. You get the resemblance to the father/mother/parent who created you, but not their strength, their will, and their infinite mercy—among other qualities.Well, anyway, we drift away from God and we are given, each year, this brief time to realize our departure from God, and attempt, by sacrifice, fasting, prayer and repentance to reunite—to Atone. Atonement being, in fact, At-one-ment—to be, once again, “at one” with God.
But speaking of Godlike qualities, the one that comes into play on Yom Kippur—more than the others—is infinite mercy. Because it is not just God with whom one has to reconcile themselves, it is also, one’s fellow creatures.
God is supposed to be infinitely forgiving; and, called upon with a sincere and repentant heart, will certainly forgive—whoever and whatever. The German poet Heine, when asked on his deathbed whether he should ask God forgiveness for his sins, is reputed to have said: “God will forgive, that’s his business.” Well that’s a little flip, and maybe Heine didn’t get forgiven, but you know what, I’m guessing he did… What parent, seeing the suffering of his child, no matter how unrepentant or disrespectful, would not forgive?
But much, much harder than securing the forgiveness and blessing of God the Father/Mother is securing the blessing and forgiveness of other people.We are not possessed of eternal wisdom and infinite mercy. We are, or can often be, petty, selfish and unforgiving (I know I am). We imagine that all our woes are caused by others. Indeed, some of us (and I know whereof I speak here) spend our lives demanding retribution for the crimes, real or perceived, that were committed against us.
On Yom Kippur, according to my source, a very well educated orthodox Rabbi, one goes about asking for forgiveness in the following manner: Truly repenting of the sin/crime you have committed against a fellow creature, you go to them and ask them to forgive you. If you are lucky and they are in a forgiving mood, you are forgiven (to what extent, only the forgiver knows in their heart). If they don’t forgive you, you go and ask again. If still turned away, you try one more time.If, after the third attempt at receiving forgiveness, you are spurned, then you have done all you can do and are free of the bond, of the debt (this is presuming its something intangible we are talking about here—but such things are generally, or can be, the worst and most enduring of crimes).
And, conversely, if someone comes to you and asks your forgiveness truly, you have three chances to unharden your heart and forgive them—and thus, you are free of your burden too—the burden of anger, hatred, vengeance, hurt pride.
It seems to me that I have carried both of these burdens—that I have been the unforgiving and the unforgiven for most of my life; in fact—right up until this very minute.Without going into great detail, I got a very raw deal from my parents when I was a kid—and even right up until the moment of both of their untimely deaths, I kept getting a raw deal.And one of the worst parts of this crummy deal was being told that I was the cause, the reason, for all the bad treatment I received as a child and young adult. I was given to understand, sometimes subtly, sometimes directly, that I was responsible for the mass of grief and suffering my parents had to go through. I still believe this.But, such an irrational situation is absurd. Part of me knows that I was essentially blameless for the sufferings of my parents. However, down deep, I really don’t understand this—and still feel—at bottom, an overwhelming sense of guilt about my parents. So I have both, a great sense—no matter how undeserved—of guilt and need to be forgiven, AND a deep, abiding and massive rage against such unfair treatment—including, of course, being made to feel guilty about my alleged crimes.
I have—to the absolute detriment of every other part of my life—nourished and cherished this hatred, vengeance and unforgiving implacability against my parents for almost sixty years—just as I have carried the false guilt all this time.
In fact, I have two burdens to carry—and to try to set down—this Yom Kippur (and every other day in the calendar): How do I forgive myself and how do I forgive my parents—after all this time? Because, though it seems a sort of self-help truism by now, I know in my heart that if I don’t set these burdens down, life will just be a pale imitation of what it could really be.So, that’s my question for myself, and, perhaps, if it seems familiar, to you, on this day of atonement. You can reconcile yourself with God, and you can try to reconcile yourself with other people, but how do you reconcile yourself with and to yourself?Because, to live, to actually exist and have life mean anything, you must forgive yourself and you must forgive others. Vengeance, hatred, rage, the enduring hurt of unjust behavior… is a fire that keeps re-igniting itself until it consumes you.The only real things remaining are sadness and forgiveness. Sadness and forgiveness— And we pray for them to come into our hearts.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Presidential Debate
Well, I'd have to give it to Barack Obama on points..
It was a kind of lifeless, robotic affair--both of the candidates playing it pretty safe. Even McCain, with his barely controlled temper, was relatively subdued and mature-seeming--maybe he does have that in him when he needs it-- maybe he took a little something before the debate to calm him down a bit...
Even the frame of this dull, predictable, slowly-moving picture, was lifeless.
A real town-hall meeting might have people speaking passionately... frowning, laughing, making sounds of approval or disapproval, asking follow-up questions if they didn't get a real answer the first time around.
This group--supposedly screened by the Gallup poll to be independents (how that can really be determined so clearly is hard to know)--sat there like cardboard cut-outs. After getting to ask their one question, their microphone was apparently shut off (or removed). They were clearly instructed by the TV producers of the debate to sit still and shut up, like good little citizens should.
God forbid they got irritated or interrupted the candidate to require a little specificity or plain truth.
With only one or two exceptions, and those were short and without real punch, both the candidates were predictable, repetitive and boring... And, in a race where Obama is ahead (Thank God) a dull, predictable debate was all he needed to stay ahead.
It doesn't matter so much that McCain is a liar about his record and his sleazy associations--and about some of Obama's plans and programs--- Or that that he (McCain) seems very unstable and deluded; twisted by the horrible things that happened to him in Vietnam and suffering all sorts of humiliations and defeats before (at the hands of the very Reuplican lizards who now run his campaign!)
And it doesn't matter if both candidates exaggerate or twist things around or ignore uncomfortable facts about their voting records or backgrounds...
What really mattered last night--again, with Obama ahead in the polls in most places-- is that he seemed calm, collected, authoritative; in short, "Presdidential." That much, despite his usual talking points, Obama certainly achieved.
As I said, McCain, crazy and angry as he clearly is most of the time--came off pretty controlled and somewhat Presidential himself.
What you have to look for is those little odd, jerky, disconnected flares that suddenly come out of him... Standing, suddenly, a little too close to audience members, telling strange, disconnected jokes that nobody gets (in order to be a funny, joe-six-pack kinda dude)-- that nutty twinkle he gets in his eye sometimes and that bizarre, scary smile that appears out of nowhere--especially when he's really angry.
Last night, McCain did his best-- And he didn't do what some people thought he might do-- And, incidentally, what I fervently hoped he might do-- Bring up Bill Ayers and Obama "palling around" with terrorists.
I wish McCain had brought that up-- It would have sunk him irretrievably. Maybe, if he keeps slipping in the polls, he'll bring it up at next week's debate.
I guess we just have to expect Sarah Barracuda to keep bringing all that up--until her adoring mobs go from cries of "He's a terrorist! (about Obama) or even, at one of her recent rallies, "Kill him!" (Obama) to actually doing something violent (God forbid).
This woman gets to be a nazi thug urging the masses to hate and commit violence while old Uncle John gets to be the kind, honest, decent old man.
Dishonest of course, and also very dishonorable....
Country first... what utter bullshit!
Anyway, I'm really tired of hearing all the same old words, phrases, plans and figures (5 million jobs! 300 million in tax cuts, blah blah blah) that don't seem to mean anything anymore--from both the candidates.
It would be nice if we had a Franklin Roosevelt now-- seems like the only man who could bring us through this horrible crisis we're in... Obama, whatever his strong points and whatever his hidden depths of ability and strength is still too much the party politician for me... Too much a man who plays it safe.
Who knows-- maybe he will surprise us all-- Maybe he has a Roosevelt in him and it will emerge once he wins the election. After all, Roosevelt was the consumate party politician but, after taking office, saw that the regular fixes and slogans wouldn't work--and set about saving America.
I hope that next week's debate is livelier and has elements of passion and anger and demands from the moderator (though it seems unlikely) and that the candidates stop spouting either robotic phrases and figures or plain lies.
But that's just because I want to be inspired and even feel some real hope in this dire time.
On the other hand, if Obama is still gaining in the polls, let him be boring and Presidential again-- that will be good enough.
Maybe a desparate McCain will accuse Obama of being a terrorist-- Then Obama could wrap it all up with a couple of sentences.
It was a kind of lifeless, robotic affair--both of the candidates playing it pretty safe. Even McCain, with his barely controlled temper, was relatively subdued and mature-seeming--maybe he does have that in him when he needs it-- maybe he took a little something before the debate to calm him down a bit...
Even the frame of this dull, predictable, slowly-moving picture, was lifeless.
A real town-hall meeting might have people speaking passionately... frowning, laughing, making sounds of approval or disapproval, asking follow-up questions if they didn't get a real answer the first time around.
This group--supposedly screened by the Gallup poll to be independents (how that can really be determined so clearly is hard to know)--sat there like cardboard cut-outs. After getting to ask their one question, their microphone was apparently shut off (or removed). They were clearly instructed by the TV producers of the debate to sit still and shut up, like good little citizens should.
God forbid they got irritated or interrupted the candidate to require a little specificity or plain truth.
With only one or two exceptions, and those were short and without real punch, both the candidates were predictable, repetitive and boring... And, in a race where Obama is ahead (Thank God) a dull, predictable debate was all he needed to stay ahead.
It doesn't matter so much that McCain is a liar about his record and his sleazy associations--and about some of Obama's plans and programs--- Or that that he (McCain) seems very unstable and deluded; twisted by the horrible things that happened to him in Vietnam and suffering all sorts of humiliations and defeats before (at the hands of the very Reuplican lizards who now run his campaign!)
And it doesn't matter if both candidates exaggerate or twist things around or ignore uncomfortable facts about their voting records or backgrounds...
What really mattered last night--again, with Obama ahead in the polls in most places-- is that he seemed calm, collected, authoritative; in short, "Presdidential." That much, despite his usual talking points, Obama certainly achieved.
As I said, McCain, crazy and angry as he clearly is most of the time--came off pretty controlled and somewhat Presidential himself.
What you have to look for is those little odd, jerky, disconnected flares that suddenly come out of him... Standing, suddenly, a little too close to audience members, telling strange, disconnected jokes that nobody gets (in order to be a funny, joe-six-pack kinda dude)-- that nutty twinkle he gets in his eye sometimes and that bizarre, scary smile that appears out of nowhere--especially when he's really angry.
Last night, McCain did his best-- And he didn't do what some people thought he might do-- And, incidentally, what I fervently hoped he might do-- Bring up Bill Ayers and Obama "palling around" with terrorists.
I wish McCain had brought that up-- It would have sunk him irretrievably. Maybe, if he keeps slipping in the polls, he'll bring it up at next week's debate.
I guess we just have to expect Sarah Barracuda to keep bringing all that up--until her adoring mobs go from cries of "He's a terrorist! (about Obama) or even, at one of her recent rallies, "Kill him!" (Obama) to actually doing something violent (God forbid).
This woman gets to be a nazi thug urging the masses to hate and commit violence while old Uncle John gets to be the kind, honest, decent old man.
Dishonest of course, and also very dishonorable....
Country first... what utter bullshit!
Anyway, I'm really tired of hearing all the same old words, phrases, plans and figures (5 million jobs! 300 million in tax cuts, blah blah blah) that don't seem to mean anything anymore--from both the candidates.
It would be nice if we had a Franklin Roosevelt now-- seems like the only man who could bring us through this horrible crisis we're in... Obama, whatever his strong points and whatever his hidden depths of ability and strength is still too much the party politician for me... Too much a man who plays it safe.
Who knows-- maybe he will surprise us all-- Maybe he has a Roosevelt in him and it will emerge once he wins the election. After all, Roosevelt was the consumate party politician but, after taking office, saw that the regular fixes and slogans wouldn't work--and set about saving America.
I hope that next week's debate is livelier and has elements of passion and anger and demands from the moderator (though it seems unlikely) and that the candidates stop spouting either robotic phrases and figures or plain lies.
But that's just because I want to be inspired and even feel some real hope in this dire time.
On the other hand, if Obama is still gaining in the polls, let him be boring and Presidential again-- that will be good enough.
Maybe a desparate McCain will accuse Obama of being a terrorist-- Then Obama could wrap it all up with a couple of sentences.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Vice Presidential Debate
Well, not much more to say that hasn't been said since Joe Biden and The Governess debated on Thursday.
Some observations...
Gwen Ifills (whom people I trust say is usually very sharp) seemed oddly vague and out-of-it. Some of her questions were like slow motion pitches that little leaguer (Like Ms. Palin) could hit out of the park. Other questions were vague and seemed to provide such wide latitude for answering that it enabled (esp. Ms. Palin) to wander all over the place. Of course she never intended to answer even hard questions-- just to make speeches and false charges against her opponent's campaign.
But still, a little more sharpness and follow-up on the part of the moderator would have been nice.
Perhaps the problem was that Ms. Ifills broke her ankle only a couple of days before the debate, and was either in pain--which threw her off her game-- or, she was taking pain killers, which certainly can dull the mind.
The other reason for her lack of sharpness and control over the debate could have been that she fell for a kind of sleazy but masterful chess move the Republicans pulled a few days before the debate.
Ms. Ifills has written a book (to be published in January) entitled: The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.
Both Parties knew about this book back in July but only a few days before the debate the Republicans (and their wholly-owned corporate subsidiary, Fox News) made a big deal about how such a book (which none of them has read) obviously meant that Ms. Ifills was leaning toward Obama and would probably be a prejudiced moderator--favoring Mr. Biden.
So, perhaps in reaction to maybe being seen as a favoring the Democratic side, Ms. Ifills fell back into a less intense and controlling mode of asking questions and follow-ups--so that she couldn't be accused of being prejudiced.
I suppose, as is the case in almost everything the Republicans do with Obama, that they were also sending a coded message that, along with the title of the book, and Ms. Ifills being black and all--that there was no chance she was going to be fair to The Great wolf-slayer from Alaska.
(Just a note here… If I were in charge of the debates, and I found out about this book, I would, in the interests of fairness—and, more, important, the appearance of fairness—asked Ms. Ifills to bow out and I would have replaced her with someone else).
Maybe Ms. Ifills did pull some punches or be less than insistent at moments-- In the end; she is the only one who would know that.
And maybe none of that matters at all... Since Ms. Palin made very clear--even stating it at one point-- that she had no intention of answering the questions that were being put to her. She said she wasn't going to supply answers that "the moderator and others might want."
Amazing-- She is proud of her contempt for civil discourse, facts, respect for the press and even for voters who might actually want to hear straight answers with real content.
Maybe she also meant, again, in a coded way, to imply that since Ms. Ifills had written that book and is black besides, that she (Ms. Palin) wasn't going to play the moderator’s supposed prejudiced game.
In any case... Sarah cleared the one-foot bar in the high jump-- Did the best she will ever do in such a forum. My guess is that that is probably the last any of us will ever see of her.
She clearly cannot handle herself in one-on-one interviews where she can't just make memorized speeches or stare at her notes every two seconds.
She is an ignorant woman (maybe smart or shrewd) but abysmally ignorant. There is no way the Republicans will let her face a single interviewer again--unless its just to reel off non-responsive, memorized answers to expected questions. She reached her high point--why screw it up by letting her actually show her ignorance, bigotry and nastiness any more?
From now on, she will probably just speak at cheerleading rallies for her ticket and rally the bozo base she was brought in to represent on Mr. pretend maverick's ticket.
If there was ever a candidate in modern history that could be accused of being a celebrity with nothing else of value to them, it is Sarah Palin. But Doggone it! Joe Six-Pack (actually adjusted for inflation and record unemployment, its really Joe Three-Pack now) is gonna be deprived of her celebrity catwalks and high-school cheerleading winks.
Some observations...
Gwen Ifills (whom people I trust say is usually very sharp) seemed oddly vague and out-of-it. Some of her questions were like slow motion pitches that little leaguer (Like Ms. Palin) could hit out of the park. Other questions were vague and seemed to provide such wide latitude for answering that it enabled (esp. Ms. Palin) to wander all over the place. Of course she never intended to answer even hard questions-- just to make speeches and false charges against her opponent's campaign.
But still, a little more sharpness and follow-up on the part of the moderator would have been nice.
Perhaps the problem was that Ms. Ifills broke her ankle only a couple of days before the debate, and was either in pain--which threw her off her game-- or, she was taking pain killers, which certainly can dull the mind.
The other reason for her lack of sharpness and control over the debate could have been that she fell for a kind of sleazy but masterful chess move the Republicans pulled a few days before the debate.
Ms. Ifills has written a book (to be published in January) entitled: The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.
Both Parties knew about this book back in July but only a few days before the debate the Republicans (and their wholly-owned corporate subsidiary, Fox News) made a big deal about how such a book (which none of them has read) obviously meant that Ms. Ifills was leaning toward Obama and would probably be a prejudiced moderator--favoring Mr. Biden.
So, perhaps in reaction to maybe being seen as a favoring the Democratic side, Ms. Ifills fell back into a less intense and controlling mode of asking questions and follow-ups--so that she couldn't be accused of being prejudiced.
I suppose, as is the case in almost everything the Republicans do with Obama, that they were also sending a coded message that, along with the title of the book, and Ms. Ifills being black and all--that there was no chance she was going to be fair to The Great wolf-slayer from Alaska.
(Just a note here… If I were in charge of the debates, and I found out about this book, I would, in the interests of fairness—and, more, important, the appearance of fairness—asked Ms. Ifills to bow out and I would have replaced her with someone else).
Maybe Ms. Ifills did pull some punches or be less than insistent at moments-- In the end; she is the only one who would know that.
And maybe none of that matters at all... Since Ms. Palin made very clear--even stating it at one point-- that she had no intention of answering the questions that were being put to her. She said she wasn't going to supply answers that "the moderator and others might want."
Amazing-- She is proud of her contempt for civil discourse, facts, respect for the press and even for voters who might actually want to hear straight answers with real content.
Maybe she also meant, again, in a coded way, to imply that since Ms. Ifills had written that book and is black besides, that she (Ms. Palin) wasn't going to play the moderator’s supposed prejudiced game.
In any case... Sarah cleared the one-foot bar in the high jump-- Did the best she will ever do in such a forum. My guess is that that is probably the last any of us will ever see of her.
She clearly cannot handle herself in one-on-one interviews where she can't just make memorized speeches or stare at her notes every two seconds.
She is an ignorant woman (maybe smart or shrewd) but abysmally ignorant. There is no way the Republicans will let her face a single interviewer again--unless its just to reel off non-responsive, memorized answers to expected questions. She reached her high point--why screw it up by letting her actually show her ignorance, bigotry and nastiness any more?
From now on, she will probably just speak at cheerleading rallies for her ticket and rally the bozo base she was brought in to represent on Mr. pretend maverick's ticket.
If there was ever a candidate in modern history that could be accused of being a celebrity with nothing else of value to them, it is Sarah Palin. But Doggone it! Joe Six-Pack (actually adjusted for inflation and record unemployment, its really Joe Three-Pack now) is gonna be deprived of her celebrity catwalks and high-school cheerleading winks.
Test/Mike Feder's Blog
Testing first Blog for Mike Feder--
If it works out-- will have stories, political and cultural commentary, book and movie reviews, rants, and various other sentimental outbursts.
Anybody out there?
If it works out-- will have stories, political and cultural commentary, book and movie reviews, rants, and various other sentimental outbursts.
Anybody out there?
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