Yeti Menace

Reuters photo via HuffPost taken after the 3rd debate, 10/15/2008. Really.

UPDATE: It seems I’m not the only one having fun with McCainzilla. via Hank.

My favorite moment in last night’s second presidential debate between Obama and McCain was at the end when McCain bumbled into the middle of the stage directly in front of Brokaw, obscuring his teleprompter and forcing Brokaw to ask him to move.

Arianna Huffington commented on this so eloquently in her morning post:

Brokaw might as well have been speaking on behalf of the future: Senator McCain can you please get out of the way so we can get on with it?

I could not agree more.

I think Obama did just what he needed to do in the debate: he held his own against McCain and proved he has a sophisticated knowledge of the issues of foreign policy. Granted, this is McCain’s strong suit, but Obama scored some zingers on him: “John, you refused to meet with the leader of Spain!” and “John, you act as if the war started in 2007!”

McCain is not to be underestimated in a debate. He has had a multi-decade career in public service and has gotten excessive face time on the Sunday pundit shows, largely due to the credit of the late Tim Russert. The interesting thing here is that this is not the John McCain of the past 25 years, this is FrankenMcCain with body and brain parts grafted on after being grown in some toxic neo-con vat.

The striking difference here was the demeanor of each of these candidates on stage: Obama appeared calm, collected and IMHO Presidential. He was gracious and level-headed while McCain was mean and smarmy, smirking paternalistically at an upstart youngster. Obama made a point of saying where he and McCain agreed on the issues even to the point of being complimentary; McCain never said one nice thing about Obama instead opting to claim repeatedly that Obama “doesn’t understand” X or Y issue, and repeatedly lying about Obama’s record.

There was a decisive display of character on show in Oxford last night, one that should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind the manner in which they will lead in the White House: Obama as even-tempered analyst and John McCain as erratic prevaricator.

McCain did as expected in the debate: he relied on his experience. But Obama shined, held his own and appeared far more down to Earth and in touch with the people and the issues that are needed to take us forward in the next 50 years, not back to the last 50.

Thanks to Zafar for pure inspiration for this post. Read his astute pre-debate analysis here.

Yesterday’s interview of Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin by Katie Couric is Palin’s definitive moment in the campaign. When viewed objectively, it can be seen as nothing less than the incoherent ideological ramblings and regurgitations of talking points spat from the lipsticked lips of a mediocre pol who has been cramming for a final exam, but forgot to attend class all semester. This is indeed the stuff of nightmares.

From the moment of her announcement I have been saying insistently that Palin is ignoblely unqualified to be VP, and by necessity, President of the United States. But her popularity soared, bouyed by her grim, mean, cynical and homely speech at the RNC. She’s a woman! She’s a governor! She’s a MILF! She’s a religious consevative from a red state! She’s a hockey-mom! She’s a pitbull! These are metonymical definitions that have no or little bearing on her fitness to serve. They are in any analysis irrational and irresponsible reasons to consider her capable of leading the country. Now we have proof: Palin fails so miserbly in the Couric interview it is painful to watch.

But the most important issue here is not the cult of personality surrounding Palin, it’s the fact that Sarah Palin is the one chosen by John McCain to be VP, and thus by design, second in command and first in line to be President. This was the first and most important decision of McCain’s campaign once nominated, and clearly he failed. In a cynical and erratic move devoid of oversight or depth, McCain foisted a running mate on his supporters that is unequivocally unqualified. This wrongheaded and dangerous decision flat out disqualifies McCain to be President. There is no rational explaination for electing him and risking the county’s leadership to someone so incapable.

As I write this, the debate has started. Tonight the country will know more about who to to elect. Let’s hope what happens in November ends the absurdity of what has become a political nightmare.