Same Shirt, Different Daze

Tonight at nine on I would hope just about any form of electronic media you or I can imagine is the Second Presidential debate of 2012, a 'town hall style' affair with questions from (perhaps) undecided voters for both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama live on the campus of Hofstra University in New York.

Candy Crowley of CNN will moderate, officiate and hopefully not pontificate. That reminds me, where does Sean Hannity, a second rate intellect in a pinhead's body, get off bitching about Martha Raddatz handling of the VEEP debate. For not punching out both of those guys out she deserved a medal, in my opinion.

And Crowley, unlike just about the entire crew at Fox News has actually been a reporter (not a newsreader my FOR, Friends Of O'Reilly). Besides, with what could Mitt hold her hostage? Threaten to deport Piers Morgan? That might get him a standing ovation, at least in my house.

Here's the thing: we are the most competitive people on earth, maybe in the history of the planet. We turn everything into a 'who can finish first?' contest-maybe that explains our high divorce rates, but NOT everything is a horse race. Instead of listening to the talking heads who pop up after the debate to tell us what we just heard or going on line to see what others, known and unknown to us, thought of the proceedings, just ask yourself  'how'd these guys do?' You'll know best, you watched and listened.

We'll hear any number of nebulous and somewhat cloudy things tonight especially since both economic policy and foreign affairs are topics. The cliché suggests figures lie and liars figure, and let's face it politicians have never met a number they didn't like, so pay attention and write stuff down so you can look it up later. Remember, eight of ten Americans cannot identify Asia Minor on a map of the world according to a survey I just made up. Gotcha (it's only seven).

I'm just saying if you hear anything that makes your Spidey Senses tingle, find a website like factcheck.org after the debate and look it up and satisfy yourself that you now know what's correct. Do NOT yell at the TV. My wife insists that never helps-at least that's what I think she's saying. I can't always hear her over my own shouting.

And speaking of shouting , can we stop demonizing the other side? No matter how awful everything will be if your guys get elected and it will be (trust me on that), the sun will come up tomorrow whether Annie sings or not. So while the blackness of electoral despair is, indeed, fashionably slimming (do these swing votes make the Electoral College look fat?), historically, it's never eaten as hot as it's served. Doom and gloom is always on the menu, but it's always okay to have a salad instead.
-bill kenny