She gave him enough rope

Well, that first debate happened.

At the risk of sounding braggadocious, I think I called it pretty well!

Secretary Clinton did indeed go after him on his questionable wealth (not that he isn’t really stinking rich...he’s just not as rich as he claims to be) as well as his unwillingness to release his tax returns. She needled him about that “small loan” from his Pops...you know, the $14 million one. She got under his skin by repeatedly calling him “Donald,” rather than Mr. Trump or Donald J. Trump as he demands of his acolytes.

He held his own for about 15 minutes and then the wheels on the Trump Train fell off. He became increasingly irrational and unhinged and by the end of the debate, I know that I wasn’t the only one questioning his sanity.

Which rhymes with Hannity, whom someone needs to call. Why doesn’t anyone call Sean Hannity?? Poor Sean. Call him!

By all accounts, Trump chose not to prepare for the debate, at least in the usual way. His Yampaigners tried to get him to practice, but the guy seems to have the attention span of a toddler. As well as the oratory skills of one.

I’m sure the Yampaign will attempt to get him to work on a little more debate prep before the next one, but I wonder if they have actually spoken with their candidate, or watched him over the past year. It’s easy to make your candidate jump through hoops and read from a teleprompter, but when he has to think on his feet, he has a bit of a problem, doesn’t he? Good luck with that debate prep and we’ll see you in the next round.

I don’t want to just bash the Yam, though (not a euphemism). I want to praise Hillary Clinton for knowing her shit, studying for the debate, and for striking the absolute right demeanor in dealing with this faux populist buffoon. She showed a total command of the facts and an unflappable stoicism in the face of the Yam’s attempts to interrupt and dominate the conversation. I honestly don’t know of any woman who hasn’t experienced a man talking over her, which is one of my pet peeves. Hillary handled it better than I do, that’s for sure!

The Yam’s closing remarks about how he wanted to level some nasty attacks against Clinton but he’s such a kind, thoughtful guy who didn’t want to hurt her feelings that he took the high road and chose not to...all I can say is “Crackuh, PLEASE!”

That was all about the first President Clinton’s infidelities. We all know about them and they are not a secret. That was 20 years ago or more and Bill and Hillary Clinton have apparently worked out everything in whatever way they chose to do so. I am quite certain that the Yam won’t hesitate to bring that up in the second debate, and hey, good luck with that. I guarantee that Hillary will be ready for that line of attack and will deliver one hell of an epic smackdown in response. Dan Savage has advice for Hillary better than anything I could write myself.

The Yam made a valiant yet stupid effort to tell his supporters that he won the debate...all the online polls said so! Sadly, many of his supporters are so gullible that they think that unscientific online polls are accurate.

Every thinking person knows the truth, though. Donald—hey, can I call ya Donald?

She cleaned your clock.

Give Him Enough Rope

A nation of destiny has got to be fulfilled

Whatever you want, you're gonna get it

~~ “Tommy Gun” by The Clash

Beware!

The debate approacheth.

In a few days, we’ll be seeing the first debate between Hillary Clinton and the Vulgar Talking Yam. Apparently, Hillary is working hard on her debate prep, and the Yam is hanging out with his Yampaigners and eating cheeseburgers or something like that. Are we surprised?

Today I was reading a couple of articles about the advice from some Democratic insiders to Hillary about how to debate this fool. I really like one guy’s comment: “Give him the rope.”

This is sound advice.

We’ve seen over and over again that while scripted Trump can come across as somewhat reasonable (if you ignore his nonexistent or ridiculous policy plans) but once he veers off-script, he turns into the bloviating asshole so many of us have come to loathe. Although he loved to disparage others for using a teleprompter, he seems to have embraced the technology. But he won’t get to use it at the debate, of course.

Heh heh heh.

We know that Hillary is going to be fine with her command of the facts and details. She can bring that any damn day and has the easy task of making herself look presidential and reasonable. That should not be a problem. She also has the weird, double-standard task of coming across as warm and likable, maybe smiling more. ::eye roll:: I’m not going to get into all that because I have written about it before. She also needs to be tough as nails and not let Trump get under her skin. I am certain that she is capable of that, as well. Anyone who thinks Hillary isn’t tough just hasn’t been paying attention.

Trump is going to have a hard time with not letting her get under his skin. He obviously has a problem with strong women and wants to keep them in a position of subservience. Homegirl don’t play that game. He appears to be unable to let any slight against him go unanswered with his ridiculous schoolyard bully retorts. Let’s see how that plays out on the debate stage against one woman. If I were Hillary, I would make sure I bring up his questionable wealth—that seems to be his Achilles heel. He hates to be questioned on his wealth. I would go after that over and over. I would dig my thumb right into that wound and just keep digging and digging. No mercy.

I don’t doubt for a minute that Trump will try to bring up her husband and taunt her with Bill’s infidelities. My response to that, if I were Hillary, would be to calmly and coolly point out that what happened in my marriage is my business and that we worked out our problems and that I have been married to Bill for FOUR DECADES. Hell, she wouldn’t even have to say something like, “And how many times have YOU been married, Donald?” Everyone knows about his marital history and his messy divorces. Just stay cool, Hill.

I’m not sure there has ever been a candidate like the Yam. It has to be a hard debate to prepare for, but you know what? I think she’s got this.

Hand him the rope, Hillary. Then sit back, be cool, and watch what he does with it.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!

Today on Facebook and elsewhere, I noticed some of my liberal friends having a bit of a freak-out over Wednesday night’s debate. The pundits immediately declared it a crushing Romney victory...which was odd, because Ken and I didn’t see it that way at all. Immediately afterwards, I said that I’d give a slight win to Romney, both because of the low expectations for him and because of President Obama’s lackluster performance. Ken felt the same way.

Of course, the following day, teeth were gnashing and voices were wailing. I wish I could have passed some smelling salts out to folks. I stepped back for a moment, read several stories about it, and really thought about my perception of the debate. One thing became clear very quickly: Romney may have seemed forceful and sharp, but he was not very truthful. I’m being nice. He LIED. A LOT. I’m not going to list them all here. Do you know why? Because there are so freakin’ many of them! Besides, others have done a fine job with checking up on what he said. You can read about it here (Mittens is bad at math edition), here (Bullshit Contest edition), and a comprehensive list here (Lie, lie, and lie again edition). My initial hopes that people would start doing some fact checking and calling Mittens to the shed for his lies turned out to be true. The teabagger base types might have loved his chest-thumping, testosterone-laden silverback impression, but I’m guessing independents and undecideds were not quite as enamored of the display...especially when he blatantly lied about numerous things.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of one exchange in particular, in which Mittens disputed the $5 trillion tax cut claim made by Obama. Never mind the fact that the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has estimated that the tax cuts that Romney champions would amount to that over the next decade. The exchange went something like this:

Obama: blah blah blah your $5 trillion in tax cuts...
Romney: I don’t have a $5 trillion tax cut.
Obama: Yes, you do.
Romney: No, I don’t.
Obama: Yes, you do!
Romney: No, I don’t!

Argument Clinic, anyone? Good grief.

Anyway, I came to the conclusion that the reason I saw the debate so differently is because I was expecting facts, and I got them from Obama. I know enough about some of the topics that I knew that Romney was lying about several things. So I was rating the winner on substance. I should have known better, because people often determine a winner based on style rather than substance. (I believe that it was also in the media’s best interest to make this a closer race than it is at the moment, but that’s a topic for another day.) Romney came across as forceful and combative, and Obama seemed listless and disengaged. I do understand part of the reasoning there...sitting Presidents should behave in a presidential manner, and all that...but he was a little too cool and detached for many people. (Although I appreciate that in him, I know that not everyone does.)

So some folks were a little wigged out. Obama has lost the election. Obama blew it. Romney’s going to win. Dogs and cats living together. A new Nickelback album. I finally sent an email to some friends saying that everyone needs to take a deep breath. This was ONE DEBATE in an entire campaign. Romney lied, the fact checkers are on it, and he provided all kinds of fodder for Obama ads. (Sure enough, one was released in seven swing states the very next day.) Obama is known for his competitiveness, and you can bet that he will not be that passive in the final two debates. One is a town hall format—and we know that Obama does well connecting with people in town hall formats—about domestic and foreign policy, and the final debate is about foreign policy. I wonder if Osama bin Laden will be watching that one? Oh, wait! He can’t, ‘cause he’s DEAD!

I think it’s also important to keep in mind that debates usually don’t matter. Almost everyone has already made up their minds who they are going to vote for by this time, and that seems more true than ever in this highly polarized atmosphere. There is a very small percentage of undecided voters (many of them could also be considered uninformed voters who have not been paying much attention and aren’t into politics at all), and an even smaller percentage of those are in swing states. An undecided voter in Texas who votes for Obama isn’t going to matter fuck-all to the electoral college vote, just as an undecided voter in Illinois who ends up voting for Romney isn’t going to matter. So the target audience is not a huge number of people. As for those who have already made up their minds, do you really think that debate is going to swing someone like me? Do you really think I sat there and watched that and said, “Hey...I think I’m going to rethink this Romney guy”? Not on your life. Will Romney get a bump in the polls? Undoubtedly. Will it be enough to change the trajectory of the race? History says not.

It’s time to put away the smelling salts and get a grip. Team Obama and the DNC raised over $150 million in September. Today’s job report was, overall, good news, with the unemployment rate down to 7.8%. Jobs are expected to be added for the holiday season, optimism is rising, and a majority of people feel that the economy is improving (that’s because it is). The stock market closed today at 13,600+, up almost 25% from a year ago. The facts are on our side. We’ve still got work to do, and we’ve got about a month to do it. Anyone who thinks that debate completely changed the game needs to do a little more reading, because there are more forces and influences at work here than that.

This video seems like a good way to end things today. Buck up, liberal citizens. It’s not over till I say it’s over! Well, technically, it’s Congress who validates the electoral college vote, but...oh, never mind, just watch this!

And ROCK THE VOTE! 

"That one."

First of all, would everyone please say a little prayer for Cousin Shane's cat Boris? He thinks she might have had a stroke this morning, and I'm waiting to hear back from him. I'm in distress over this, and I know it's ten times worse for Shane.

Update: Boris is okay! She somehow got her head stuck between the dresser and a chair, and she must have really freaked herself out trying to extricate herself. When Shane found her, she was panicky and her back legs weren't functioning well. She also appeared to be blind. The vet said there are still some problems with her legs, but he gave her a cortisone shot, and Shane said that her vision is improving. Whew! I said now Shane has to figure out how to keep her from sticking her head in places like that! Shane says he has widened that space. Ha ha. I'm glad we can chuckle about it now. I felt so bad for both of them!

I heard late yesterday that the Secret Service is investigating the incident in which someone yelled "Kill him!" at a Palin rally, because they take "every threat seriously." Yay for the Secret Service! I hope they find out who the guy is so his inexcusable behavior can be exposed. I suppose some people think it's easy to hide in a crowd and get away with something like that. Not so much these days!

Well, I can't disappoint the one reader who wanted to hear my take on the debate. Ha ha! Thanks, Betty! Nah, I was going to write about it anyway. This is merely my opinion of it, although I'll include some poll numbers.

I thought Obama was the clear winner. He seemed incredibly "together" and unrattled, answering the questions with details and empathy for the "common man." As McCain was speaking, Obama sat in the tall chair, seemingly very at ease. It was a little harder for McCain to sit in that chair easily, and he seemed uncomfortable much of the time. McCain seemed a little rattled in the beginning, and several of his references to Obama were quite snide, including the "that one" comment. Incredibly disrespectful. He tried some lame jokes that must work well at his rallies, but fell really flat in this forum. He came on a little stronger at the end, but he didn't get the win, let alone the "knockout punch" that many were saying he needed last night, and the town hall is supposed to be his strong suit.

We watched CNN's coverage of it, and they had a small group of undecided Ohio voters that were giving their responses during the debate with a little meter. I know these things are extremely unscientific, but I think they can be a decent indicator of initial responses. Obama seemed to do really well with women--a couple of times plateauing out at the highest level! (When he was talking about when his mother was dying and having to deal with insurance companies, for example.) What was really astounding to us was how the negativity caused the levels to plummet--and that usually happened with McCain. On the rare occasion that Obama said anything remotely negative, his level dropped slightly, but Ken and I got to laughing about how as soon as McCain started being nasty, we'd make a diving motion with our hands. It was a huge difference.

I'm sure it played well to the GOP base, but it seems that the McCain campaign's negative tactics of late are not getting a good response from independents and undecideds. Another group of undecided voters in Colorado had similar responses to the Ohio group, with a very interesting statistic on favorability ratings. Pre-debate, McCain's rating was 48% favorable, 46% unfavorable. Post-debate numbers were 56/36%. Obama's numbers? Pre-debate: 54/36%. Post-debate: 80/14%. Those are even better numbers than Bill Clinton received in town hall meeting formats, and Clinton did great in that kind of forum. The McCains also took off right after the debate, but the Obamas stuck around and talked to the crowd, connecting better with people.

Initial polls: CNN had Obama winning the debate by a margin of 54% to 30%. In the CBS poll, it was Obama 40%, Tie 34%, and McCain 26%. As one of my email friends put it, McCain came in third in a two-person debate.

Early on, when McCain was looking REALLY bad, Ken said to me, "This is it. He lost the election tonight." I don't know if we can pin it down to one debate, but I think the past couple of weeks, yeah, probably (although there's still a month to go). He needed to play to undecideds and independents, not his base, and he didn't succeed, any more than Palin's rallies are garnering their campaign any of that support. She got the base, she's playing to the base, and the base is the only one that really likes her. Her numbers are dropping like a stone among the voters that they most need to reach. In early October, an ABC poll showed that 35% think that she has the experience necessary to be president (down 12 points from early September) and 60% don't believe she has the needed experience (up 15 points from September).

Just this gal's opinion, although the poll numbers are real. No, I didn't make them up. That would be dishonest.

I'll give McCain an extra point, though, for using the word "apparatchik." That's just such a cool word, all Spy vs. Spy, James Bond-y, and junk. (Don't forget--"Quantum of Solace" November 14 in the US!)