Quick Hit

I went to look at bbc.com to see a more international perspective of the debates. I found this little gem that is straight out of the Onion. It is their "People of the USA" one sentence description each comment from the common folk on the debate last night. It is really worth a look and a laugh.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7639261.stm

My favorite pull quote from the article found on the same page can be found below. It is one of the things that resonated strongly for me last night and I really wanted to see how it played on the world stage. It was Sen. McCain's description of Putin.

'Tough-guy sound-bite'

You can sum it up with the exchange on the issue of Russia - whose petro-dollar fuelled resurgence as a regional power is going to test the next president throughout his term of office.
Mr McCain recalled looking into the eyes of Russia's Vladimir Putin

Mr McCain was able to describe meeting Vladimir Putin, "looking into his eyes and seeing three letters, K, G and B" - a reference to the old Soviet intelligence agency for which Mr Putin once worked.

Does it sound corny to foreign ears, with a slight B-movie flavour to it? It probably does. I would say in America it plays much better as a tough-guy sound-bite, suggestive of a president who knows how to stand up to Moscow.

Mr Obama's answer on Russia rambled quite a bit and veered off into a dissertation on the need to develop alternative energy sources - not his first of the night.

You could see the logic - Russia is an oil exporter and one of America's biggest problems is dependence on imported oil.

But it felt a little bookish and laboured - you could sense which reply would play better in American living rooms.

You can see that the Senator's comments were heard loud and clear over in Moscow. Cold War II anyone? What a jackass!

One more thing, let's all prepare to watch with relish (and onions!) the VP debate on Thursday. The chum is in the proverbial water after her interview with Katie Couric this past week. I think we all can admit to ourselves we were thinking she might be a ditz when she actually cemented the opinion while during her attempt to say she has foreign policy experience because Alaska is next to Russia. As my pa-paw would say, "That'n is as dumb as a bag of hammers." And if you needed yet another reason to be leery of her, check out this pull quote, again from bbc.com:

She was baptised a Catholic as an infant but attended a Pentecostal church in Wasilla - her hometown since her parents moved to Alaska from Idaho when she was three months old - for many years. She now attends Wasilla Bible Church, a non-denominational, evangelical church. The Associated Press reports that the church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.

Oh yeah, I want her to be our next VP. Better to have Satan Jr. shooting his friends in the face - at least he is competent enough to systematically ruin our reputation on the world stage while making billions for his "hunting buddies".

37 more days until we can all say President Obama, which is a MUCH better prospect than having to say Vice-President Palin without bursting out in derisive laughter...Enjoy it!