*Sniff*

The mic was broken, the mediator was asking unfair questions, and Hillary was mean, and he was being so nice by not mentioning Bill's infidelities....

The Republican debate in 25 seconds

With as much clarity as the real one.

Reducing the debate to four words...

Binders full of women.

A debate

I finally got around to watching it... and they both did well.

  Update: Video removed by user, etc, etc. Will replace when I can find the full hour and a half of the debate, but most have been pulled.

 (I had a hell of a time getting the sound high enough, finally rewiring my speakers to the old ones that go up to eleven.)

How do you debate someone using the Gish Gallop technique?

The definition of Gish Gallop.. which sounds like something you experience after eating bad food, basically is unloading so many lies all at once that the opponent cannot attack any of them.  It lets you win the debate (especially if the other one is not ready for it) but you've given the other side enough ammo for a zillion negative campaign ads in the end.

 

It's suggested that Romney's debate win probably made the House stay Republican, even if he himself loses the election. Only time will tell....

How to win at arguments

(Stolen rudely from Phila of Bouphonia's post).

There's a list of 11 excellent points you should keep at hand for the debate before you end up having to use the folding chair on your opponent. Here is number 9:

9. What people say is less important than what they imply. What they imply is what the correct political analysis leads you to decide that they imply. Don’t take their account as to what they are saying: tell them what they are saying. Be abusive if necessary. You have been provoked.

The essence of the last debate.

Fearguth has it.

Sometimes the joke is too close to the truth

But I laughed anyway.



(via Eli at Multi Medium)

Apparently we will ignore you if you start wars,

Destroy the Constitution, remove Habeas Corpus, threaten allies, ignore diplomacy, ruin the environment, poison the judicial system, mock global warming....

But if you fuck with our wallets, we will take notice.



Yes, we ARE FINALLY PAYING ATTENTION, THANK GOD. Who cares if Palin was pretty and pretty coherent? The fact that she's memorized the Republican talking points does not mean she actually has an understanding of the subject matter. We had eight years of such a person and people are finally taking a good look at where we've ended up.

There's not a single thing that the Bush administration has dealt with that isn't gutted, smoking, and lying helplessly on its side. McCain/Palin will guarantee us four more years of George W. Bush.

Sarah Palin prepares for the debate

No, actually we're being told it's all a setup and Palin will be snarky and brilliant and clever. Don't underestimate her perkiness saving the day.

Mad Kane takes her down a peg:

Sarah Palin, who likes to refer to herself as “Joe Six Pack“, is trying to dupe us into believing she’s “an everyday, working-class American.” Palin even claims that her “Joe Six Pack” status is why “the Washington elite” don’t think she should be running for Veep. (Apparently it has nothing to do with her making Dan Quayle look like a genius and George Bush look coherent.)

They want us to think she'd be fun to have a beer with? ... Didn't they say that about the last guy?



Eureka Springs of Firedoglake:

You might be an idiot if:

• You nominate the former head of The Harper Valley P.T.A. to be Vice President of the United States.

• You keep meeting up with Katie Couric.

• You graduated with a degree in journalism, but can't name one newspaper you've read.

• You don't understand the source or value of your husband's Union provided health care benefits.

• You think your friend of 30 years "made a choice" to be gay.

This is going to be interesting...

Why wouldn't you want your running mate to talk about you after the debate?

Joe Biden was having a blast. Where was Sarah Palin?

As The New Republic's Michael Crowley noted during the post-debate coverage, Palin's absence looked particularly awkward given the fact that Joe Biden was appearing all over the place:

Amusing moment on CNN just now. Wolf Blitzer, coming out of a commercial:

"We've been getting some emails from views out there wondering why we spent some time interviewing Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee and not Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee. We would have loved to interview--we'd still love to interview Sarah Palin. Unfortunately we asked, we didn't get that interview...We're hoping that Sarah Palin will join us at some point down the road."

I'm told that Biden appeared on every major network tonight except ABC (which only turned him down because Palin wasn't available, on an equal-time sort of basis).

It's pretty strange when a candidate can't trust his own running mate to be out there spinning on his behalf.

Can you imagine Caribou Barbie having to become president? Really ... PRESIDENT? She's George Bush in a dress, a lot better looking, but even more extreme. She's vindictive, a religious zealot, insists on total loyalty, believes in censorship, lies to the press with ease, and is being trained by Rove and his minions as we speak. Talk about being not only Bush's third term but Bush's third term on steroids!

Obama vs. McCain, round one

But what we will probably get:



And with the VP debates between Biden and Palin:



But what we will probably get:



So McCain will play the last card he has. The sympathy card:



But at that point, most of the watching audience will no longer care:

Why they don't want Palin to debate Biden

She doesn't have the verbal skills, the depth of knowledge, the ability to think on her feet, does she? It's just now dawning on the McCain campaign?:

Her lack of depth was painfully on display last week when she was asked at a Michigan town meeting, "I'd like to know that all that oil we're going to drill here is going to stay here domestically and it's not going to be exported by the oil companies." You can listen to her answer here:

Oil of coal, of course, is a fungible commodity and they don't flag, ya know, the molecules where, where it's going to, where it's not, but and in the, in the sense of the Congress today they know our very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So I believe that what Congress is going to do also is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans who get stuck holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here; it's gotta flow into our domestic markets first.

Not quite Miss Teen South Carolina territory, but borderline gibberish, self-contradictory, and kind of pointless.

Let's forget that she starts by saying "of coal" instead of "of course." Could happen to anyone who is nervous. She is correct that oil is a fungible (i.e. completely interchangeable) commodity -- the world market doesn't care or have any way of knowing where the original oil comes from. But why add the "flag the molecules" line? Obviously nobody would flag molecules. If she thought "fungible" might not be understood by her audience, how could "flag the molecules" add either simplicity or clarity?

I betcha they won't be able to have the vice presidential debate. It will just be too hard for them to organize it around this awful ... ah... (a) economic disaster (b)war in Iraq (c)hurricane season (d)airplane part missing (e) dog that ate the debate schedule....

(Via JJ of Unrepentant Old Hippie)

The Republican debate on speed

Just to get the flavor but not to leave a bad taste in your mouth:

Thanks to you both

Two brave souls who actually watched the Democratic debate last night.

Pygalgia

and Mustang Bobbyof Bark Bark Woof Woof

I can't do it. It's like watching commercials or infotainment shows where everything is slick and processed to the consistency of cheese whiz. The only way for me to know what these people will do once in power is to look at their background, their prior held offices, and the record. We've had enough of those who will promise the moon (or Mars) and deliver shit.

Will we get a Democrat out of this bunch who loves our country and our Constitution enough to save them?

Shorter Republican debate

As only Roy of Alicublog can do.