The functionality of the comments section has been "iffy" the last couple of days. You are always welcome to email me you suggestions if you feel so inclined.CNN poll:
Obama's connection to William Ayers matters to you...
Great Deal 23
Somewhat 14
Not Much 11
Not At All 51
So let's see, the crazy NRO set is about 23 percent of the country, which also -- by the way -- is the number of people who still think President Bush is doing a kick-ass job.
Everyone else has bigger, more important things to worry about.
So the CNN pundits kept harping on the fact that their snap poll gave Dems a 10-point sample advantage, thus supposedly rendering it less accurate. Well, now they've broken it down:
Who did the best job in the debate?
Independents
McCain (R) 31
Obama (D) 57
Republicans
McCain (R) 68
Obama (D) 18
Democrats
McCain (R) 5
Obama (D) 88
Look how poorly McCain did with Republicans, compared to Democrats and Obama. And of course, Independents LOVED Obama.
If it wasn't for the snap polls, the pundits would be proclaiming this night a glorious victory for McCain. John King, who gave McCain an 18-15 victory in his debate scorecard, was just on ranting against the snap polls, saying they were bunk because people are answering just after watching the dabate, while being too "emotional" ... unlike the pundits who are all about reason and logic.
Whatever.
I love how the American people don't give a shit what John King thinks. They can decide for themselves who won.
And that's why John King hates them.
Update by MissLaura: I was about to post just about the same point Markos makes here. The two examples that stood out to me were David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell.
David Gregory repeatedly proclaimed McCain's "I'm not Bush. If you wanted to run against him, you should have run 4 years ago" to be The Line Of The Night. He clearly wanted it to be a defining moment of the campaign.
But something held Gregory and his colleagues back. That was the knowledge that snap polls were coming, and the likelihood that those polls would show Obama to be the winner.
Andrea Mitchell articulated it directly -- and sniffily -- saying that McCain had won on points, whether the polls would reflect that or not.
They didn't like it, but polling technology is one more way their role as gatekeepers has been diminished.
Clearly, in all his debate prep, no one thought to coach McCain not to go to the third rail of the abortion issue. Boy, was that an oversight. Because not only did McCain go there, he jumped right on to it.
In trying to paint Obama as being for the great Republican bugaboo of late term abortions (because, you know, there are so many women running around and deciding after being pregnant for six or more months that being pregnant is no longer convenient for them), Obama replied that he didn't vote for the late term abortion ban because it had no provision for the health or life of the mother. And that's when McCain proved how heartless and clueless he is:
Again…just again, an example of the eloquence of Senator Obama, health (indicates air quotes) of the mother. You know that’s been stretched by the pro-abortion movement to mean almost anything.
Really? Not a legitimate concern? Tell that to these women.
MY FINAL TAKE: This was a lot better than the Brokaw debate. McCain seemed more improved than Obama over last time, but scored no knockout punches. This time McCain looked like he was having a better time than Obama; Obama's smirking was unattractive, but his closing statement was strong.
As I said before, the big winner was Joe the Plumber.
UPDATE: Charles Austin comments.
And so does Jennifer Rubin.
Roger Simon calls the debate dull.
Plus, a summary in tabular form.
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I think this is my best bento yet. :]
Its for my lunch tomorrow.
( info + more... )
Thank you for staying with Wonkette for our special sexy late-night post-debate fun! John McCain and Cindy McCain have left the building! Barack and Michelle are, as usual, still there. Are they? Hey, C-SPAN, could you zoom in? Here is Part I, and Part II, and Part III, and Part IV. (Oh and Sara started another Part V, which is here, and now she has stomped off to bed.) Did you know the ACORNS will destroy your fabric? Please keep your fabric clean, and let’s please keep bums from making money trying to register voters, and let’s, uh, move on, to the deal. GO RALPH NADER.
10:37 PM — First call on C-SPAN: “How could Senator McCain say he is a patriot when all of us on some ship in …. Israel … killed us??” WTF.
10:38 PM — ZOOM IN.
10:41 PM — And now everybody is gone, and the Soviet C-SPAN cameras could not show whatever Barry and Mrs. O were doing, because that would prove all forms of audio-visual equipment are In The Tank. Let’s go to the cable news now.
10:41 PM — Hey there’s Mrs. Alan Greenspan, who CAUSED OUR NEW DEPRESSION, while he played the skin flute. Why won’t you retire, Andrea Mitchell?
10:43 PM — Chris Matthews has shed John McCain’s gay purple sweater, and now has a suit, and David Gregory is ready to dance like a fool.
10:43 PM — Hey, Wonkette buddies, thanks for hanging around for two years while we all laughed and cried at this wonderful/terrible nightmare from Hell. Oh lord, Newell is now playing video games.
10:46 PM — Sexy Soledad with her Squigglies, what did the Ohio Bitters think?
10:46 PM — “I’ll tell ya, after 30 minutes, those …. did John McCain win the debate?”
10:46 PM — There are 10 Ohio Bitters who say McCain won the debate.
10:47 PM — And 15 of these squiggly people say Barack Obama won the debate.
10:47 PM — Let’s talk about this Bill Ayers stuff.
10:47 PM — A cute McCain Republican gal says the Ayers BS meant McCain had nothing.
10:48 PM — JOE THE PLUMBER. Did anyone notice how McCain kept saying “Joe the Plumber” and then Obama had to say “Joe the Plumber” and then both of them were saying, “Hey Joe.”
10:50 PM — So, uh, a few Ohio bitter undecideds say … well, everything the National Political Media is talking about today is, well, of no interest. Bunch of dumb shit, not relevant.
10:51 PM — Let’s switch to MSNBC.
10:51 PM — More Joe the Plumber! Egh.
10:51 PM — This one guy thinks Obama was a little off, and the McCain had a problem with “tone.”
10:56 PM — HILLARY is on the CNN. She is, uh, advocating, for the “Democratic president.”
10:58 PM — Hillary actually looks good, and sane. But she has all of Arizona around her neck, in the form of Turquoise and some other Desert Stones.
11:00 PM — Hillary Clinton will be the new LBJ, in the Senate, and Obama will be the new JFK, and … oh fuck.
11:01 PM — Actually, we might probably expect Hillary Clinton to run … the United Nations! Hey, it is in New York.
11:02 PM — Here are the polls, from Campbell “Soup” Brown, and we love her, and Obama won 58% to 31%.
11:09 PM — Um, people are talking. Hey it is Rachel Maddow! We heart her.
11:11 PM — Rachel, re: Bill/ACORN, says, “The true believers, the tiny minority of Americans who approaches the election this way, maybe felt like they got a little ….”
11:12 PM — “They neutralized the whole Ayers issue, and it’s over now.”
11:13 PM — Olbermann: “Why did McCain laughably lie about everything, including the planetarium for kids, for education?”
11:13 PM — Maddow says, basically, let the loser go with the bullshit, and make the calculation, and move on.
11:14 PM — Fox News focus group says Clear Majority says Obama Wins.
11:15 PM — Interesting Maddow point: McCain looked more like he doesn’t want Obama to be president than that he himself wants to be president.
11:21 PM — Ugh, watching the McCain clips again, so much blinking! Angry blinking. Blink Blink Blink. (Blinking means you are telling lies.)
11:48 PM — 51% “not at all” concerned about what’s his name, Ayers, the Reagan School Board Republican. What was it, 14% “very concerned”? Well, who might those people already be voting for?
11:51 PM — Who attacked more, CNN poll people? 80% McCain, 7% Obama.
11:52 PM — Oh lord, McCain didn’t mention the “Middle Class” once tonight, again! Rick Davis could just write it on his hand, right?
11:53 PM — Campbell Brown is just out-sexying everyone by one million percent. See that high-heeled foot and ankle and leg bouncing out from the Pundit Desk? That is Campbell Brown.
11:54 PM — Candy Crowley, our favorite CNN political reporter ever, mentions that Bob Dole at least came up with some dumb stunt in 1996 to amuse the press corps.
11:56 PM — Soon, there will be nothing left of Dana Bash save for her eyes.
11:57 PM — Let’s watch some Fox News Channel for a while, because that is always fun!
11:57 PM — Oh, Barack just sent your editor another text message. The deadline for registering to vote in California is NOW, so make your people register, if they are not registered.
11:59 PM — Fox is showing the “Terrorist, Kill Him!” part. What, uh, are they … oh who knows.
00:00:00:00 — Oh here is the video, where McCain is “not gonna stand” for … uh, the shit he does.
12:02 AM — Greta wants to know, what will happen, and how are the viewers in the tank so much, Jonathan Martin says … ah who cares, he is a douche.
MediaCurves scores it for Obama:
That's comparable to the first two debates. Now,everyone is skeptical of the exact insta-poll numbers, but so far, every time there's an insta-poll, the trackers confirm it a few days later.
We'll find out by Friday that it's true this time as well.
In any case, the key numbers are independents, and Obama doing better with Dems than McCain did with Republicans.
Michael Grunwald: I'll tell you one thing: joe the plumber is laying some pipe tonight. Tonight is definitely going to be sacred for mrs. Wurtzelfarfegnugen.
Tonight's winner: Joe the plumber. The candidates would kill for this kind of free advertising.
Also: Bob Schieffer. The best moderator. This was the best debate. You really got a good sense of where the candidates stood.
More seriously: McCain and Obama tied on points. Maybe McCain even won on points. Solid policy answers, tough policy attacks, solid command of the facts. The first and last thirty minutes were among McCain's best .
But debates aren't usually won on points.
They're won on valence and visuals.
Emotions and body language.
And tonight, we saw a McXplosion. Every single attack that Sen. McCain has ever wanted to make, he took the opportunity tonight to make. Around 30 minutes in, McCain seemed to surrender the debate to his frustrations, making it seem as if he just wanted the free television.
And Katharine Q. Seelye at the TheCaucus:
Looks like The Associated Press reached Joe the Plumber, er, Joe Wurzelbacher, who lives near Toledo, Ohio. He did not say who he was voting for, but did say he was surprised that he was called "Joe the Plumber" repeatedly during the debate.
"It’s pretty surreal, man, my name being mentioned in a presidential campaign," he is quoted as saying.
CBS poll of undecided voters:
Who won the debate?
McCain (R) 22
Obama (D) 53
Shares your values
Obama, Before the debate: 54
Obama, After the debate: 63
McCain, Before the debate: 53
McCain, After the debate: 56
Update: CNN poll of voters who watched debate:
Who won the debate?
McCain (R) 31
Obama (D) 58
Favorable/Unfavorable
Obama, before debate: 63/35
Obama, after debate: 66/33
McCain, before debate: 51/45
McCain, after debate: 49/49
McCain LOST popularity.
Celebrate by dropping Obama (and some down-ticket Dems) some coin.
When trailing in the fourth quarter and time running out, the trailing team will go into its "hurry up offense" -- no huddle, quick plays, aggressive, trying to keep the defense off balance, the ball moving quickly.
That was McCain tonight.
The defense in such situations will usually go into a zone defense and play loose -- the idea is to surrender the short yards but prevent the big game-changing play, all the while chewing up the clock.
That was Obama tonight.
Scoring a field goal doesn't help you when you're down three touchdowns.
The pundits are going to talk about the issues and details of the debates, as they should. And it's true that this was Obama's best debate, and possibly McCain's worst. But for me, the story of the night -- hell, the story of all three debates -- is the sang froid of Barack Obama.
Nothing can get under his skin. Nothing. No attack can cause him to lose his equilibrium, to cause him to squint or gawp or stare like McCain seems to do three times every minute. Barack Obama is a fundamentally cool cat -- and that's one of the reasons he's not just going to win this election, but win big. Americans respect a person who won't get thrown off his game, who won't let his enemies and opponents rattle him.
And Barack Obama isn't just cool -- he's redefined cool in politics. He's gotten past 20 years of presidents who equate anger with passion. There hasn't been a president who could keep an even keel since Reagan -- and even then, he was more easy-goin' than cool. Reagan was detached. But Barack Obama is engaged, intelligent, and calm -- but he's no Adlai Stevenson. He's always cool.
Every candidate for national office for a generation is going to seek to emulate Obama Cool. But there's only one Barack Obama.
John McCain is very proud of his Hate Talk Express. You know, the one that doesn't say a word about their supporters shouting "kill him" when they hear Barack Obama's name.
In tonight's debate, McCain said:
"Let me just say, categorically, I'm proud of the people that come to our rallies."
Did you catch that? He's proud of people who threaten the life of his opponent, who shout "off with his head" and "Obama bin Laden".
Watch the clip from the debate:
Thank you, John McCain, for showing your true colors. Now there's no doubt about what your values are.
Begala: "Grumpy McNasty"
Gergen: "Angry"
And look at McCain's "Deer in Headlights" moment:
In Isaac Asimov's 1955 book "Franchise", a supercomputer chooses a "voter of the year" to decide the fate of the election. Then, that person answers a series of questions which the computer uses to decide the results of the election.
Joe Sixpack thought he had hit the jackpot, but unfortunately for him, the fictional "Joe the Plumber" got the gig.
Or at least, that's what I learned from John McCain, in between his angry outbursts and snorting.
On substance, I actually thought McCain had his best performance thus far, when not distracting with his weird facial expressions and snorting. But still, Obama is on another level altogether. Perhaps if Romney or Giuliani was the nominee these would be fairer contests, but it's not even close. And while McCain seemed better prepared than in the previous debates, tonight was also the wingnuttiest McCain has looked all campaign. All the veneer of being a moderate was stripped away as he derisively tossed aside the notion of "health of the mother". The notion was a insult to his sensibilities!
Not that it matters. There was nothing here tonight that would change minds. Given that Obama has already broken 50 percent nationally and in the key battleground states, and that significant percentage of voters have already cast their early votes, McCain needed to radically transform the shape of the race. That means a homerun performance coupled with an Obama collapse. Neither happened.
I'll let the snap polls determine who "won" the debate, but no matter what they proclaim, this race is pretty much over.
Hey,
A quick question. Are Macs prone to getting marked up? I have been carrying my Mac in my backpack in a laptop pouch (a bit bigger than necessary for a Mac ....can fit the 17' notebook PCs) and I think it got a little marked up by the plastic contour things that are suppose to be good for your back.
I was just curious if Macs (specifically a white Macbook) are prone to getting sort of imprinted with markings if pressed or pressured hard enough against them?
No worries though I quickly learned my lesson and got a great new laptop bag that fits my macbook perfectly and is well cushioned!!
(h/t Jesse)
Probably a good idea to study your opponent's stance when you plan to attack him on it in front of millions of potential viewers. Otherwise you end up like Grampy McCrankypants with his total deer-in-the-headlight look when Obama set him straight:
Obama: I'm happy to talk to you, Joe, too, if you're out there. Here is your fine: Zero.
McCain interrupts: Zero??
Obama: Zero. You won't pay a fine because as I said in our last debate, and I'll repeat John, I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide health care to their employees who are not doing it. I exempt small businesses from having to pay into a kitty...
I went out in a paddock last weekend and took some snaps with my new 50mm 1.8 of my boy Michael. Then edited them for a slight vintage feel... It's my first time shooting a guy and it was a lot of fun. There isn't that pressure for every shot to be glamourous as with the ladiezzzz.
( Quite a few under here )
Hi everyone
My husband and I are hosting a dinner this Sat for 3 other people - 2 guys and 1 mother-to-be. I'm not a very experienced cook but I've managed simple stuff so far. Just thought of tapping on all of you for ideas, because I hope to make this meal a little more special if I can!
I've been told no spicy food. Right now I'm thinking of doing:
1. Creamy mushroom soup. I've only made this once before (last year) but it had good reviews. heheh
2. Salad - a mix of greens and cherry tomatoes that I'll toss together with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and pepper
3. Mashed potatoes (If I have extra mushrooms maybe I'll mash some bits in)
I can't think of what mains to do. Probably fish or chicken because I haven't been very successful with steaks or lamb. But I also can't think of how to make them look nice. I can do salmon steaks but they always break up to bits when I pick them up. Fine for when it is just for us, but I want my food to look palatable!
I'm also not sure of what dessert to make - that will look and taste nice. I usually cheat and serve ice-cream and a cheese board. haha
Any interesting ideas people? =)
I love this installation in a subway using the moving systems to turn gears and unfold pieces of itself. It's a cool Rube Goldberg-esque machine. Via Todd Vanderlin.
Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Arts | Digg this!Opera has developed a new indexing system that analyzes the structure of web content and it found that only 4.13 percent of the 3.5 million pages indexed by the system actually pass the W3C's validator.
So uh how did that whole deal go? Let’s go the the twelve dozen pundits gathered around a table in the CNN dungeon and see what they have to say, while Ken Layne eagerly watches the CSPAN to see if John McCain flees the stage immediately (again).
9:36 PM — So we all liked the part where they argued about Bill Ayers, right? Yeah, that part ruled. Bill Bennett is such a fat sack of shit.
9:37 PM — Castellanos: On the offense on big spending, taxes, Joe the Plumber. Jesus, when did “professorial” become such a term of derision?
9:38 PM — Ugh, all these bickering jackasses. Let’s go over to MSNBC.
9:40 PM — Ooh looky it’s Andrea Mitchell in a Star Trek uniform! And somebody holds up a huge poster behind her suggesting maybe Jackie Chan should be our president. And a guy named “Ed.”
9:42 PM — Well, that was fun, go read Ken now, thank you, good night.
Well hey people, this is the last liveblog of a debate — the number is actually 50, no joke — in this election season. This has been a complete abortion of time. Ours, yours, God’s, ACORN’s. Remember Mike Gravel yelling at Joe Biden and really everyone else in that debate last April, which was 40 years ago? Well, that was actually in this SAME ELECTION CYCLE, and now it’s over forever because of the Economy, here’s a send-off into the hobo space jungle. And now we wait for the day…
10:00 — McCain’s health plan: make less fatties.
10:01 — HAHAHAHHA here comes Joe the Cummer again, John McCain wants to help Joe the Cummer have more employees, for cumming.
10:01 — Oh wow, Barack Obama says Joe the Cummer will have to pay ZERO in penalties if he doesn’t offer his employees health care. McCain stares at him like, “ZERO DOLLARS, HENNGHHHH?” And Obama says yes, because my plan excludes penalties on small businesses, such as professional cumming.
10:03 — McCain: “Hey Joe, you’re rich, HENNGHH, congrats, now Black Beauty over here wants to, uh, spread your wealth around, HENNGHH?” Has John McCain ever heard of a progressive tax system, which is what we have and what everyone has? Maybe everyone should pay zero taxes! Then we can just, uh, save America that way, with the no tax thing. HENNGHHHH?
10:05 — Joe the Cummer is cumming so much now, with all the attention he’s getting! His name is Rich Lowry, and he is the plumber of the toilet that is the National Review.
10:08 — Look everyone, it’s Joe the Plumber, we found him on a porn site for donkeys:
10:09 — John McCain would hire LITERALLY FUCKING ANYONE to the Supreme Court, no Litmus Tests for liberals, but he wouldn’t, uh… maybe… eh… well it’s a tough question… carry the zero… he would half-nominate someone who may have supported Roe v. Wade ever or never.
10:11 — Joe the Plumber, we found his website — traffic must be SKYROCKETING.
10:12 — McCain was born as a failed abortion, McCain says about himself. Would’ve worked better nowadays, but back then abortions were done with onions and a lot of them failed.
10:13 — Obama voted present for killing babies and such, why would he do that?
10:14 — Obama: When I voted present that was really a SECRET MAGICAL UNICORN VOTE for actual global peace and happiness, so fuck you Senator McCain.
10:15 — McCain: When the black talks about provisions for “saving the mother’s life” for opposing abortion bans, he doesn’t understand that all women are dumb sluts.
10:16 — LAST QUESTION OMG we’re so early no?
10:18 — It is about education. Eh. Higher education. Obama talks about his thing to give college kids money if they put Country First. Screw college. More people have college degrees now than ever, and look how that’s worked out. Our biggest achievement in the last ten years has been credit default swaps.
10:20 — McCain wants to BUS THE BLACKS into white neighborhoods with their fancy gay vouchers! Now who does that help? Hitler. It helps Adolf Hitler.
10:22 — Fixy the educations, fixy fixy fixy. What does Joe the Plumber want to do about want to do about vouchers? He doesn’t want to pay the Obama “Money Tax,” alright!
10:24 — McCain explains how vouchers helped the Washington D.C. school system. You remember that, and how it fucking was worthless saved America, don’t you Senator Obama?
10:25 — Obama says no vouchers bitch.
10:26 — McCain: “You listening to this idiot, HENNGHH?”
10:27 — Important Closing Statements. McCain spits his poo first.
10:28 — McCain: We have to fix all of this country’s problem. I recommend Joe the Plumber to fix them, we’ll write up a contract. But My Friends, Joe the Cummer, Plumber, needs a new caulk gun for his cumming. And he can’t do that with the Obama Money Tax. Fuck all this shit. Bye.
10:30 — Obama: We have to invest, baby, invest. Invest in money. Invest in the various taxes. It’s not going to be easy. Now watch me slam-jam this trash can on old Schieffer’s head. [Does so]. Look, look at how stupid Schieffer looks now. Bye.
10:31 — Bob Schieffer tells everyone that his mom is making him vote.
10:32 — McCain tells Obama “good job.” Meh. This is over. Bye kids!
On this week's Stack Overflow Podcast, Jeff and I devote the episode to questions from listeners.
Not loving your job? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board: Great software jobs, great people.
Bottom line? McCain needed a game changer and didn't get it. He got in his attacks, Obama parried. McCain said he was "proud" of the people at his rallies, managing to inflate the crowd sizes while doing so. McCain smirked, rolled his eyes, interrupted, and was generally an ass. Standard McCain.
Closing remarks:
McCain: My friends, don't trust him, he's risky.
Obama: Last eight years, guys. We need fundamental change, and I'm not talking about American workers.
This is by far Obama's best performance. And McCain is still a scowling lizard, tonguing the air to taste/smell the cool being radiated by Obama.
BO: Children aren't a special interest. zing!
JSMIII insults me and the other half-million citizens of DC who had a voucher program imposed against our will by a paternalistic Republican Congress. Barack won't treat DC like a colony. McCain will.
I never thought my town's school board politics would be an issue in the last debate. I'm astounded. But BO points out that McCain's entire education plan is DC vouchers. Hilarious.
JSMIII Closing: I'm a maverick reformer, steward of tax dollars. Looks tired, and sort of sad.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
McCain needed a game-changing debate. It's not just that he hasn't had that. It's that Obama has owned him like he didn't in those two previous debates -- both of which Obama roundly won.
For some reason on education McCain decides to talk policy. He's still not doing as well at it as Obama did, but his momentary turn from personal attack and cheapening of the election itself is startling.
McCain: Baby killer!
McCain doesn't seem to understand that most Americans support some degree of abortion rights.
Obama: John's a liar (he said it in a nicer way). Democrats, Republicans and the medical field agreed with me.
McCain: Health of the mother? That's extremist, liberal bullshit.
Last question will be on education: Why does our educational system suck?
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