Friday, September 26, 2008

Was there a debate tonight?

Let's face it, these kabuki shows are just ritual, meaningless. McCain supporters watch the debate to validate that yep, Obama is a nigger and nod smugly at their pasty white knight. Obama supporters watch the debate to validate that yep, McCain is a senile old grouchy crank who doesn't know the difference between tactics and strategy and nod smugly at their bright, articulate magic negro candidate. And anybody who hasn't made up their mind... well fuck. Let me put it this way. I don't have a television. So I did what everybody else does in this situation: I went to Costco. And every television inside Costco was showing... what do you think?

A baseball game.

Yep, a baseball game. Same thing that was showing in every sports bar in America. Same thing that was showing on every restaurant big-screen TV in America. In other words, anybody whose mind could be changed by this "debate" wasn't seeing it. Because look, anybody who hasn't already made up their mind isn't going to be staying home and watching a debate on a Friday night. Anybody who hasn't already made up their mind has already shown they don't give a shit, folks. They're out there in Wally World buying more cheap Chinese junk, and if they happen to stop by the electronics section, the televisions are showing... a baseball game. They're out there in restaurants or bars or clubs enjoying their Friday night. Because, see, they just don't give a shit. Otherwise they would have already made up their mind.

So I'm not going to blog about who "won" tonight's debate. I didn't see it. And frankly, I don't care. I already made up my mind about who to vote for, and I can't imagine anything that Obama or McCain would say that could change it. And the same is true for most other folks who saw it. As for the majority of the "undecided"... well, might as well just call them the "don't cares", because they don't care, and they aren't going to care enough to watch anything like this because, well, they don't care. So it goes...

-- Badtux the Cynical Penguin

8 comments:

  1. We use sports analogies to describe wars and politics, why not reinforce the sports part, so that everyone can 'get' the analogies? They can say Obama bunted on such-and-such, while McCain punted on another item. They just simplify everything down, and most of the proles will get a sense of what is being covered, be it war or politics. Thus, if they like the baseball-themed analogy, they'll vote one way, and and if they prefer football, they'll go for the other guy.

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  2. Was there a debate? Oh, I guess there was, but I don't watch them, it's just a bunch of monkeys fucking around.

    Nor do I watch baseball or football, it's just more monkeys fucking around. Or penguin's, it seems to be a fine line.

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  3. BBC, unless it was a fishing show, it's unlikely that penguins were involved :-).

    -- Badtux the Fish-eating Penguin

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  4. I watched it up here in Canada, yawn fest for the most part but... Senator Obama actually said something I never expected to hear. He acknowledged that America had a lost a lot of the respect they used to have in the rest of the world, and was going to have to start acting differently in order to regain that respect. My initial response was "No shit, Sherlock". But now, 30 hours later, I realize I have never heard a leading American political figure acknowledge that, much less in the context of an election campaign where it seems almost mandatory that a candidate be a nationalist cheerleader.

    I sincerely wish him luck in restoring the image of America -- as much as I enjoy making snide remarks about Americans (a very unattractive and unfortunate Canadian vice), it would be wonderful to see him succeed.

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  5. I watched the freaking debate, in bits and pieces, several times, from hotel rooms in Lago Garda and Padova. (It was played live and in repeats or large segments on CNN International and BBC World News.) I saw two guys carefully working in as many of the buzzwords with subliminal cachet as was possible. "Victory in Iraq." "Defeat" "Agreed with Bush." It was like a debate by animatronic candidates from the presidential gallery at Disneyland. America is SO screwed.

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  6. It was like a debate by animatronic candidates from the presidential gallery at Disneyland.

    The baseball game was more interesting.

    As for the debate, the most important thing was for Obama to seem like a polite well-mannered negro like Sidney Poitier, not like one of them angry revolutionary anti-white types like Louis Farrakhan. If he was like an animatronic candidate, sounds like he succeeded at that.

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  7. Sidney Poitier line -- that's why I read you (sometimes) even on the road. Magnificent snark!

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  8. Well, y'know, John McCain's campaign ads have been painting Obama as this scary Louis Farrakhan black power figure. From what I can tell, the contrast between the Obama that McCain's been telling folks about, and the Obama who showed up at the debate, was enough to make the majority of folks who watched the debate think that McCain was a liar. That's the problem with saying your opponent is a combination of Louis Farrakhan and Josef Stalin, when he shows up and seems to be a reasonable well-dressed articulate Sidney Poitier type rather than a scary type, the contrast is so big that folks do notice.

    I never underestimate the racism of my fellow Americans. Never. The polls after the debate show that Obama's favorability rating skyrocketed amongst debate viewers because of what I mentioned above, but let's be honest. Even many of those now with a favorable view of Obama barely view him as human. He's black. Which is some other species, as far as they're concerned, but hey, he might be one of those useful blacks rather than one of those scary blacks so they might vote for him now.

    Sigh. Racism. Can't get away from it in America, even when it's not stopping you from getting elected.

    - Badtux the Cynical Penguin

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