Lies and Damn Lies

“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.” -- Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina. 

Despite the early negative reviews about the beating Barack Obama took from all sides last night, it's beginning to look like the Zen Master, King of the Rope-a-Dope, Smoovest President Ever may end up confounding us all again. 

While the early headlines were all about Mitt Romney and how he pwn'd the President, the smart money is beginning to reveal the extended take-away from Debate #1 is going to be all about Mitt's lies (and his proposed firing of Big Bird).

The morning papers may have given yesterday to Romney, but it's the evening papers that tell you what happened today, and today America is beginning to figure out that Mitt Romney is a lying bastard who will say anything to get elected. 

Here's one example. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another.  There are plenty more here.

Inappropriate Ageist Post of the Day

Not to disrespect our elders, but perhaps Jim Lehrer's ineffectual debate moderation was the result of his being 78-years-old? He certainly didn't appear to have the necessary vigor to take charge of the proceedings when things started going off the rails.  I'm thinking specifically of the point early on when Romney just steamrollered right through him toward the "end" of Round One.

McCain:"Health of the Mother Provision My Ass"

Reason #1 why John Dubya McCain is unelectable: No empathy.

FOX [Has to] Call It for Obama

We'll let FOX News close out our coverage of tonight's presidential debate...

Did anyone switch your position tonight? We have one person... four people. Who did you go to?

Undecided voter #1: I lean more toward Obama.
Undecided voter #2: Obama.
Undecided voter #3: Obama.
Undecided voter #4: Obama.

Luntz: This is a good night for Barack Obama.

Flyswatter

That's all Obama needs to deal with McCain's lame attacks...

OBAMA: "I'm happy to talk to you too, Joe... Here's your fine: Zero."
McCAIN: "Zero?!?"
OBAMA: "Zero. You won't pay a fine because...I exempt small businesses."
McCAIN: Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.Blink.

[What was it Sarah Palin said about not blinking?]

Snap Polls Favor Obama

Most post-debate surveys are giving the debate to Obama at a rate of about 55-60% to 35-40%.

Who is.....

...Joe the Plumber? I relate much better to Joe Six-pack.

Debate Silver Lining

From Time mag's debate liveblog, this is comment sez more about McCain than it does Obama:

In summary: obama was cooler and clearer; he didn't laugh at his own jokes, and he didn't look like his head was about to explode.

Additional Time takes:

"Obama has the gently bemused grin thing down--he thinks it';s so adorable that his opponent is wrong!--whereas John McCain looks like he sat on a tack in the split screen."

"Substance alert: McCain is flat-out lying about Obama's health care plan. It is not government-run health care, and looks nothing like the Canadian system."

"It's the guy who's talking calmly to the camera vs the guy who looks like he's going to jump through the screen and bludgeon somebody."

And the capper (putting words in the imaginary thought bubble over Obama's head): "Personally, I feel it would be better if my opponent's running mate became president. Because it would mean that lying bastard sitting over there is dead!"

Debate Postmortem

Spent most of the evening watching the Philadelphia Phillies take care of the Loss Angeles Dodgers, but when we did flip over there to the debate, my impression was that the future president of the United States was being badgered by some grumpy old man in a bad humor.

The William Ayers and ACORN exchange was priceless, with Barack Obama explaining -- in painstaking detail -- his relationship to both the man and the group, and then McCain rebutting by saying, "Well, it's up to Senator Obama to explain his relationship to them to the American people." Uh, that's what he just did you fool.

[Video of that exchange will be posted when it becomes available.]

And here it is:

Presidential Debate Preview

"He's as crooked as a warped shillelagh...."

Face Off on the Economy

It's debate night -- and Philadelphia Phillies can clinch a spot in the World Series night. I think the "last channel" button on my remote may get a workout.

The focus of tonight's presidential debate is going to be the economy. As a special sneak preview, here's John McCain last December discussing his economic expertise:

McCain suggested to reporters Monday that American consumer culture offered a short cut to expertise. "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," McCain said. "I've got Greenspan's book."

Here's video of McCain telling a group of voters "I'm not an expert on Wall Street." And here's the [in]famous "fundamentals of our economy are strong" quote from less than a month ago!

Think Barack Obama has those quotes in his back pocket?

The Unknown

Tom Brokaw wrapped up this past Tuesday's presidential debate with a unique question, submitted by "Peggy from Amherst", who wondered "What don't you know, and how will you learn it?" I thought this would have been a great opportunity to quote a bit of poetry from noted former civil servant Donald Rumsfeld, who famously said:

The Unknown
As we know,
There are known knowns.
There are things we know we know.
We also know
There are known unknowns.
That is to say
We know there are some things
We do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns,
The ones we don't know
We don't know.

About that Overhead Projector

John McCain made a big fuss in the debate last night when he claimed Barack Obama earmarked $3-million for an "overhead projector." Took me right back to junior high, when the only piece of equipment we had that was cheesier than the overhead projector was the film strip projector. 3-million bucks?!?! There had to be more to the story....

And, of course, there is:

It turns out that that "overhead projector" John McCain claimed Barack Obama tried to get a $3 million earmark for was actually money to rebuild Chicago's Adler Planetarium, the oldest planetarium in
the United States.

McCain's "overhead projector" is the apparatus that runs the planetarium, which is a bit like calling the Palomar Observatory a new set of glasses.

Final Take

Final take: What I ultimately gleaned from last night’s debate was the realization that Barack Obama is simply cruising at a different altitude than John McCain. While McCain was swinging wildly and showing open contempt for his opponent (That One), Obama remained unfazed and unflappable. He was poised and patient, as if to say, “Okay, I’ll engage in this debate, but we all know I’ve much bigger plans ahead, and this grumpy old man to my left is little more than a nuisance.”

I thought Obama’s best answer came early, when he discussed the Wall Street bailout. Recall that the questioner was an African-American man who wondered how the whole fiscal crisis impacts the lives of regular Americans.

McCain took the question first, and began by saying (directly to the questioner): “You probably never even heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac until a couple of weeks ago.” Uh, condescend much John? That was a mighty presumptuous statement, and not the best way to ingratiate yourself with the voters, I dare say. He then went into a litany of platitudes that had little to do with the substance of what the questioner want to know.

Obama picked up the baton and gave a well-reasoned dissertation on the state of the financial mess and how the bailout impacts the lives of everyday Americans (i.e. frozen credit markets = missed payrolls = closed businesses = higher unemployment). I thought he did a brilliant job with that question.

Shorter Debate II analysis: Of the two presidential candidates on stage last night, Barack Obama was the one who revealed himself to be made of presidential timber.

Idle Thought

I wonder if Charles Keating has an opinion on won the debate?

Grammar Corner

I'll probably get into some trouble here, but my debate watching partner (and grammar super-cop) was ready to throw her shoe at the teevee during this little rant by Joe Biden last night:

The issue is, how different is John McCain's policy going to be than George Bush's? I haven't heard anything yet. I haven't heard how his policy is going to be different on Iran than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy is going to be different with Israel than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy in Afghanistan is going to be different than George Bush's. I haven't heard how his policy in Pakistan is going to be different than George Bush's.

"Please say different from," she pleaded, to no avail.

Alas, it appears either usage is acceptable -- gasp!! -- though different from remains preferable.

Um....About that Reagan Quote?

Sarah Palin closed her debate performance with a telling quote from Ronald Reagan:

"It was Ronald Reagan who said that freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it to our children in the bloodstream; we have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to them so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free."

The implication was that Reagan's rhetoric about "freedom" and "extinction" related to the threat of terrorism and the need for American's to stay ever vigilant.

In fact, as Jonathon Chait notes, "Reagan was not warning about a general lack of vigilance about freedom, he was warning what would happen if Medicare was enacted."

Wordle

Here's a Wordle "word cloud" of Sarah Palin's debate comments. From Wordle: "The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text."
Note the size of the word "also."

Worst Best Palin Drinking Game Word

"Also."

My debate watching partner noticed this way early.

So did Atrios:

Debate Thread The First
If you chose "also" as your debate drinking game word, consider calling the ambulance right now.

What'll Happen Tomorrow

I think Biden won the debate on the issues. But I think the MSM will be wall-to-wall with coverage of how well Palin did just by not falling down or going off the rails like a complete crazy train.

I think Biden offered reassurance that an Obama-Biden White House will be knowledgeable, dignified, professional, competent and respectable. I'll bet he pulled at least a few "independents" over into the Democratic camp.

Palin, on the other hand, did little to change anyone's mind. People who thought she was unqualified before the debate are surely feeling the same way Friday morning. What she did do was reignite the flame under the wingnuts. People who were getting worried that all her flubs of the past couple of weeks meant maybe she really was unqualified got 90 minutes of red meat to chew on. They're going to be back on the bandwagon in a big, big way. Right, Sean Hannity?