It seems that LoudTwitter is functional again. I wouldn't have noticed, but the volume of anti-LoudTwitter whining is already crowding out common sense, news items, social commentary, and other forms of actual content.

( For those who care to read more about it, my opinion is behind this cut. For those whose time is valuable, here is the essence of it: )

Whiners: Get stuffed.

This entry was originally posted at http://ivymcallister.dreamwidth.org/. LJers who don't have DW accounts can still comment there via OpenID.

“Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”--George W. Bush


This delusional, worm-brained wingnut was in charge of *an entire nation.* THIS nation. One wants to weep.

(GWB quote via joedecker.)

This entry was originally posted at http://ivymcallister.dreamwidth.org/. LJers who don't have DW accounts can still comment there via OpenID.

McCain: is rattling about Palin's cutting this and saving that. (TBD says, "Like all the money she's saved Alaska on rape kits.") Mentions that Palin is a role model to women. (I think he needs to change his medication--his brain is obviously diseased.)

Specific number regarding how much they can reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Obama: gave the most specific answer, giving a ten year timeframe. "Use 'em or lose 'em." "We can't drill our way out."

(snip!)

Healthcare.

Obama: "If you have health insurance"--don't sweat it. "If you don't have insurance"--you're in the pool. Preventive care is key.

McCain: invokes ol' Joe the Plumber again.

Obama: points out that in McCain's plant,for the first time in history, he'd be taxing people's health care $s.

McCain: (We're on Joe the Plumber again, and the fine thing.)

Roe v. Wade

McCain: "I'm a federalist"??? And "proudly pro-life." (Disgusting. I have trouble even LISTENING to this.) We need to change the culture of America. (Really? To, say, an even MORE Xian culture? Oh, this is sick. He's telling women to *have* unwanted babies and, "we'll take care of them." Who the fuck is "we", jowl-boy? Oh, wait--you're talking about "we, the people!" You're talking about me. Um... No. I want no part of a system that encourages women of ANY age to have a baby they don't want.)

Obama: Roe v. Wade was rightly decided. (This is almost reason enough to vote for him.) (He's in defensive mode, sadly.) Points out that the issue is divisive. (No shit.) Oh, sweet! Getting the dig in at Palin without even trying, via talking about how we need to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

Education

McCain: (Oh, my god. He wants to waive those pesky tests so that soldiers can go right into teaching. Because, really--knowing how to kill a man with dental floss and fire automatic weapons are skills that will serve them well in the classroom.)

Obama: "I don't think America's youth are interest groups."

McCain: Yammers about vouchers in "Wa(r)shington."

Closing remarks.
McCain: Trying times, need new direction, I have a record of reform, of taking on my party, I've been a "careful steward" of your tax dollars, have to stop the spending, yaddayaddayadda.

Obama: Washington's unwillingness to tackle the tough problems has gotten us where we are today. Failed politics. We need fundamental change, decency and generosity of the American people, invest in the American people, policies that will life wages, wants to bring these policies to the White House, renew a spirit of service, sacrifice, and responsibility. Will work every single day, tirelessly, on our behalf.

"Go vote now--it will make you feel big and strong."

McCain: ("...not waving, but drowning.")

Obama: Has he stood up to his party? Charter schools, clean coal, etc. Oh, snap--"Even Fox News disputes it!"

McCain: (We're waving the "POW" flag again. And he's really mentioning medicare & retirees a lot, as they're his base, at this point.)
-------------------------------------

Regarding campaign tactics: Are they willing to say these things to one another faces-to-face?

McCain: Is NOT addressing the question--he's listing his grievances about things said about himself and Palin and whining about Obama's campaign's approach. The pigfucker invoked Watergate.

Obama: Is not answering the question, either, goddammit. Answer the fucking question. He's doing the same damned thing as McCain and listing the negative comments made by the McCain camp.

McCain: invokes the great and holy institution of Football. (*insert celestial music here*) He needs to stop his foul whining.

Obama: "who *is* an American hero..." Brings up the fact that McCain and Palin allow their audiences to act and behave badly. "When people say I pal around with terrorists..."

McCain: plays the "any large crowd's going to have a few ill-behaved wingnuts" card. (Fails to mention that he's got the White Power vote sewn up. Funny, that.)

Obama: wants to get off the subject. I don't blame him. "Disagree without being disagreeable." Cannot continue to characterize one another as bad people.

McCain: invokes Acorn--"(tearing?) the fabric of Democracy."

Obama: Addresses the Ayres issue. And does it well. Points out the Republican involvement in same. Addresses Acorn issue, and does it well. (McCain should not have given him the opening.)

McCain: says Obama "launched his campaign in Ayers' livingroom." "And I'm ot gonna raise taxes!" (So there! *PTTTHHHHTTT!*)
-------------------------------------

Economic Crisis--"Why is your plan better than his?"

McCain: (The side of his face has gotten... fatter. We couldn't stop staring at it long enough to listen to him yammer. TBD says that's where the receiver is.

Obama: end tax breaks for outsourcers, tax break, tax break, tax break....

McCain: invokes "Joe the Plummer" and his American Dream. Points out that Obama's plan would hurt ol' Joe and Joe wouldn't be able to AFFORD to hire people. Poor Joe.

Obama: elaborates on his plan to cut taxes for those of us who make less than $250,000 a year. 98% of small businesses make less than $250,000 a year. Joe the Plummer must make over $250,000 a year or Obama's plan wouldn't hurt him. Poor Joe.

(McCain cuts Obama off. Obama lets it go.)

--------------------------------------------

Deficit of $455,000,000,000. The cost of both candidates' proposals will increase the deficit. What do they say to that?

Obama: reiterated his plan to have a "line by line" review of programs, pruning those that are ineffective. Need to change our energy policy.

McCain: Energy independenca, yaddayaddayadda. "Across the board spending freeze." (We KNOW that government spending is insane, you twonk.) Line item vetoes, pork barrel bills, "$3,000,000 projector in Obama's home town," etc.

Obama: (Yes! Linking McCain to Bush. Points out that Clinton left Bush with a SURPLUS. NOW look where we are.)

Well, there wasn't much opportunity to play this one for laughs. These are some terminally un-funny men. (Thank god their running mates more than make up for it.)

Afghanistan
Obama: We are going to have to set Iraq up to be cut loose in order to put more troops in Afghanistan. Need a responsive Afghani gov't.
McCain: says Obama will not admit he was "wrong" about Iraq.

Russia/Georgia
McC: bring international pressures to bear, must learn that their behavior is unacceptable, we will smack them on the butt, tell them how disappointed we are with them, and forbid them from playing in the sandbox for a while.
Obama: Ok, really hasn't said much here--energy issue as factor, yes.

Yes, or no?
Obama: equivocated
McC: "Maybe," then equivocated in guise of elaboration.

Terry, re: Israel/Iran
McC: (Needs to stop the fawning.) Favors kicking Iran's ass. (Probably preemptively. "I hit him before he could hit me first.") Enough, ENOUGH with the "my friend." Likening what could happen to Israel as a potential holocaust, as he says that "we cannot allow another holocaust".
Obama: Wants to avoid the situation in which that decision would be necessary. On energy again, favors sanctions, etc.

What don't you know, and how will you learn it?
Obama: Went for a laugh, then didn't answer/address the question.
McC: Did not answer the question.

Will economic crisis influence role of US as "peacemaker?"
McC: yaddayadda
Obama: less flag waving than McC and more substance, re: $. Yeah, playing up the economic crisis while we're dropping billions on Iraq is a Good Move if he wants to rile people up.

Should the US have a military presence in foreign humanitarian crisises? (Rwanda, Dafur, etc.)
Obama: It's in our interest to do so when possible, but not across the board.
McC: Is yammering about Obama's stand on Iraq. "victory," "honor," yaddayadda. "Genocide is Bad, m'kay?"

Katie, re: Pakistan's sovereignty and terrorists:
Obama: the situation sucks because it's been handled badly. (Oh, please tell me he's not fearmongering.)
McC: (is not exactly the consummate diplomat... this is a bit rich, coming from him.) Oh, yeah! Let's do what we did in Iraq, re: winning over the locals. (Seeing how effective it was, and all.) This is a ridiculous argument--they sound like kids playing he said/she said.

"consumers got drunk"
Obama: Typical Democratic attitude re: goverment as parent--Washington has to set an example, etc. hatchet/scalpel analogy--v. nice

McC: Starts out with a tired old simile, unsurprising from a tired old man. Oh, he's gonna tell us Obama's secret that we don't know! Same thing Palin said re: Obama's plan hurting small businesses, that was subsequently squashed by Biden.

Obama wants to address the claims McC made about his plan--Brokaw says no... And POINTS TO OBAMA for answering the question Brokaw asked before backtracking. He can't afford to be seen as ignoring the questions.

McC: (Okay, I am not your friend, old dude.) More fodder for the fact-checkers. "Let's look at our records." Yes. Let's.

Ingrid Jackson's Q for McCain re: environmental/Green issues: He traveled all over the world examining the effects of greenhouse gasses? I have to look that up myself.

Obama on the above: He's definitely learned not to agree with McCain as much, and if he does, he knows not to phrase it the way he did last time. "...we can't drill our way out of the problem." Bingo.

Manhattan Project:
Obama sees nuclear power as part of the overall plan.

McCain is for governmental development followed by privatization. And now he's yammering about pork-barrel politics again. Favoring oil. "Drill baby, drill."

Lindsay for Obama re: healthcare -- is healthcare a commodity?
"moral commitment to reform healthcare." Yes! We ABSOLUTELY need to address the IT issues, re: medical records access & storage. It's a convoluted morass of inefficiency.

McCain: says Obama will FINE people who can't afford to insure their kids. Fact check, please--I smell BS. And since Obama already addressed this issue, he might not get a chance to rebut.

Is healthcare a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?
McC: A right. He's on the "Obama will fine people" thing again.

Obama: apparently WILL fine people who don't insure their kids--he says kids are, "relatively cheap to insure." Brakaw is calling him out for time.

McC's taking the opportunity to tout his bipartisanship. Wow, I cannot WAIT to see the fact-checkers have a go at McCain's response to this woman. Hear that? That's the sound of the truth being stretched to breaking.

Three Priorities:
McCain: refused to put them in order, claiming you can work on them all at once. That wasn't the question--just because you can work on projects simultaneously doesn't mean that one doesn't have priority over the others.

Obama: 1.) Energy, 2.) Health care, 3.) Education (To be fair, he had time to formulate his response while McC talked.)

What sacrifices will they ask the American people to make?
McCain: is shamelessly parroting what Obama JUST SAID about going "line by line" and eliminating programs that don't work.

Obama: Oh, no, he did NOT just invoke 9/11. Good grief. Let's hope it's worth it.
Ah! Blaming Bush for the economy by citing his encouragement for Americans to "go out and shop." Not bad...

McC: Already on energy independence--backing up Palin's attempts to work it in when it wasn't the subject of the question. He's sounding a bit like a Palindrone.

McC: Oh, did THAT joke fall flat. "Not you, Tom."

McC: Yeah, by all means, the person responsible for eBay would make a brilliant Treasury secretary.

McC: (answering Oliver, re "bailout") It's not a bailout--it's a Rescue. I left my campaign to rush to Washington and save the country! (Saying that he bets the questioner had NEVER HEARD OF Fannie/Freddie is a bad move.)

Obama: (answering Oliver, re "bailout") Oh, snap.

Obama (in the followup): He's definitely playing on the fears people have pf losing their homes, but while the importance of saving people's homeownership is something the public wants to hear, but it's not really a solution to the problem--it's a symptom, not the disease, and it should resolve itself as the real problems are dealt with appropriately.

(OK, I'm ignoring this woman. Her question is just a chance for them to yammer.)

"Middle-class, middle-America, Main Street, heartland, energy independence, maverick. More troops in Iraq (& Afghanistan), as governor of Alaska, track record, maverick. Joe Six-Pack, Hockey Moms, I know gay people, bless her heart, maverick. Energy independence, patriot, mother, college, America, new-cue-lar, maverick. (Even more unintelligible glurge of the aforementioned buzzwords, sound bytes and pap)."

And that's all from this soap box. Maybe I'll regret it when I'm not delirious with cold medicine, but I doubt it.

And there's the money shot, folks--Palin, surrounded by kinfolk with her baby on her shoulder. Damn her ovaries.

No post-debate camera time for Biden on the four networks I flipped through.

Palin's closing--What the fuck was that mess of flag-waving, heartstring-tugging, patriotic Norman Rockwell semen that just spilled from her mouth?

Biden's closing--Chumbawumba. "I get knocked down, but I get up again...." Weak.

Someone really should have asked Ms. Governor of Alaska where oil comes from, given that she's a new-Earth creationist. (Dinosaur bones were just put here as a test of faith, don't'cha know.)

Palin: "...my connection to the heartland of America..."

Oh, shut the fuck up, the both of you.

Biden played the single parent card. Interesting.

10 minutes to go, I call it for Biden.

10:21--"Maverick!!!!!"

10:22--"Maverick!!!!!"

10:23--Biden grabbed the "maverick" thing by the nuts and is gutting it like a trout. Biden, re: McCain: "'Maverick' he is not."

10:27--Biden: Damn good close, re: not questioning motives.

10:07--McCain "knows how to win a war," does he? And as for the "he knows what evil is" bit, yeah--he should. He should certainly be able to identify torture. And while he says that he personally believes that waterboarding is torture, he didn't vote to prevent it. (And surviving a prison camp doesn't indicate that he knows how to win a war.)

10:11--Now they're BOTH playing up how much they know "Main Street, Middle Class USA."

Palin: "Doggone it!"

10:12--Palin, re: Biden's wife being a schoolteacher: "God bless her, her reward is in heaven....." Oh, now that's just wrong.

Palin--"Of course I know what a vice president does!" (Very inelegant exchange on her part, there.)

9:55--"Maverick!!!!!!!!"

9:57--eyes on her talking points, as usual.

[Her voice is so annoying I can hardly stand it. If she says "Afghanistan" again, I'll scream.]

Biden: "Facts matter, Gwen." Well, yeah.

Biden's giving out numbers, and Palin's just riding that. When she's not talking, she's reading her notes for sound bites.

10:03--Who *does* have the stomach for genocide, Joe?

Palin--"It's so obvious that I'm a Washington outsider...." More just-folks/flip-flopper card playing.

And on to the war....

The Obama/Biden plan is, "a white flag of surrender"? Good grief.

[My brain has already gone squishy.]

*laughs!* Biden tossed in his own version of, "bless his heart" with, "God love him, but..." re: McCain's views on the Iraq wart. The same translation applies.

Oh, she did *not* just say "new-cue-lar."

She said it. Just over 30 minutes in, and she said it. ("Drill baby, drill.") Walking sound byte.

Did she just say, "Senator O'Biden?" :P

Equal rights for same-sex couples: Yes, yes, YES--go, Joe!

Palin, re: same-sex issues: "I have diverse friends." Translated: "I have gay friends!"