"There You Go Again."

[captainsblog]

There's a certain weirdness to realizing that perhaps the defining moment of the 2012 Presidential campaign will be occurring, about seven hours from now, about seven miles from where I was born and raised.  Tonight's "town hall" debate is at Long Island's Hofstra University, which has somehow cornered the market on this event. They got the 2008 "town hall" event, as well, and there's a tree on the grounds near the student center planted in honor of Bush 41's appearance there at a 1997 conference on his presidency, one of the more recent in a series of them which has looked back at every President from FDR to Clinton.

The university dabbles with other topics, as well; it was there that the farflung community of Mets fans gathered back in late April for the conference on the 50th anniversary of the team's founding.   I just checked back to see if the conference materials had been published yet; hopefully they'll do that before the 75th anniversary, or the Mets' next World Series appearance, whichever comes first.

But tonight, they're back to the serious business at hand. It's been a strange series so far, with Romney "winning" the first by being assertive (when he wasn't outright lying through his magic underwear), but with Biden being accused of being too assertive when he took a similar approach to Ryan in the following week's VP debate.  I summed up that accusation at the time this way:

One of the hallmarks of the "bully" personality is that they hate being bullied back. They run crying to their mommies and daddies, who run to the principal, or to their lawyer, to complain about how their "little darling" wasn't responsible for anything. That's what explains the right-wing reaction to last night. A week ago, Romney lied and disrespected his way through a debate. Last night, his surrogate tried it and got beaten down- by the facts, by the experience, by the readiness for their tactics. And the reaction is all, "Oh no he was so MEAN to me!" Here's a Medicare voucher, Ryan; spend it on a shrink who cares about your self-esteem.

Maybe Mittens and Obama can go over to Borrelli's when it's all done, share a beer, and agree to be honest and respectful for the rest of the campaign.  And maybe I'll sprout wings and fly between now and November 6th.

Comments

[thediva-laments.livejournal.com]

This entry, right here, is why I love reading your blog.

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I needed that right about now.

(Work, aka "there's a reason they don't call it 'play.'")

[bluevicksen11.livejournal.com]

YES. That double standard drives me nuts. But not nearly as much as the fact that the media is only reporting on the style of the debates, not the substance. Or that people will vote on "oh he smirked too much/too little" rather than "oh he is more honest and factually accurate/complete bullshitter and lying to tell me what I want to hear".
Oh 'Merica... :-(

[i-beckygardens.livejournal.com]

sorry about the oopsie/deleted post. I read my friend's page stacked and you got a post answer to another question about English names:)

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

I figured there was a story behind it. Sounds like an interesting guy, at least.