Debate

I tried to watch it, I really did. I just lose my temper far too easily. That said, I have to admire the fortitude that I imagine it must take for Obama to stand up on that stage and subject himself to McBastard's smirks and lies (for, what, six hours? so it seemed) without striding across the stage and delivering a swift and well-deserved kick to the groin. I bet a lot of other lefties like me feel the same way and I wonder if that accounts for the predominance of this perception and the overall general consensus that Obama kept his cool and did very well. In what little of it that I did watch, I thought Obama looked tense and angry (was I projecting?). He gave good answers, but I would like to see him rattle McCain some more rather than allow himself to be rattled by him.

I'm actually really nervous about the Vice Presidential debates. Biden's a loose cannon, very subject to gaffes, and it would be far too easy for him to underestimate Palin. As a Cowboys and Spurs fan, I've seen it happen all too often that a star-power team gets trounced by the underdog because they went into the game overconfident. Palin's awful, of course, and we've seen no evidence whatsoever of her being the "quick study" she's reputed to be. And Biden's commercials and stump speeches have been great. But it's Biden, unscripted, that I'm worried about. He's very smart and experienced, though, and those are definitely two things she is not. So we'll see.