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Cross-posted from my blog, South City Confidential
So...the highly-anticipated VP debate. We may never have another.
I watched the debate with my lady friends eating an awesome dinner
made by the lovely Kendal and drinking wine...lots of wine. Because
when you set the ground rules that you drink every time Palin says
"maverick", invokes Reagan, winks at the camera, mispronounced
"nuclear", or dodges a question, you need lots of the vino.
Anyway. The best people can say about Palin is that she didn't get
carried off in a stretcher or run off stage crying. Seriously? That's
victory? Bwahhhhhhhh. She physically lived through the debate? Yup,
she's ready to be president.
I knew she'd come with the glittering generalities guns blazin'. I
didn't expect her to matter-of-factly tell Biden that she may not
"answer the questions the way you or the moderator want," and then
answers and entirely different question (cue pageant smile). Um, huh?
If I'm a teacher giving a test, kids don't get to cross out questions
they don't like and answer ones that they do. She repeatedly dodged
real questions including Biden's challenges to provide specific
differences between McCain policy past and present and Bush policy. In
fact, she refused to answer several direct challenges from Biden,
falling back on the tired (and so incredibly inane) "drill, baby,
drill" bullshit as her area of expertise.
Biden was able to speak knowledgeably about a plethora of areas.
Palin regurgitated talking points. She had no response when Biden
pointed out that McCain may be giving families a tax credit to purchase
their own health care, but he would also tax employer-provided health
care. Biden knew the numbers; he knew it would hurt "Main Street" (the
buzz word of the night) and Palin had nothing to say about it. Biden
(as he should) knew his shit on foreign relations, putting her
virtually to shame. You know he actually KNOWS this shit. He knows
it. He didn't read the SparkNotes. She knows what those who prepped
her told her to focus on. She couldn't write a paper on it. He could
write a book. Maybe even a dissertation. Citing himself.
Palin got a snarky comment in on "the filter of the mainstream
media." Okay, bullshit on several levels. One: you and your handlers
have made yourself virtually inaccessible to the mainstream media. If
you want to prove them wrong, come out and let yourself be vetted. Two:
to quote Heather B from Real World Season One (advice I constantly
remember when reality television stars claim they got a bad edit), "They use what you gave them". You told Katie Couric that you read all
newspapers and you couldn't name a specific one. You can't name one
news source? Seriously? You said the worst thing Cheney did in office
was shoot that dude in the face and the best thing he did was "support
the troops". You repeated yourself, verbatim to Couric when you didn't
know the answer. TO KATIE COURIC. Props to Couric's experience, but
she's hardly the epitome of hardball journalism. If you want the media
to take you seriously, be interviewed and then say something of
substance in said interview. Period.
Pissed at both of them in re: the gays. It is 2008. We should
aspire to more than just "tolerance". The government has no business
defining marriage in the first place. Wish Biden would have said, "Um,
yes, I have more important things to do than play semantics about
same-sex civil rights and marriage. Let 'em all get married, get
insurance, visit each other in the hospital, and adopt." But Palin
playing the "I have a gay friend" card? Um, no. In my conservative
estimate, half of America has a gay aunt or uncle, at the very least.
Fuck, I could chill on a park bench in Tower Grove Park for an hour and
make seven GLBT friends. It ain't difficult. Are you going to play
the "I have a black friend" card, too, to prove you're not racist?
Typical.
I'm hoping this folksy shit only appeals to the people who wouldn't
vote for a black dude anyway. Because that winking in the camera? It
sent feminism back about 25 years. Seriously, she was exactly like the
waitress Chris's fam and I had at Red Lobster on Wednesday, calling me
"hon" and "sweetie" every time I wanted an iced tea. Fucking
disgusting. "I've only been at this for five weeks!" Um, exactly.
Sidenote: lady friends and I debated what exactly a "maverick
position" is. Finally went with Alice's definition, which including
bending over and grabbing your ankles. Pictures exist on someone's
phone.
Most real moment of the night? Biden emotionally cutting through
the bullshit to note that women don't have the market on the struggles
of parenting, "The notion that somehow because I am a man I don't know
how to raise two kids on my own," he says,