Debate # 3 : That One tamed The Whipper

And the winner is... Joe The Plumber. Or maybe Bob Schiffer.

John McCain survived another day, leading the first half of the debate, putting Barack Obama on the defensive, wording his distance with Bush ("Senator Obama, I'm not President Bush"), and winning the closing address.

In his best debate so far (and the last one : should he win, Palin will probably do the next one), McCain even survived the Veep test, Obama failing to point out the fact that Joe Biden was ready to lead the country from day one.

But the Sitting Bull looked once again very grumpy when his opponent was talking, and Obama, who gracefully dodged the abortion ("Nobody's pro-abortion") and Bill Ayers bullets, wrapped the second half thanks to health and education. And he was a little bit more subtle when it came to courting Ohio / Michigan voters ("Joe The Plumber" crushed by a Detroit motorcade).

Obama was tired and not in his best day. But he didn't make any mistake and didn't hurt his batting average that badly.

He was just a nice smart man debating with a nervous person who came to make a show or better : to fight on a ring. McCain came out smiling, but Americans are not in a mood to count this kind of points.

Wrestling with Joe The Plumber, The Maverick won the WWF bout, but facing America, Barack Obama won the Presidential Debate.

Florida recount redux

After playing a populist tune for weeks, Hillary is focusing on the nasty side of party politics, pulling all the DNC strings she can. And the Clinton camp is putting all its weight in the May 31 meeting where the destiny of Michigan and Florida delegates will be sealed.

Actually, since she cannot change the maths, HRC's only way of winning now is to change the rules and thus to focus on those who make the rules.

The Senator of NY is rumored to hold a majority in the committee. Her Supreme Court may not produce such a fair and sound outcome.

Not a big change for Florida : the Sunshine State still remembers the Y2K bug with a nasty backstage rally courtesy the Bush friends and family.

PS : Hillary wants every FL and MI voter to count and I agree. But how about the voters who decided not to vote because they were told their vote wouldn't count, and / or because their favorite was not even on the ballot ? The figures of voters in FL and MI are impressive because those states are well populated, but compared to other primaries the proportional turnout was dramatically weak.

Obama-Pelosi vs Operation Chaos

Rush Limbaugh delivered Indiana to the Clinton camp just like he did for Texas*.

I told you Hillary would either win ugly or lose uglier, but mercifully this time may be the end of this sick race were Hillary outroved bad cop Karl and Barack outkerried good cop John.

I hope Superdelegates will flock in tomorrow and end this mess. I've been longing for the Obama-Pelosi ticket for too long.

And I hope Billary will have the decency to give up before May the 31st their claim for delegates from Florida and Michigan (their campaign team actually did vote for the 2025 mark before they voted against it and started mentioning a 2029 "magic number").


* see "Les conservateurs poussent Clinton" (20080317)

White blogule to John Murtha - My kingdom for a horse

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) : "I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and sent people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions that what may need to be done."
VP** Dick Cheney (R-BA*) : "A few politicians are suggesting these brave Americans were sent into battle for a deliberate falsehood. This is revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety. It has no place anywhere in American politics, much less in the United States Senate." NB : Lobby Dick, who couldn't win any Purple Hart since he doesn't have any (last time he tried it attacked him) should know about revisionism, corruption and shamelessness, which take place anytime in Amerika's White House.
Scott McClellan (R-BA*) : (Murtha) "is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party."
Michael Moore (I-MI) : "Is that the best you can do to persuade them to stick with you -- compare them to me? You gotta come up with a better villain. For heaven's sakes, you had a hundred-plus million other Americans who think the same way I do -- and you could have picked on any one of them! But hey, why not cut out the name-calling and the smearing and just do the obvious thing: Come join the majority! Be one of us, your fellow Americans! Is it really that hard? Is there really any other choice? George, take a walk on the wild side! Your loyal representative from the majority, Michael Moore."
Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) : "By misrepresenting the facts, by misunderstanding Iraq and misleading the war, I believe the administration has brought us to the verge of a national security debacle."
VP*** George Bush (R-BA*) : "I'm here (NB : in Mongolia) on an important international mission. Secretary Rumsfeld asked me to check on his horse." A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!

Who said that ? Richard The Third ? Dick, The Turd ? I don't care : here comes the Debate, at last.

But so late. More than one year behind schedule. We knew all about the lies, the torture, the disinformation, the CIA Airlines FFPs..., yet Dubya got reelected.

Both the Democrats and the Media hold a share of responsibility in this failure. To do the right thing, I'd expect them to lead the first double impeachment in History. A Late Summer Night's Dream ?

* Bush Administration
** Vicious President
*** Virtual President