Voting Booth, Volume IX and X

For those of you who have been paying attention, you might have surmised that my blogging absence was due to the birth of my daughter. You'd be right! The Queen of Hearts and I (and our Full House) are pleased to announce the arrival of our little bundle of sleeplessness, I mean joy. Our little Wild Card was born on Friday September 28 at just after noon. She was 7'11" and 19 in long. Happy, healthy and we are thrilled to have her as a new member of our family.

Due to my absence, I have lots to cover, so let's get right to it! In reverse chronological order:

I'm sure you've noticed there have been a few debates that I haven't been able to weigh in on and I'm sure you are wondering what I think. (Why else would you be reading this...) So I'll do my best to make it brief:

Voting Booth, Volume X: The Vice Presidential debate:

I'm going to handle the two debates slightly differently.

Biden began this debate down a few points. This is because he was expected to run away with it. It was anticipated that Palin would look as bad as she did with Couric. So in order for him to win, he had to win convincingly. He didn't. The very fact that the debate appeared to be "close" means that Palin walked out the victor.

I don't mind mentioning that I really like Sarah Palin. I feel like she could have been my neighbor who decided she wanted to make a difference.

So I'm just going to pose a few questions that I found myself asking while watching this debate (Nearly all of them are for Biden):

Who had the power over the last two years to pass anything they wanted in congress while we've been suffering through the "Worst economy ever"?

Who blocked McCain's bill to regulate Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac two years ago?

Yes, small business owners avoid the personal tax increase proposed by Obama for those that make more than $150K. How, exactly, do they avoid the increase in the proposed business tax?

Exactly how have you been supporting "clean coal" for "25 years" when it hasn't been around nearly that long?

If global warming is entirely man-made, as you claimed, why is it that we have proof of the temperature of the Earth increasing prior to the Industrial revolution?

If the "insurgence strategy" won't work in Afghanistan, why did you say, not 2 minutes later, that you'd send more troops there?

What is a Bosniac? Last I checked, they were Bosnians.

If Obama is going to have you present for every important decision, are you really comfortable being the VEEP for a man who needs you to hold his hand as Pres?

Oh, I did have one question for Palin.

I understand that you want people who have foreclosed houses to vote for you... but do you really not blame the people who took mortgages they couldn't afford? Someone can suggest that I purchase a Jaguar, but I know I can't make the payments. So, "Predatory" lenders or not, isn't there some shared blame there?

I'm pretty sure that Biden is glad he only needs to debate Palin once.

Voting Booth, Volume IX: McCain v Obama round 1:

This debate was much closer, so we'll have to break it down more.

Preplanned Lines: Advantage Obama
They both had them and they both said them, but Obama made me believe slightly more that they were off the cuff. Whereas whenever McCain said one, he might as well have been crossing it off the list on his podium as he said it.

Zinger: Advantage McCain
While they both had some poignant things to say, McCain's "The next president will not have to decide whether or not we went into Iraq" was easily the most memorable and the one that takes the cake.

Points: Push
I really feel like both men said what they wanted to say. They laid out some of their plans and attacked some of their opponents. No clear winner here. Although, I do have one question for Obama. It seems his contention is that when Wall Street fails, "Main street" feels it. Yet at the same time he denies the flip side of that same coin. He does not believe that "Main Street" succeeds when Wall street does. How is this possible?

Awkward Moment: Advantage McCain
Giving McCain the advantage means that Obama gave us the most awkward moment. McCain had just told the heartfelt story of a mother who lost a son in Iraq and how she didn't want him to have died in vain. And Obama, like a five year old, basically said, "I have a bracelet too." Nothin' like sounding unoriginal and sounding immature at the same time.

Eloquence: Advantage Obama
But did we really expect anything else? This should come as no surprise to anyone. McCain didn't pull any "Bidenisms" or "Bushisms" or "Quayleisms" so this wasn't a real big issue.

Fact Checking: Push
I'm tempted to give the advantage to McCain because I believe that Obama's "misinformation" was more deceptive than McCain's. But they both stretched and twisted the truth to fit their own agenda's. Obama mentioned McCain's supposed 90% agreement with Bush again. They both mentioned tax breaks for oil companies as though that was the point of the legislation that was voted for or planned. In Obama's situation it was a bill that provided funding for renewable energy and in McCain's plan it is a tax break for all companies, oil companies included.

And so it appears that we are at an impasse. 3 per candidate. However, because there was such a stark contrast in the final category, where it is usually an automatic push, this time it actually becomes a consideration

Conduct: Advantage McCain
There was a moment early in the debate where Obama interrupted McCain. McCain was so taken aback by it that he let it happen. But he never let it happen again even though I counted three more times that Obama attempted to interject while McCain was mid sentence. McCain, however, gave Obama the respect he deserved and allowed him to finish speaking before attempting a rebuttal.

Final: McCain
While I give McCain the marks for "winning" the debate, I don't think that anyone is going to change their vote over this one. It may have swayed an undecided or two, but there really wasn't anything new. McCain missed a few key opportunities that he may be saving for rounds II or III where they may make a bigger difference closer to the election (For example, some of Obama's key financial advisers were high ranking officials for Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. You may remember, the failed companies that we are now bailing out? (More on the bail out later.) Why is this not a concern?)

And the loser? The American people. As long as we have a two party system the political problems that we are experiencing will never be fixed in Washington, Boston, Albany, Hartford, or anywhere else in the US. McCain is clearly the most independent of the "two" candidates. If we are experiencing more than one crisis (the war, the economy, healthcare, employment, etc) with a Democratically controlled Congress and a Republican controlled Executive branch. Maybe we should protest both by voting for another party. Green, anyone? Libertarian? Socialist? There are plenty to choose from. I'm pretty sure you can still "Vote Bob."

Alright, moving right along:

The Bailout.

The more I research this thing the more I think that the Democrats took advantage of a small issue and made it into a huge crisis so that they could come running to the rescue and push through a "bailout" bill packed with liberal agenda addendums (tax breaks for employers to pay for employees' who want to bike to work, 20 million to liberal special interests, etc). Small business owners aren't having problems getting loans. Car buyers, home buyers, etc. The only people who can't get loans are those that aren't qualified. The very people who had their homes foreclosed on in the first place. The very people who should have been rejected originally.

This "bailout" is a joke. And who decides who gets bailed out? My brother-in-law's ice cream shoppe could have used a bailout. So could the Detroit Lions. What about the auto industry? They are truly struggling. Where's their bailout? One more thing:

If the republicans are the party of big business and fat cows, why did they not want to pass this bill "designed to give more money to the rich?"

Well, there you go. My thoughts on all that's happened while we've been busy having a baby! What do you think?