The Dude's Ramblin's

NO on California Prop 8

As you know, this is an election of historical importance.  Not just on the national level, but all down the line.  On the California state level, there is one proposition which could get lost in the shuffle of the economic implosion.  I believe that every person should have the ability to marry the person they love. It is actually a fundamental freedom guaranteed by the California Constitution.  However, this right is being threatened by out-of-state groups that are the proponents of Proposition 8, a divisive measure that aims to take away this basic freedom from same-gender couples. 

So this is crunch time. Some of you may not live in California, but know family and friends who do. So please, make sure you (and they) are registered to vote (last day to register is Monday, Oct. 20th), encourage everyone you know to vote, and make sure that you and yours vote NO on Prop 8.  We need to educate and encourage everyone we know who can vote in the California election to make sure to vote NO or Prop. 8 this year. Its defeat is so important and yet, astonishingly, not at all assured.  In fact, the latest polls do not look good. 

But there is time. Especially when great groups like Equality California campaign are waging media and grassroots campaigns, and are working to get commercials such as this one on television. 

So, please vote and, talk to those who can vote about Prop. 8...

I'll be bloging about some of the other propositions in the future.  But for now... I'm The Dude, and I approve this message.

Why I won't be watching the debate tonight

What is the point of watching this kind of kabuki dance??

The questions will "be culled from a group of 100 to 150 uncommitted likely voters in the audience and another one-third to come via the Internet."...."An audience member will not be allowed to switch questions. Under the deal, the moderator may not ask followups or make comments. The person who asks the question will not be allowed a follow-up either, and his or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read. A camera shot will only be shown of the person asking — not reacting."....McCain and Obama are not supposed to ask each other direct questions.

If nobody can ask a follow-up question, you are going to get more of the non-sequitur responses that Palin came up with last week.  A question on the economy?  How about a response on Iraq!  A question about health care?  How about a response of catch phrases and gibberish!  What a waste...  The only positive is that this kind of a format will limit McCain's ability to do something that changes the current state of the election.  However, we all lose, because we are not going to get any substative discussion of issues.

We've finally gotten there

Now, only at the end, do we understand...

So we have McCain today getting his crowd riled up asking who Barack Obama is and then apparently giving a wink and a nod when one member of the crowd screams out "terrorist."

And later we have Sarah Palin with the same mob racket, getting members of the crowd to yell out "kill him", though it's not clear whether the call for murder was for Bill Ayers or Barack Obama. It didn't seem to matter.

The polls are looking like an Obama blowout in this election.  McCain's strategists have said that they have to "change the dynamic" of the election at this point.  When the chips are down, you really get to take stock of a person's character.

(from TPM)

Kristol is lame

Did you read the nasty op-ed by William Kristol in today's NY Times?  Why the editors gave that intellectual featherweight valuable space in the paper I'll never know.  You have the news section talking about how the McCain campaign is getting ready to go into the gutter with nasty attacks on Obama.  Then, you have the editorial board write an op-ed decrying the gutter politics of the McCain campaign... and then on the opposite page, you have Kristol jumping into the gutter with both feet - and not even with any subtlety.  It really was a thing of beauty.  He's asking Palin about whether she'll bring up Obama and Wright after she tells him about the supposed connection between Obama and Ayers.  What a reach that is... Of course Kristol doesn't seem to be interested in asking her about her husband belonging to a party that is trying to have Alaska secede from the U.S.  Rich!

Thoughts on the VP debate...

Palin debate flowchart

I watched the vice presidential debate the other night.  Like most people, I watched it for the same reason that people watch NASCAR, not really for the race - but the crashes.  It appears that the main-stream-media was doing the same thing.  I say that because it seems that the news that I read said that she did well.  Sure, buy the standard that if she didn't freeze and look like a deer-in-the-headlights, I guess she did fine... but honestly, is that the standard for someone that is running for VP?  Have Bush and the republicans set the bar that low?  Have the media bought into that now?  I just don't get it.  Objectively, we have Biden actually answering the questions in a knowledgeable and substantive manner - and on the other, we have Palin stringing together a series of unrelated talking points in response to virtually every question.  It was pathetic and embarassing. 

Yet you have people like David Brooks (NY Times editorial columnist), who is seen as a sort of bellweather of mainstream Washington opinion saying she did just fine.  What?  I read his column the other day, what a disaster.  Seriously, we have two wars going on, a huge deficit, and an economic implosion going on, and this guy thinks Palin is qualified?  It is like 2000 all over again.  Scary.

Letterman Palin Debate Recap and Special Messages