lots of stuff to cover
It's been a while since I posted, and I wanted to cover some stuff prior to the VP debate tonight:
1) I look forward to tonight's debate, but I think it also will be a draw, possibly even leaning to Edwards. He is a smooth speaker and his career in front of juries leads me to believe he will have a great command of the "facts" and will employ them properly. His closing statement will likely be the stuff of legend. Cheney won't be as disappointing as Bush was last week, but even his great knowledge and experience will not provide the "something" that will be necessary. I just hope he can employ rapid responses to some of Edwards' assertions, because doubtless there will be some "what did he just say?" moments tonight--and he's got to be better than Bush at highlighting and responding to those moments.
2) Bush's big speech tomorrow didn't necessarily rub me as the right way to do that which it is supposed to do: clarify his stances and attack Kerry's. That's what Cheney is supposed to do tonight, in the traditional role of the ticket's pit bull. I guess I'll have to see how it plays out tomorrow--but scheduling this thing before Cheney even gets into the arena doesn't strike me as an endorsement of his (Cheney's) ability to do the task laid out before him.
3) Poll this, poll that. They don't mean anything to me, for two reasons: a) as has been written in other places by folks far smarter than myself, if even a few of the scores of stories of voter fraud end up being executed by the intending frauders, there is no rhyme nor reason as to how the red state/blue state (possibly "bleu" state?) map will look on Nov. 3rd. Throw in the lawyers, and it is a mess of staggering proportions in the making. Regardless of the outcome of the election, already we have seen this campaign season as the beginning of the end of the "ideal" democracy in America--it's just sickening! Some beacon of freedom we've become--the voter's already small input to the system is threatened to be cheapened by the presence of votes from fraudulent sources, and the lawyers have been hired and will undoubtedly mobilize to find ANY reason for my vote--and the votes of thousands if not millions of others--not to count. There's going to have to be an enormous amount of work put in by BOTH parties to ensure that the disillusionment that folks will feel about the PROCESS doesn't become a bigger virus on our form of government in the next 4 years (NOTE: do not read this as an endorsement of having "neutral" parties watch over our elections--that would be even more disastrous!); and b) I got my absentee ballot today. I know as an absenteer my vote won't count unless it is absolutely necessary (which I have a feeling it will be), but I was happy to cast it anyway. And as I was doing it, I realized one thing: this was the first time I've voted for a President. I know, it's pathetic--but true. And that struck a note of curiousity in me: where would I fall in with the polls? I'm a registered independent and anything but a likely voter--there's really no accounting for me and folks like me in the polls. The parties are both touting extraordinary "new registrant" numbers, but how many of those new folks will show up on Nov. 2nd? And how many "new" independents are out there with votes already in the bag one way or another? It's just too dizzying to think about, and combine that with the "questionable" tactics that might be employed on election day--there's no reason to believe any numbers we see until Nov. 3rd. HOPEFULLY, those numbers at least will mean something.
1) I look forward to tonight's debate, but I think it also will be a draw, possibly even leaning to Edwards. He is a smooth speaker and his career in front of juries leads me to believe he will have a great command of the "facts" and will employ them properly. His closing statement will likely be the stuff of legend. Cheney won't be as disappointing as Bush was last week, but even his great knowledge and experience will not provide the "something" that will be necessary. I just hope he can employ rapid responses to some of Edwards' assertions, because doubtless there will be some "what did he just say?" moments tonight--and he's got to be better than Bush at highlighting and responding to those moments.
2) Bush's big speech tomorrow didn't necessarily rub me as the right way to do that which it is supposed to do: clarify his stances and attack Kerry's. That's what Cheney is supposed to do tonight, in the traditional role of the ticket's pit bull. I guess I'll have to see how it plays out tomorrow--but scheduling this thing before Cheney even gets into the arena doesn't strike me as an endorsement of his (Cheney's) ability to do the task laid out before him.
3) Poll this, poll that. They don't mean anything to me, for two reasons: a) as has been written in other places by folks far smarter than myself, if even a few of the scores of stories of voter fraud end up being executed by the intending frauders, there is no rhyme nor reason as to how the red state/blue state (possibly "bleu" state?) map will look on Nov. 3rd. Throw in the lawyers, and it is a mess of staggering proportions in the making. Regardless of the outcome of the election, already we have seen this campaign season as the beginning of the end of the "ideal" democracy in America--it's just sickening! Some beacon of freedom we've become--the voter's already small input to the system is threatened to be cheapened by the presence of votes from fraudulent sources, and the lawyers have been hired and will undoubtedly mobilize to find ANY reason for my vote--and the votes of thousands if not millions of others--not to count. There's going to have to be an enormous amount of work put in by BOTH parties to ensure that the disillusionment that folks will feel about the PROCESS doesn't become a bigger virus on our form of government in the next 4 years (NOTE: do not read this as an endorsement of having "neutral" parties watch over our elections--that would be even more disastrous!); and b) I got my absentee ballot today. I know as an absenteer my vote won't count unless it is absolutely necessary (which I have a feeling it will be), but I was happy to cast it anyway. And as I was doing it, I realized one thing: this was the first time I've voted for a President. I know, it's pathetic--but true. And that struck a note of curiousity in me: where would I fall in with the polls? I'm a registered independent and anything but a likely voter--there's really no accounting for me and folks like me in the polls. The parties are both touting extraordinary "new registrant" numbers, but how many of those new folks will show up on Nov. 2nd? And how many "new" independents are out there with votes already in the bag one way or another? It's just too dizzying to think about, and combine that with the "questionable" tactics that might be employed on election day--there's no reason to believe any numbers we see until Nov. 3rd. HOPEFULLY, those numbers at least will mean something.
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