Now that the school year has started up again, I'm working three nights a week. Working at night has its advantages, as in my days are largely free to enjoy the beautiful weather we're enjoying right now. It it also has it's drawbacks. I miss out on some "must see TV" in the evenings.
Take last night. There was the Vice Presidential debate starting at 6 pm, and the Dodgers vs. Cubs playoff game starting a half hour later. Because I had to be in Ventura to teach a class from 6:30 to 9:30, I would miss both of them.
The Dodgers, by virtue of having won the first game of the best of a five game series, only had to play "500" ball (that is win 2 out of the next 4 games) to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
For John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin, merely playing "500" ball, that is debating Joe Biden to a "draw," wouldn't be good enough.
Those interviews with Katie Couric earlier in the week hadn't done her any good. She stumbled over the simplest of questions. She couldn't name one U.S. Supreme Court decision. Okay, maybe that's a tough question for a non-lawyer. How about giving us the name of a newspaper or magazine that you read? Couldn't do that either. She couldn't identify even one by name. I thought she would have least popped off with "Guns & Ammo."
Worst of all, she never came close to looking the least bit intelligent in those interviews with Couric. Based on what I saw, I would have bet you she couldn't have spelled "G.O.P." if you had spotted her the "G" and the "O."
By the time I got back home after class, the debate was being rerun on the cable news networks. Whatever I had left after standing in front of a class for three hours I had taken away after watching Palin's rapid-fire performance in the debate. She wore me out. How much caffeine and Red Bull did they have her pumped up on?
Of course, I'm assuming that Republicans even drink Red Bull
Somewhere I read that the secret to success in these debates is not to answer the question but to take the question and use it to "pivot" to what you really want to talk about. Palin was very good at that last night
I guess she's lucky that the moderator, Gwen Ifill, didn't ask her what newspapers or magazines she had looked at in the last 24 hours.
