There's a lot out there about it. I haven't even started to dig in and I can't, really, because I have to get to to her stuff (do you believe it?)...but this from Meghan O'Rourke at Slate is worth reading.
But you know whose column I won't read today? David Brooks. I made that decision last night when I heard him tell Jim Lehrer in the last 15 seconds of post debate chatter that Sarah Palin won the debate. I mean, I may be an easy target for an email debate about McCain, but I'm in the choir with no foundation on my face. And I'm no fool.
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4 comments:
Robin -
Hey! As always, you are a joy to read. So entertaining. I have 2 thoughts to share with you:
1. I kind of agree with Andrew Sullivan on the way the debate went. I thought Palin was really connecting with the base (not us, the base) in the first half hour, and Biden was kind of "old boring man in a suit" but I thought that something clicked in Biden by the mid-way point that made him really take off and Palin just floundered for the rest of the time, careening somewhere between inexperienced and just annoying.
By the time, Biden was choking up about the death of his daughter, I was clutching my chest and weeping and wondering why I had never been so moved by Obama. (Maybe this was because Lucy had just tumbled down a flight of stairs at the 103rd street subway station and after a trip to the hospital in an ambulance, I was feeling lucky my daughter was in one piece and all sentimental and yeah, I blogged about it, of course)
So, there you go. Maybe it was Biden, maybe just crazy me.
2. The other thing and this is more important than my opinion about the debate - you have to read people with whom you disagree. If you stop, you lose touch with everything else that is out there, except you and your world. Then, you become as closed minded as the people you criticize and that makes you ineffective. Just keep reading everything, Robin. Staying open to other people's opinions and ideas even if they seem strange or incomprehensible. I think it is that important.
That's it. My 2 cents.
I was excited to see what you had posted today. You didn't let me down...
Kim
You're right not to read David Brooks today. I did, and I really wish I hadn't, because I want to kill him now! And I had such high hopes for him after his last Palin installment.
I hope Lucy is OK!!!! That must have been AWFUL!
I hear what you're saying, Kim, about reading people I disagree with, but you also know how easily I go bananas. I just couldn't do it today. Besides, I had that big email debate with my brother's friend the republican -- it really did keep me up at night and I can't spend all day today fighting with David Brooks in my head!
As for Andrew Sullivan, this morning my husband was all, "Why did he stop blogging at 11:34??" He was right on....I couldn't even sit through the first half hour of the debate. Even my knitting couldn't keep me calm....but in the end, Biden won on substance and commitment.
I'm with Nicole--I wish I had read your blog before reading the NYT columnists during lunch. I almost choked on my banh mi when I read Brooks' assessment: "...she toured the landscape of McCain policy positions with surprising fluency."
Pardon my language, but WTF? She managed to string some talking points together, but what in the following response (to the question about a two-state solution) demonstrated fluency with McCain's policy toward Israel:
"Secretary Rice, having recently met with leaders on one side or the other there, also, still in these waning days of the Bush administration, trying to forge that peace, and that needs to be done, and that will be top of an agenda item, also, under a McCain-Palin administration."
When she speaks to The Base, she reminds me of European metal bands who sing English lyrics phoenetically, but don't understand a word they're singing. But the crowd goes crazy nonetheless.
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