a few rotten apples

On the way up to get apples, Ariel, Cyndi and I spent most of our time talking about the debate the night before, the debate coming, and the financial bailout.

I haven't heard what the consensus is on the debate. I don't think either McCain or Obama had any slam dunks. I thought that if you are a McCain supporter, you will think he won the debate. I think this is because he came off a bad week and it could have gone bad during the debate. I thought Obama came off well--informed and articulate. With the way McCain is running his campaign, with the same ol' GOP tactic of distorting facts, and that smirky smile during the debate, I've changed my mind that he is a good guy.

I don't have a problem with Obama's coolness. It does appear to me more deliberative and even presidential.

The distortion of records is irritating. The campaigners must think we are stupid, which unfortunately maybe we are. But everyone must know from basic civics in school that bills come loaded, so that voting yeah or nay on a bill doesn't really reflect a position on a particular part. I know it works to attack the other person, but I'm really hoping to see a debate that addresses issues, and the attack seems particularly hypocritical and mean-spirited because we were promised that the campaign would be elevated.

All in all, McCain's shoot from the hip style, mixed with his reliance on GOP campaign tactics, is diluting his appeal.

I've seen some of the Palin interviews and now I'm not quite so up in arms about her potential appeal. Has it faded, I wonder, among those who were so supportive when she first appeared? She comes off poorly. She's even lost much of her self-confidence, which was probably her biggest asset. In watching the interview with Couric, it made me think of those clips that were around for a while a few months back of that unfortunate Miss Teen contestant. The contestant had obviously been coached for the interview portion of the pageant. She probably had an arsenal of stock answers, but she only knew just a few. Someone told her she could take those stock answers, pick up a few key words from the question, and make a convincing sounding answer. But the question confounded her, and she spoke plain nonsense. It was painful to watch, in the same way it was painful to watch Palin.

I'm not the first to make the connection. I went to YouTube and already there were at least two videos satirizing Palin in that way. One showed her interview with Charlie, who asked about the Bush Doctrine. You see Palin answer, but you hear the Miss Teen contestant's answer. In another one, you see the contestant on stage answering the interview question, but you hear Palin's answer to Kouric about Russia and Canada bordering Alaska.