comments

1. Daryl Scroggins on September 26th, 2008 at 9:15 am

   Today’s Dallas Morning News has a Kathleen Parker column (she being decidedly in the right wing) in which she calls for Palin to step aside for the good of her country. The suggestion is that she could say she needs more time with her family, etc. I wonder–if this happened, could McCain get another bounce, very near the election, by choosing another female VP candidate? I’m not sure that would do him any good, but at this point all he has is radical discombobulation tactics–and a 72 year old body that’s about to fly apart under stress.

2. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 9:17 am

   and his decisive leadership.

3. Michael Smith on September 26th, 2008 at 9:27 am

   Each morning I send a Word of the Day out to my team.

   Today the word is melee.

4. Michael Smith on September 26th, 2008 at 9:41 am

   also, i work in the financial industry.

5. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 11:48 am

   drip. drip. drip.

6. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 11:50 am

   fascinating:

   Boehner and McCain discussed the bailout plan, but Republican leadership aides described the conversation as somewhat surreal. Neither man was familiar with the details of the proposal being pressed by House conservatives, and up to the moment they departed for the White House yesterday afternoon, neither had seen any description beyond news reports.

   At 1:25 p.m., McCain left Boehner’s office through a back door, walking across the Capitol’s rotunda to the applause of tourists. Graham conceded the group knew little about the plan the nominee had come to Washington to try to shape.

7. Mike Dresser on September 26th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

   I was looking forward to watching John McCain’s empty lectern participate in tonight’s debate. That empty hunk of oak veneer (the lectern) wouldn’t look old and impotent next to a young, vibrant Obama. It wouldn’t confuse the names of foreign leaders; cynically call for the sort of regulation it devoted its career to destroying; mechanically blink and grin and gesture, its nasal drone straining under the overblown rhetoric of faux populism.

   On the whole, I thought it was a sound strategy.

8. Cindy Scroggins on September 26th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

   This is amazing and frightening. As a staunch Obama supporter, I can’t help but feel a little giddy every time McCain and Palin reveal their ignorance on major issues. But that giddiness very quickly gives way to anxiety and, finally, anger. I would much rather see Obama run against a smart, capable person with whom I have fundamental ideological differences than this pair of bumbling political strategists who care more about getting elected than about what is in our nation’s best interest.

   It makes me sick.

9. Daryl Scroggins on September 26th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

   I like the phrase I saw in a comment at the “drip” link: “Ready, Fire, Aim.”

10. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Cindy, it occurred to me during the RNC and after reading the study that showed refutation reinforces a lie in a substantial subset of conservative minds that we aren’t having a debate with intelligent people with differing views. it was liberating and terrifying at the same time. I’m sure this is obvious to most people. I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out. the amount of energy I put into figuring out their arguments or thinking of ways to explain my position significantly declined.

    what do I blame?

    glad you asked.

    I blame religion.

11. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Daryl, that’s almost what I called the post.

12. Cindy Scroggins on September 26th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    The thing is, I know not to waste energy on a debate when there clearly isn’t one to be had, but what do I do with this anger? These feelings that we are surrounded by people who either won’t bother to vote at all, or will vote based solely on what they think is best for their personal financial situation, or will vote based on what they heard a guy say on Fox news as they were channel surfing, or will vote for who they think is more likely to pray to the right god? We’re talking about the same electorate who voted George W. Bush into the presidency twice. If the upcoming election is anything other than an Obama landslide, I’m not sure I can stand behind the idea of U.S. democracy any longer. And that makes me really angry.

13. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    I think it’s allowed me to channel my anger. I used to spend time thinking of arguments. From now on I will confront idiots forcefully. It’s definitely been liberating for me, personally. the question is, on a larger scale, as you mention, how do you fix democracy in a population burdened with willful ignorance? that anger I’m not sure what to do with, except for my initial response.

14. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    george bush better hope I never see him in dallas. I’ve got a speech ready.

15. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    WILLARD
    ” They told me that you had gone totally insane and that your methods were unsound.”

    KURTZ
    ” Are my methods unsound?”

    WILLARD
    ” I don’t see any method at all, sir.”

16. Daryl Scroggins on September 26th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Holding a mirror up to them used to work, but now they are like vampires–dead behind the eyes and unable to see any sign of reflection. It’s the final emptiness of the over-filled mega churches that leaves them only able to snarl and snap. They went to the mall for everything, and when that didn’t make them happy like it was supposed to they went to the mall with a cross on it to get fixed up in that department. They are like those people who have a whole closet full of shopping bags that they haven’t even unpacked yet. It breeds contempt for what they thought they loved; it makes the blood of the lamb the drink that sustains the death they have covered with a smile.

17. Sheila Ryan on September 26th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    Whew. Damn, Daryl.

18. Deron Bauman on September 26th, 2008 at 4:00 pm

    Well, said Mr. Scroggins.

    How does Jack Cafferty feel about Palin?

19. Daryl Scroggins on September 26th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Wow–Jack’s getting to be like I am: tongue-tied with astonishment that a person running for any office could be so scatterbrained on camera.

    I just noticed something else today: the whole state of Alaska has fewer people in it than does the city of Memphis Tennessee. Dallas has almost twice as many people. But somehow being Govenor is big experience? Palin really might be better off saying that being involved in PTA is what prepared her for the VP job.

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