Only Four Days Left!!!!! Don't Get Comfy!!!!

Michael Goldfarb: Dipshit

What a fucking embarrassment for this douche...



Oh my God he wants to say "Jeremiah Wright" soooo bad. Say it Goldfarb, SAY IT!

Apparently Liddy Dole is a Lying Asshole Too

Look at this slimy attack ad on Kay Hagan by the whore wife of Bob Dole...



Desperate times...

UPDATE: Here is the response video.

Number One Phanatic

We are having an eventful week in my family. Next week, this nation will elect its first black president. Although I'm not black (no jokes, Cialini), I think it is going to be a defining, quantum leap in the history of this country, along the lines of voting rights for women and the end of prohibition.

But last night something that I truly NEVER thought I would see finally happened.

The Philadelphia Phillies won the world series.

I grew up in Rochester, but since I was a little kid, the Phillies were THE baseball team in my house. (I morphed into somewhat of a Baltimore fan around '89, but the Phils were always my NL team.)

We got that way mostly because of my Uncle Jim, husband of my Aunt Peg, my old man's sister. Uncle Jim was a hard drinker and without a doubt the most profane man I ever met ... and that's why we all loved him. He was also the greatest baseball fan that ever walked the face of the earth, more than Bob Costas, Billy Crystal and Harry Carey combined. He knew everything about every team, every player and watched every game he could. But when he moved to New Jersey, he adopted the Phillies as his baseball obsession, and he passed that obsession onto me and my siblings.

When Uncle Jim passed away a little over seven years ago, he passed the torch of #1 Phillies fan to my "little" brother Mike. The last time the Phillies won the World Series was 1980, and my brother wasn't even 2 years old. They made the World Series in 1993, but had their hearts broken by Joe Carter and Mitch Williams.

Sports success has never been abundant in my family. In 2003, when Syracuse won the NCAA basketball championship, it was the first time any team I had ever followed -- ever -- had won a championship. I was 27 years old. And though we all take a bit of ownership in this Phillies championship in my family, every last one of us was giving a big ol' cosmic hug to my brother the moment Lidge struck out that last Tampa Bay batter. You hear about how Red Sox fans who had been waiting their whole lives finally were able to appreciate the Sox winning the Series in 2004; you better believe that those octogenarians had nothing on Mike. His sports obsession finally closed the deal and I'm more happy for him than anything.

And yet as happy as I am for the Phils, I feel just a hint of sadness inside, knowing that I personally am still missing that one elusive sports trophy that can finally put me at peace. I haven't talked about the Bills that much this year, because they were on a roll and I knew that any mention I made of them would jinx it. But here we are, having lost 2 of 3 games, but I still have hope. I'm not sure they are a playoff team yet -- let alone a Super Bowl team -- but they look like they have something, if they can keep healthy and keep their composure. They make me really really nervous, but they have pretty much done that for the twenty years I've followed them so that's nothing new.

But my hope remains, because if we can elect a black president, and if the losingest team in all of sports can win the World Series, then maybe it's time.

A Choo Choo Charlie and a .... CLASS AAACT!

Some quick-hit thoughts about my first half-cross-country train trip:

• I spent over 13 hours on the train, each way. 26 hours total. The train was the Lakeshore Limited, traveling from NYC to Chicago and points in between. It was pretty much on time the whole trip, which apparently is rare for this line known as the "Late-shore."
  
  
• I got excited arriving in Chicago on Friday morning, but even more excited arriving in Syracuse on Monday.
  
  
• I slept probably a total of 6 hours, which isn't bad, but it wasn't a deep sleep. Every bump in the track made me jump awake, and in both directions someone decided to be loud. Heading west around 1am, a mouthy know-it-all got on the plane and began to pontificate everything he knew about trains, travel and American history to the stranger next to him, all while the rest of the car was trying to sleep. At about 4am heading west, a woman (who's voice was identical to Mia Farrow's, by the way) began yelling at her (I'm guessing) husband about "who unlocked the door!" Apparently one of the kids locked the door, and then suddenly it was unlocked, and she wanted to know WHO THE HELL UNLOCKED THE DOOR for about 40 minutes before she slammed closed her cell phone before storming into the restroom sobbing. Of course, she went from Chicago to Syracuse, depriving me of more sleep. In fact, I was surprised by how many people were going to Syracuse from Chicago.
  
  
• Since I knew I'd have unlimited train time, I brought the entire three-box set of all three extended versions of The Lord of the Rings in case I got bored. I got halfway through "The Return of the King." I was never actually bored. I turned the iPod on for maybe an hour total, and got through about 5 pages of one magazine. I had two seat-mates on the way to Chicago and sat all by my lonesome on the way back.
  
  
• I enjoyed traveling across the country, because even though it took so much longer, it was cool to travel through different cities (even though there wasn't much to look at in Buffalo, Sandusky, Toledo or Gary, at least at their train stations) and arrive somewhere. It felt more like a journey. Also, I wasn't 1/10 as nervous on the train as I would have been on a plane. Irrational to be sure, but it got me through the trip. Plus it was only $136, round-trip.
  
  
• Union Station in Chicago is smaller than I expected, but it's clean and the people who work there are friendly. In fact, the people in Chicago -- and I'm told, the Midwest in general -- were so much friendlier than in New York, Philly, D.C., Boston or almost any other large East Coast city I've been to. Everyone I dealt with there was incredibly nice and helpful, and no matter what they were doing, they didn't act like they hated their jobs or their lives. Everyone from the baggage claim guy to the gal behind the bar at the station restaurant to the Hertz rental guy to the baggage check guy was friendly, smiling, helpful and pleasant. Plus, the station is where they filmed the "staircase scene" in The Untouchables, which is awesome!
  
  
• Another note about Chicago, the city. It's a great place, brimming with life and culture, and unlike most cities (I'm talking to you, New York), it doesn't feel a constant need to TELL YOU how great it is, but rather, it just IS. On the other hand, it's a very hard-to-navigate city in that if you don't know the local areas, you have to circle around a dozen times because you missed the sign -- if there ever was one -- the first time.
  
  
• I walked in on a woman taking a leak (I hope) when she didn't lock her door. She slammed her door angrily, but maybe if she had been paying attention she wouldn't have had to worry about it. All I said was, "Oops." I mean, it was a full door, so I couldn't check for shoes. I do have to say, the train did smell like pee from time to time.
  
  
• I don't know that I could ever make the trip alone, but I'm kinda glad I made it in the first place. It's the furthest I've ever traveled by myself, and it didn't go completely without a hitch.
  

Epilogue: I would highly recommend travel by train if you have no hurry to get to where you need to go, and like to just relax while gliding across the country. I wish it maybe wouldn't have taken so long, but as long as you keep enough stuff around you to keep from being bored, you'll be fine.

Too CHI CHI ... Hush Hush, Eye to Eye

I am going to take a train for the first time on Thursday, going from Syracuse to Chicago, all along the Great Lakes. It is 666 miles each way, and approximately 13 hours. I have lots of concerns about this trip, some technological, some situational.

For example, will I have enough battery power in my phone, iPod and laptop to give me enough entertainment hours for the trip? Will there be electrical outlets?

What will I do on the computer? Will it have wi-fi? Will I be able to be on the internet, or blog?

Will there be enough light for me to read the 20 or so magazines and books I'm going to bring?

Will I be able to sleep on a moving train? Will my newly-purchased neck pillow assist me in sleeping upright? Will I need to bring some Tylenol PM or NyQuil with me?

Is there going to be enough room for me to keep all my crap and have some leg room? Should I check my baggage or keep it right next to me?

Is someone going to try and talk my ear off on the train ride? Or should I take the trip with a semi-psychotic look so that everyone leaves me alone?

Since the trip is overnight, am I going to be able to see any of the scenery outside? Like picturesque Lake Erie?

Will all my reading material be exhausted? My bag is stuffed to the gills with magaizines (Draft, All About Beer, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, The New Republic, Mother Jones, Blender), beeriodicals, and books (Catch-22 and Down and Dirty Pictures). Should I throw out all the magazines once I'm done with them?

Can I bring beer from Illinois back on the train? Or does it violate some kind of ridiculous interstate beer laws?

Is the train going to stay on the rails? What if there is a dastardly man who covertly pulls the lever on the railroad switch and sends me to Topeka?!?!

Basically, if there is another blog anytime after next Monday, you'll know I made it.

Obama Where Art Thou?

McCain-Palin = Racist
McCain-Palin = Racist
McCain-Palin = Racist

Watch this old pedophile compare Senator Obama to a primate.



McCain-Palin = Racist
McCain-Palin = Racist
McCain-Palin = Racist

McCain will be a man of constant sorrow when he realizes who these mongoloids are that are supporting him.



McCain-Palin = Racist
McCain-Palin = Racist
McCain-Palin = Racist

Adlai's Prescience

Been reading about former Illinois Governor and two-time presidential hopeful Adlai Stephenson a bit, and had some really interesting quotes from him that seem to really be relevant today.

The whole notion of loyalty inquisitions is a national characteristic of the police state, not of democracy. The history of Soviet Russia is a modern example of this ancient practice. I must, in good conscience, protest against any unnecessary suppression of our rights as free men. We must not burn down the house to kill the rats. (1950)



What counts now is not just what we are against, but what we are for. Who leads us is less important than what leads us — what convictions, what courage, what faith — win or lose. A man doesn't save a century, or a civilization, but a militant party wedded to a principle can. (1952)



True Patriotism, it seems to me, is based on tolerance and a large measure of humility. ... Men who have offered their lives for their country know that patriotism is not the fear of something; it is the love of something. (1952)


A wise man does not try to hurry history. Many wars have been avoided by patience and many have been precipitated by reckless haste. (1952)



In matters of national security emotion is no substitute for intelligence, nor rigidity for prudence. To act coolly, intelligently and prudently in perilous circumstances is the test of a man — and also a nation. (1955)



Unreason and anti-intellectualism abominate thought. Thinking implies disagreement; and disagreement implies nonconformity; and nonconformity implies heresy; and heresy implies disloyalty — so, obviously, thinking must be stopped. But shouting is not a substitute for thinking and reason is not the subversion but the salvation of freedom. (1954)



You can tell the size of a man by the size of the thing that makes him mad. (1956)



Giving advice to a young politician: "Never run against a war hero." (Year unknown)


...and my favorite, and the one that resonates the most with me in today's climate:




When a woman said to him during his 1956 presidential campaign, "Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!" Stevenson replied, "That's not enough, madam, we need a majority!"

The Common Man

Ohio's Finest

I know that I promised to rein in the political stuff, but then Palin and McCain need to stop giving me fodder!

This is a truly amazing video of people outside a Palin rally, courtesy of Blogger Interrupted. Enjoy the views of the state that decided the 2004 election, folks.



UPDATE:

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post gives an absolutely terrifying account of a McCain-Palin rally in the cesspool of Bethlehem, PA. These people are a bunch of hate-filled racists. Never has there been a clearer line between the rational and the evil.

UPDATE II:
Oh God, there's more!

Who's The Boss?

Since I've been told that I am getting "boring" because of my political obsession, I have decided to throw a curveball. Yes, my political obsession will continue for about four more weeks, but for those that care, here is the list of my five worst bosses at various jobs.

Let me be very clear, none of these people are folks that I currently work with. I am very satisfied (knock on wood) with my current job and I like my superiors, but something a few days ago triggered some of the miserable experiences I've had at other employers. I may have to change some names to protect my own ass the innocent, and I may choose more than one person who was in charge at any given place. These are in no particular order.

• Scott and Dan - Boston Chicken.
  
  Before it became "Boston Market," I helped open the first Boston Chicken restaurant in the Rochester area. Please, don't applaud. In fact, it was the second job that I had with my boy Mike C. (the other one is later in this list), and there were basically three bosses: Ted, who was a nice enough guy but obviously a company man who tried in futility to make everyone like him, but also to gain respect; another goofy Herman Munster-type whose name I can't remember; and Dan.
  
  Dan was a phony douchebag who would smile in your face and then talk shit behind your back. The turning point with Dan was when I was supposed to go to a pool party right after my high school graduation, and I tried to call in sick, but Dan said "If you call in today, you no longer have a job." Since I inexplicably wanted to keep my three work hours and $15.50 a week, I missed the party and went to work, miserably. Dan also threatened to fire someone on the spot if they ate a piece of cornbread that he was going to throw away in a huge plastic bag full of cornbread.
  
  There was an assistant manager named Scott as well, a big stupid lug of a moron who could barely speak and walked with his enormous belly sticking out ten feet, while he leaned backward to balance himself. Scott is not only the dumbest person I've ever met (and trust me, he has competition), but also the most assholish.
  
  The turning point with Scott and I was during a week where one of the managers was out, and Scott was made "acting manager." I was a server, which means I got the food and rang people up. There was a clear delineation between the servers, the cooks and the dishwashers. The servers were mostly the good-looking ones (remember this was a long time ago), the cooks were older and were usually working 40 hours, and the dishwashers were punks and ne'er-do-wells, never to be seen in front. Scott made me wash dishes in the back rooms. I didn't mind washing dishes -- that's what Mike and I did at our other job, more to come -- but it smelled like sour onions back there. So I pouted and went back to the back room to wash dishes with equipment I had never been taught to use. Scott came back to the area and started spraying me with a hose. I said "What the fuck Scott?" He said, as if he were Scott Farkas talking to Ralphie, "Aw, what's wrong? Pussy server can't wash dishes?" Classic power trip; what a dick.
  
  Fun post-script: The day I decided I didn't want to work there anymore, I called Boston Chicken and Dan picked up. I said, "Hi Dan, it's Bill. I'm quitting." He said, "What?" I said, "I'm quitting." In his most cheerful voice, he said, "Okay!" and hung up on me. Poor Mike happened to be working at the time, and Dan and Ted both tried to yell at Mike, saying stuff like "What the hell? He's your friend? Why the hell didn't he give any notice?!" Mike, to his credit, picked up the phone at the restaurant, dialed my number, held the phone out and said "Why don't you fuckin' ask him yourself?" They turned and walked away, of course.
  
  
• Angelo - The Apartments
  
  The job that I quit Boston Chicken for was a job that I did for three consecutive summers from 1994 to 1996, between school years. My buddy Tim worked there and told me they were looking for "summer help" and I could interview. The interview consisted of talking to the owner of the complex for about 2 minutes: "Ang." (Pronounced "Anj.")
  
  The job basically consisted of mindless busy work, like vaccuuming apartment hallways, clipping hedges, mowing lawns, painting fences, light maintenance work, and the worst of all, weeding. The work was the definition of mindless, and I don't do well with only my thoughts to drive me nuts. Naturally, Ang made me stop wearing my walkman after my first two-hour period, in case "a ladder falls on top of you or some shit." Because not having my walkman on would definitely have allowed me to hear a ladder falling on top of me just in time to evade it.
  
  Here's a brief list of reason I hated Ang: he made me weed his yard which was about a mile from the complex; he made me vaccuum his car; he yelled at me for sitting down to pull a very large weed from his car, rolling down the window only to yell, "You better get off your ass, pal!"; he wouldn't say hi to my dad when my dad would drop me off; he pulled me into his office once to tell me he'd have to let me go if I didn't improve my "slownessness."
  
  Ang had a right-hand man named Mike, who had a deep raspy voice, brown teeth and yelled at me all the time. When he left the complex, Mike would come back every once in a while because his wife worked there. Whenever I saw him after he left, Mike was super nice to me, almost like he missed me. It was weird to say the least. But I realized that the reason he was such a prick to me all the time was because Ang was up his ass all the time.
  
  
• Dave - Richardson's Canal House
  
  Richardson's was my first job, which I got at the tender age of 16. Cialini got the job for me and we actually had a lot of fun working together, listening to rap tapes and working six-hour shifts with no breaks.
  
  Dave was the head chef, and although he had an outward demeanor of being nice, he had a seething side under the surface that was almost sinister. There were two main incidents that ended Dave and my relationship. The first was when Mike quit and Dave told me to "recruit" someone from my school to work alongside me. He said he'd give me a quarter raise if I did it. So I got this wigger Andy from my school to apply, and he got the job, and of course he sucked and made me do all the work. I noticed that I never got my quarter raise. One day, when we got our paychecks, I naughtily looked in Andy's check envelope when he was out of the kitchen and noticed that he started -- STARTED -- making a quarter more than me.
  
  But the last straw was a gorgeous bit of karma. I used to work with a guy named Phil, who we called Philly. One night, we were at the restaurant late (we'd routinely be there until after midnight even though I think they closed at 8 or 9), but I had to take my SATs the next day. I felt bad, but I knew that since my grades in high school were shit, I'd have to get a good score on my SATs to get into college. (I got an 1150 that first time; a 1250 later. Not too shabby.) So it was approaching 11pm and I told Philly that I just had to go, even though that meant I had to leave him alone, probably to stay for at least another 2 hours while he got a bunch of stuff done. He was cool about it, to his credit.
  
  Well the next afternoon when I came in, Dave lit into me. And I mean LIT IN. He was sitting on an upturned crate, and he said, "There is no way you should have left Philly there by himself. He was here until 2 in the fucking morning, what the fuck? That is bullshit. I should fire your ass right now. I'm not going to, but I should." [Note: The reason he didn't fire me is because he didn't have any other dishwashers available at the moment.] I told Dave, "Dude, I had to take my SATs." I wanted to day, "Douchebag, listen to me, there is no way I'm gonna fuck up my SATs to mop a floor." Long story short, Dave got violently ill that very day right in front of me, curled up on the floor writhing in agony, undoubtebly a punch in the gut from God. I never saw him again, quitting a few weeks later.
  
  
• John - Blockbuster Video
  
  John wasn't really the worst boss to me because I barely had to deal with him, but he was the typical blowhard asshole who took his job wayyy too seriously, and thought he was a real cut-up. His office was located in a tiny backroom of the store where I worked, and since he ran the whole district, he would pop his meaty frame out from the back room once every workday to flex his supervisory muscle.
  
  I hated working for him, though, because when we was miserable, my direct boss -- Scott, arguably the best boss I've ever had -- was miserable. Scott was a great guy who was all about his employees. He was the kind of guy that would always back me up with a difficult customer, and if I screwed up, he would chalk it up to a learning opportunity. Everything that I've ever learned about having some authority in a job, I learned from Scott. When John quit one day and Scott took over for him, I think I snubbed John when he tried to say good bye. I'm not sure about that but it feels like I did.
  
  
• Anonymous - Anonymous job
  
  This one is still close. A job I left recently was taken over by a miserable person. The person took over my previous boss's job amid rumors of being some sort of administrative genius. What I saw from this person was nothing but micromanaging, overreaction and petty squabbles. I found out sometime after I had left that, apparently, some years earlier, I had been on a conference call with this person (before the person was my boss), and said something to piss the person off. Apparently, Anonymous never forgot it, because it followed me to the restructuring. (The person who told me that also mentioned that Anonymous felt threatened by me, but that was more a theory, and one I'm not sure I completely buy.)
  
  To paraphrase my man Obama, Anonymous came into a situation that required a scalpel and started making changes with a hatchet. My whole job changed from strategizing to babysitting. All the research I had done over the previous two years went out the window, unwelcome by the the new regime. I would get overreactive instant messages from Anonymous, telling me basically telling me I was doing my job incorrectly. All of my ideas were suppressed, all my enthusiasm sapped. The tipping point for me was when I received an email that was a teeth-gnashing, venomous document that you would have thought came from a CEO whose company had just lost $50 million. Anonymous said, and I quote, "I am so frustrated, I want to tear my hair out piece by piece in bloody hunks." The source of the frustration: a one-page spreadsheet that was completely irrelevant and that only Anonymous gave two shits about. Anonymous basically took over my job because, in that person's mind, I wasn't smart enough to do it.
  
  One of the most satisfying moments of my working life was when I got offered my current job and I got to call Anonymous and announce I was leaving. Anonymous sounded shocked, but for once that person's demeanor didn't mean anything to me.
  
  

Well maybe this didn't prevent me from being boring but at least it was different, I guess. I must reiterate, for the record, in case this post falls into the wrong hands, I am thrilled to be in my current job and love everything about it. Even the stress. And no one in my current place of employment appears to be running the risk of appearing any updates to this post. In other words, don't fire me. Thanks.

Philadelphia Fliers

Enjoy this bogus "anonymous" letter (courtesy of Talking Points Memo) that was handed out in the black neighborhoods of Philadelphia, apparently to try to suppress the black voters into thinking they would be arrested at polling sites if they had outstanding warrants or traffic tickets. It's really wonderful...

Letterman's Palin Recap

Priceless...



UPDATE:

Also wonderful...

Biden-Palin Debate Notes

A couple initial thoughts about the Biden-Palin debate...

• Palin did not have the Garth Algar in "Wayne's World" or Albert Brooks in "Broadcast News" moment that I thought she would have. She didn't collapse, and she didn't freeze up like a deer in the headlights. But after the initial round about the economy -- in which she did fairly well -- she didn't say anything of substance or significance. She used a bunch of generic platitudes: freedom, maverick, government-for-the-people. She came off very confident and competent, but if you read a transcript of what she actually SAID, she was very generic. Still, kudos to her for not dying out there.
  
  
• Having said that, Biden wiped the floor with this woman on the issues. He might not have the "you betcha" populist charm that Palin has, but he was 1000% more sound on specifics than Palin was. He was confident, affable and not at all arrogant or condescending. (Even though I think he should have exposed her a little more for the fraud she is.) His moment where he mentioned losing his wife and baby daughter and not knowing if his child was going to make it was sincere ... not at all contrived or scripted. I played a drinking game with myself that I would take a sip whenever Biden said "change" or "literally" (two words he does overuse). But I could have been a Baptist preacher given the number of times he blurted those out.
  
  
• CNN had a bunch of stuff happening on their HD screens. First, there was a chart at the bottom of the screen that looks like a heart meter that told how men and women in the state of Ohio thought about each particular point being made -- negative or positive. Forget the fact that Ohio voted for Bush two elections in a row, and therefore should have all their electoral votes called into question, it's very distracting to hear a bunch of Wole-Marts moms-n-dads giving their instant feedback to any given piece of information that the VP candidates are saying. Also, on the HD feed, there were running polls by the pundits, giving pluses and minuses for every moment, much like the show "Around the Horn" on ESPN. It was super-distracting.
  
  
• Gwen Ifill was absolutely terrible. She skipped around and didn't give equal time for each one to answer. There were times that I would have loved to have had Biden respond to something Palin said, and other times it would have been great to get Palin's perspective. But Ifill just stuck to her script and didn't allow for the spontenaity that Jim Lehrer had encouraged just 6 days prior.
  
  
• NBC's Brian Williams had three people on a panel for post-debate spin. He had Peggy Noonan -- a former Ronald Regan speechwriter, gee, I wonder who she preferred -- a middle-of-the-road person from NPR (who gave the only worthwhile perspective), and the worthless Jane Swift, former governor of Massachussetts, who was glowing in her talking-points-heavy praise of Palin. If people like Swift, Romney, Pataki, Palin, Schwartzenegger, Ventura and Jeb Bush are any indication, apparently it's not that hard to be the governor of a state. This analysis was worthless. Can we just kill the "spin" that goes on in this country? On both sides? Spin is the reason we no longer have "truth" but only "differing perspectives." I miss truth.
  
  
• I don't think this is going to save McCain. I think that unless something HUGE happens (such as Obama accidentally burning down an orphanage), he is going to take this election. He has the glow around him.
  
  
• I am so annoyed with people confusing "uneducated" with "folksy." Just because you are simple and don't have the "curiosity" gene, does not make you simply "regular folk." We should not be rewarding "regular guys" by voting them into office. We have had a "regular guy" president for eight years and it has been a disaster. Let's not say that since someone didn't get any fancy book-learnin' that they should somehow be confused with salt-of-the-earth regular people. Ignorance is ignorance; stop making excuses for people -- not just Palin, but all people -- who are uneducated but try to pass it off as simply having "small town values." Enough of that shit.

This won't really change the game much, but it was pretty interesting. Palin didn't fall flat on her face, but read the transcript: she really didn't say much other than a lot of hollow catch-phrases. Read this knee-jerk poll to show that it didn't really move anyone either way. The more I've been reading about this, the more I am convinced that Palin actually did more harm than good by being the talking points candidate, and showing her disregard for minutiae.

We shall see....

UPDATE:

See any similarities?


UPDATE II:

Enjoyed this from today's Wonkette.

Palin Comparison

Before I get into this, I wanted to point out two excellent articles today regarding Sarah Palin. It seems that some people are finally getting it. The first was from Newsweek's Fareed Zakaria ("Palin is Ready? Please"), which breaks down her laughable "knowledge." And in Salon, Rebecca Traister gives us "The Sarah Palin pity party," which is a blistering attack not only on the McCain campaign's cynical decision to pick her in the first place to be the V.P. pick, but also but also the dichotomy in which Palin tries to attack in a blitzkrieg fashion only to quickly recede behind the protective cover of sexism and faux-condescension. The Traister piece is probably the best article I have read on the hypocrisy and double-standard of Palin's part in the campaign.

I'm sure that both of my loyal readers think that I am in love with Sarah Palin, because I talk about her so much. But I'm not. I do have a sort of macabre fascination with her, not because of her as a person or as a candidate, but by the wave of Palin-mania that followed her second-to-last night of the RNC. I thought she read that speech very well, but she was mean-spirited and simplistic. And quite honestly, the degree to which the right-wing took to her was either a sign that they were desperate for some kind of excitement (and based on the latest polls, they may have been premature) or that the NASCAR/Wrestlemania states have no idea what charisma actually is.

The debate tomorrow between Sarah P and my boy Smokin' Joe Biden is going to be very interesting. On one hand, the worry on the part of the Republicans is either very real -- considering the way she has butchered all of her non-Sean Hannity interviews -- or incredibly shrewd, so as to set her up for rock bottom expectations. If this works, then she will probably come out looking good, right?

And a lot of people are saying that Biden has got to watch himself so as to not come off as condescending. They don't want him to pull a Rick Lazio and invade her personal space and get all up in her grill.

I say, BRING THE CONDESCENSION! There is no way that Palin should be allowed to get off easy just because she is a woman, or just because she is "regular folk." Times are too tough to be fooled by someone who seems, I suppose, personally likeable. Biden should not be afraid to point this woman out as a fraud. Which would you rather have? A sometimes too-verbose foreign policy savant (who does use the word "literally" way too much, which is a major pet peeve of mine) who dares to call to the forefront the lack of experience by a particular politician, or that politician who clearly doesn't know anything? I can't imagine that given the financial and global crises we are facing, that too many people are going to go for the soft-sell approach and vote for someone just because they think she's cute or think she's a cool person.

This country is looking for stability. Leadership. I have always said that the first person after 9/11 to make me feel like someone had things under control wasn't George Bush, it was Joe Biden. He has the ability to be that authoritative voice, filled with wisdom and experience, and yes, with outrage. If you see any clips of Biden at the Robert Bork or Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings, you know he can rip your head off pretty fast. He is windy, but I've never seen him come off as arrogant or aloof. He's just a brilliant guy who isn't afraid to show his brilliance. In other words, my kinda fella!

So Joe, don't listen to the skeptics. Now is the time to show everyone that the Emperor has no clothes. (I only wish that Cindy McCain was the Emperor, am I right fellows?!) Don't be afraid to expose this woman for the moose in the headlights that she is. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see that trademarked Palin blank stare in some foreign policy question, only to have Biden scoop up the question and rattle off the names of every foreign leader in the nation. Soon enough it'll be back to the kid's table for Governor Hockey Mom.