Last.fm is a pretty cool website, it allows you to track the artists and tracks you listen to the most in iTunes and your iPod (my music-listening outlets of choice.) Here’s my top artists and tracks so far since I’ve been tracking (it only counts when a song is listened to entirely):
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This was a very anticipated debate and I think it lived up to and exceeded my expectations. I was very impressed at Barack Obama’s ability to not only go toe-to-toe with McCain on foreign policy issues, but to even take the upper hand in a variety of moments.
I think McCain played his part well as far as his campaign is concerned. He attacked Obama in a merciless fashion, saying “he doesn’t understand” about Obama multiple times — to the point of annoyance — and pushing his experience to the forefront. Where I think that hurt is that it also showed his age, his possible unwillingness to cooperate with anyone who thinks differently, and it didn’t show a large enough separation from the Bush Administration.
Probably the one thing that stood out for me from this debate the most is the fact that McCain did not look at or address Brack Obama directly at all. He consistantly and adamantly avoided any type of eye contact despite the plea from moderator Jim Lehrer — and the format of the debate — for the two candidates to talk amongst and between themselves. Throughout the night Obama called McCain “John” and looked in his direction while addressing him as “you” and “your policies.” I don’t know how much that will register with the undecided voter, but I lost a bit of respect for McCain because of it.
It think Barack Obama did as well as could be expected, but I also think he went a little too light on McCain. He didn’t mention the Republican majority in Congress for 6 of the last 8 years, didn’t push McCain’s 90% agreement with Bush enough, and did not mention any sort of poll stating the opinion of Americans on the war, which would have been in Obama’s favor. Also his many mentions of agreeing with McCain will be thrown right back in his face, despite each of them having a significant “but…” after them. Those will be blown way out of context but nontheless, they will be used. This is something Barack will have to fix in the next two debates.
I think McCain had the edge in the emotion category with all of his stories. I think people will connect with them, despite the need for some fact checking. Things like Eisenhower’s two letters (no letter of resignation) and Barack’s Afghanistan hearings (Obama is the chairmn of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs, so he wouldn’t hold one on Afghanistan, but he did attend running mate Joe Biden’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Afghanisan once) had major factual errors.
And maybe the most important aspect of the debate: NO MCCAIN FLAGPIN. That communist bastard.
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Sorry I haven’t been very good about updating lately. Not too much different going on in my life right now, but that can be a good thing. School, work, volleyball and trying to sleep are about all I do.
I’m exhausted from the election. I tried to stay on top of every new attack ad, every argument going on, and all the latest polls and maps, but it’s just too much. I’m so tired of arguing my case to everyone, tired of putting too much weight on polls and electoral maps that will change 80 billion times between now and November 4th. I’m not saying I don’t care about the election anymore, far from it. I’m just taking a little break from it for a while. Hopefully the debate on Friday will get me excited again.
Volleyball has been good, and a great learning experience. It’s quite the eye-opener then you’ve beenplaying for 5 years and you find out that pretty much every move you’ve been making has been wrong. So much of how I play needs to be tweaked and improved. I’m very rough around the edges, but I’m so glad to have this opportunity to learn from some great players. Our coach is very experienced in the sport, having played with some of the best players in the world in Hawaii and elsewhere. Some of the guys on our team have been playing competitively for over 5 years and have even extended their school careers so they can have another run of eligibility on the team. It will be exciting when things ramp up near the end of the year.
My fantasy football team is doing ok. I’m approaching a 2-1 record so far (after tonight’s game) and it’s been fun watching games and cheering on my players. I never thought I’d be interested in the NFL but this helps make it more fun. Plus something has to make up for the Detroit Lions. Ugh.
So yeah, that’s life. How’s your life? Leave a comment or send me an email.
If Barack Obama wins this election, or even comes close by winning 45-50% of the popular vote, I will be very surprised by our country. It will give me a newfound hope for the people who live here and how far we’ve come. To elect an African-American as President of the United States? At the height of NASCAR popularity (you should know what I mean here without me saying it)? It would be astounding.
If he loses, or loses by more than that, it will be because of this and this alone: our redneck, good ‘ol boy country still can’t stand the thought of a black President.
And if that is proven true, I would be ashamed to be an American.
Sarah Palin is a very bad pick in my opinion. It’s great that she’s a woman, but she’s not the first woman vice-presidential candidate as many would have the public believe. Nor is she the most experienced woman in the Republican party. I think it’s very obvious she was picked to sway voters for that reason alone, which is not the right reason to pick someone for that position. Barack Obama picked Joe Biden because he’s the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which helps Obama’s inexperience in that area. Palin does not help McCain in any area. She was the mayor of a 7,000 person town in Alaska where they are touting all of her experience there. She’s been Governor of Alaska for two years, almost as long as Obama/McCain have been on the campaign.
Her policies (text and reference links pulled from Wikipedia):
She has never been out of the country in an official capacity, yet she’s a 72-year old man’s heartbeat away from the presidency of the most powerful nation and army on the planet? It doesn’t make sense and I think is the number 1 reason why NOT to elect John McCain.
(by the way, if there is any wrong information here I’ll gladly correct it.)
I’m in a Political Campaign Communications class at my particular University and it’s a great one to be in at this time in my life. I’m old enough to at least begin understanding how things work with elections, to be affected by the issues, and to be targeted by the candidates. I’m also old enough to vote — this will be my 3rd Presidential election, and I’m sorry to say I voted for Bush twice — so any help I can get in placing a well-educated and rational (nod to Dr. Wiese) vote is welcome.
I’m currently watching coverage of the Republican National Convention, hearing side #2 of this unfortunately two-sided election. Earlier I got my long-awaited dose of Bill Maher via Podcast of his show that returned after too many months hiatus. No one makes more sense to me on politics than he does.
I’ve got my TV programmed to quickly switch between the three major cable news networks (CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews) so I can get the overall reaction to things. I’ll also be tuning in to Barack Obama on Bill O’Reilly tonight.
…but the speakers at the Republican National Convention are sounding a little paranoid in their attacks on Obama. They obviously see him as a very real threat.
Not that the Democrats didn’t take their shots at McCain, but I’m hearing a lot of bad jokes, applause lines and yee-haw guffawing that is a little too much in bad taste.
But maybe I’m just biased.
…I felt inspired to post this song. I hope it (and that speech) inspires you as well.
Oooo, buck o’five.
I understand that you can get latched onto a person — whether it’s a candidate or a sports figure or team — and not let go no matter what happens, just because they are your favorite. But sometimes you realize that someone is your favorite for a reason. I think Barack Obama is my favorite candidate for a reason. Beyond the issues and policies (that by the way, I agree with most of,) the reason I like Barack Obama is because he makes me believe that there’s something better out there. He helps to inspire me to actually do something to make a change. These are things that John McCain and George W. Bush do not have.
That said, I am really looking forward to hearing from McCain next week. I really want to hear and see what can be put up against that.
I’m loving Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, and I’m anticipating the return of Bill Maher on HBO on Friday (download the podcast for free on Monday.)
These two people are intelligent, real and entertaining people that actually make sense.