Liveblogging the Debate

Why not?

The candidates seem to be sitting at a table, perhaps, like newscasters, not wearing pants.

Nope, pants are there.

McCain plants a naysayer. "Now I know the criticism of this."

Bob Schieffer (henceforth, BS) asked for new information not talking points. So far, no go.

Joe Six Pack seems to have become Joe the Plumber.

Obama really does stick with his talking points.

Oh my god, I hope Joe the Plumber gets a book deal out of this. Someone certainly needs to be interviewing him right now.

I love that Obama is talking about education.

McCain smirks and interrupts. He just seems creepy.

(This is kind of hard.)

I love that Obama brings up education so often.

McCain takes a strong stand on pronouncing it nu-clee-ar.

The overhead projector is back!

This is just like the last debate only they are closer together. Someone should do a performance art piece where the candidates repeat the same talking points but in increasing physical proximity until they crash into each other. It would be interesting, no?

Is there any activity in which one would simultaneously use both a hatchet and a scalpel?

**Guest joke from LRR via text: "Forget this sharp shit! We should take a plunger to the budget."**

Obama really is preternaturally calm, yet energetic. It's weird.

Obama "commends" McCain. Very condescending.

BS baits McCain to talk about Ayers.

McCain: The campaign wouldn't have become negative "if only Obama had agreed to my urgent request to sit down."

Segregation is the worst chapter in our history??!? Uh, slavery?

Education reference #3!

I think Obama needs to answer that accusation that he lied about campaign finance.

Hi Joe the Plumber! We didn't forget you.

Obama isn't even referring to Palin by name, just "your running mate."

McCain=Interrupting cow. ("Knock knock." "Who's there?" "Interrupting cow." "Interrupting c--" "MOOOOOOOO!")

McCain is just drowning.

Obama hearts Joe Biden. Joe "the Plumber" Biden. Weird--this morphed into a stump speech. He doesn't mention Palin at all--good job.

Education #4!

Why would your running mate be a good president? Impossible question for McCain! He starts lisping: Sarah Palin is a breath of freth air who will thweep away the old boy network. Special needs kids. Huh?

BS to Obama: Is she qualified? Obviously he won't take the bait. He turns the special needs things back on McCain as an example of a program that shouldn't be cut in a blanket spending freeze. He is good!

McCain: Why do we have to spend more? Why can't we just pick money off the money trees?

In the other debates I haven't felt this as much, but here it just seems like it's not an even match, like Obama is just a much better debater. I wonder if the talking heads and polls are seeing it the same way.

McCain advocates more poetry classes: "You have to pay more attention to words!"

Trade, oddly, is the one subject on which McCain sounds like he has real expertise. I've noticed this in all three debates.

Obama: "We have to stand for human rights." I wonder what Jane and Katie (my human rights gurus) think of that. Is it a big deal that he said that?

McCain: health clubs for all! Yes!

Hi again, Joe the Plumber!

The stuff about health care is just too confusing. I don't think either candidate is explaining things clearly.

Gold-plated Cadillac health plans for cosmetic surgery and . . . transplants? How are those the same??!!

McCain calls Obama "Senator Government." Nice.

I wonder when the spell-checker will start recognizing "Obama."

Obama is better at looking at the camera. McCain is looking off to the side. Also, he is only smiling fake smiles. Obama's mouth doesn't smile as much, but his smiles seem more genuine.

I hope Sharpie is paying McCain for this moment of visibly twirling his . . . marker? Who takes debate notes with a permanent marker? What does this say?

Obama seems to be using a humble ballpoint. Well, actually I have no idea. It just looks like a regular pen. A Joe the Plumber type pen.

Obama makes the instrumental case for education (economy, national security). Stanley Fish would disagree.

An army of new teachers! Wow. Terrifying.

McCain: Education is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. Huh. Oh I get it, he means school choice. He's referring to that NYT magazine article about New Orleans school. "We find bad teachers another line of work." He's talking about raising standards by removing teacher certification and testing rules? Huh?

Autism is getting a lot of play in the debate. Weird.

McCain ends the debate with incomprehensible sarcasm and sinister chuckles.

Now he "My friends" us. First time of the night!

Well. I'm smitten. (With Bob Schieffer's mother.)

Spring cleaning

You know how some people can live in total squalor and not see it? My band plays shows in the residences of lots of those people. Last Friday we played what turned out to be a fun show (despite my early misgivings and the many get-me-out-of-here text messages) in a transcendently filthy loft. We played in a bedroom that was, seriously, smaller than a Ford Explorer. It contained nothing but a big homemade bunk bed, draped for privacy with a kids bedsheet with fighter jets on it. We were the first people to arrive, and I watched the guy who lived there halfheartedly pick up a dirty sock, toss it behind the bed, and then look right past a whole bunch of wrapper scraps and other bits of trash.

These shows always make me think about how there is, I think, a capacity to see dirt that most people develop at some point as they reach adulthood. I remember its arrival for me, when I was helping my mom to get our house ready to sell. I would think a room was fine, ready to go, and then she would point out all kinds of chaotic or disgusting nooks and crannies that I hadn't even registered.

So yesterday I spent the whole day trying to eliminate all hidden pockets of clutter and dirtiness from my apartment. It was hard, and I didn't finish, despite spending all day on it. It was fun, too, though; I listened several times to the Dvorak cello concerto (which my new orchestra will start rehearsing on Tuesday), several times to my new Massachusetts songs mix CD, and to a bunch of NPR shows online. And then I invented a dish and named it "chicken with deliciousness." Fruit and olives--so good!

Ipod 8Ball

At the gym today I discovered a new game, probably already enjoyed by many. I called it Ipod 8Ball. Basically, you ask your ipod a question and then shuffle it to a new song and interpret that song as the answer. Today my ipod told me all kinds of interesting things about my love life. For instance, it informed me quite insistently that I would not be meeting any interesting men at the first rehearsal of my new orchestra, but I would find a good female friend (or lover? not clear). It also predicted, and wouldn't be swayed over several songs, that an ex and I would only ever get back together somewhere out of the country. Hmmm.

Hail

Let's all move to a civilized climate, please.

Tuxedos On, Heads Held High

There's just something so resolute about these penguins marching back into the sea after getting stranded in Brazil and being flown back to the coast by animal rights activists in a military plane. It's amazing the way strength comes flooding back when you understand your place and your purpose.