Quick Hits For 2 October 2008

Hello new month! So there's certainly plenty of big things going on in the world. The economic crisis is still the hot topic and it's a new week of College Football (Go Cougars!). Otherwise, I think most of the world is kind of up to business as usual. Here's my rundown on some of the major topics:

1. The Vice Presidential Debate - Anybody else think it's pretty ridiculous to have a lady as "moderator" that has written a book on Obama? I realize it's impossible to completely find somebody that's truly objective, but you gotta at least make it seem like the person is. I'd be griping about this irrespective of which side she maybe was on. That's just a poor job by the host of the debate. What's worse, the McCain campaign had no idea. Apparently he's not concerned. Also, there is some question as to the objectivity of Ifill in general. There is some question as to why the campaigns hadn't already figured this out. It's up in the air just how well Palin will do for sure, but she apparently has had a decent history in smaller scale debates. Here is a more in depth analysis of her Alaskan debate. The debate may be the first time we get to hear about a lot of Palin's stances on major policy issues. Up until now she's been rather reticent. For some analysis of what to expect at the VP debate read here... The New York Times explores some of Biden's potential pitfalls. The fact of the matter is, he has a big mouth so Palin's cluelessness may not hinder the McCain Campaign after all... Palin doesn't know where she gets her news. This poor lady just can't do herself any favors in the way she speaks sometimes, including her referring to herself as the leader for "Joe-six pack." You know, I'm sure there are some voters that kind of find this comforting, but frankly I'm not looking for a football buddy in a presidential or vice-presidential nominee. I want somebody that is more of an elite and sophisticated. She's definitely an elite as far as income, so I'm not sure she relates to the blue collar as much as she claims, unless that's more about her level of sophistication and lifestyle of choice. What do you think, Ahmadinejad would enjoy throwing back a few brewskis with Palin? There's a great foreign policy plan... The McCain campaign is trying to protect Palin from the media. Given what's happened thus far and her experience, this isn't really a surprise. Of course they've got to be realistic that she can't hide for forever and hiding her only makes her look like she's not prepared for the job. I wonder how much longer this will go on or that they can afford to do this... McCain has turned to Palin for foreign policy advice in the past. You know given what's happened thus far, even if that's true, I'm not sure I'd own up to that. Not to mention the fact his statement that "she has the world view that [McCain has]"sounds a little too much like cronyism... McCain deflects questions with sarcasm. I'm not sure what to think about this.
2. The Economic Meltdown - Yep, it's still there. Here's my thing about it, problems take time to fix. Why do we think we're going to fix this one with one "simple" piece of legislation and with such immediacy? Hopefully I'm wrong on that. I'll add to this tomorrow.