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I'm not watching the debate tonight. I just want to ask why anyone else is watching? Did anyone ever watch a debate and walk away saying " Gosh , I thought I liked Candidate X, but Candidate Y really showed me his stuff last night ". Sorry, to my knoweldge thats never happened. It's the Sasquatch of water cooler life. Youve heard of it, you know people who swear that they know somebody who knows somebody who... but it just aint so.

Look at what happened last week. Kerry gives the performance of his life, Bush is now at a higher job approval than before the debate. Do you know anyone, anywhere who after last weeks show has now said " I can now switch my vote for Kerry". If you do, just ask them for me what is Kerrys position on the War? Because I've watched the debate, and I've read the transcript 3 times and I still can't tell if he wants to leave Iraq altogether or wants to increase troops and spend more money or give Nuclear weapons to Iran and unilaterally disarm. I can't tell.

My guess is Kerry can't tell either, but it doesnt matter because "he's not Bush", and to about 47% of the electorate and just about every Jihadi on the planet, thats all that matters. Kerry or Edwards could walk out on stage in a chiffon dress, with a string of pearls, and there would be many in the TBM who would accuse any of us that point out that "real men dont wear Chiffon", as just another right wing attack on their patriotism.

Let's be honest. The contest is over, everyone who can breathe has now made up their mind, so all of this outgassing in the last 28 days is for nothing. If you still don't know who you are going to vote for by now, nothing anyone says in the next 28 days will make you go " Oh, THATS a good point, Now I'm definitely all for Mr. fill-in-the-blank, oh Honey! get my checkbook, I'm writing a check to that guy tonight".

And all this stuff about "new voters" is also crap. People dont vote out of a sense of duty, they vote out of habit. Kids ( I was one myself once, so I speak from experience) only have bad habits and are usually so self-absorbed and soaking in bong-water that they hardly ever notice that there's an election going on till after its over anyway. Those that do notice are usually pretentious little do-gooders, who will most likely vote for Nader( as long as the ballot is on biodegradeable stock and only if they can use vegetable based ink and the polling station is "cleansed" before the election by a taoist monk)

The TBM need a good horserace, or you'll be like me, watching whatever else is on, what you've stored on your Tivo or reading "blogs" on that danged computer fer-gods-sake. The TBM will make news even if there is none to report, there has never been a news broadcast in the history of mankind that ended early because there was a general lack of anything interesting going on. Why do I like blogs? - Reason #24: Because if a blogger doesn't have anything to say, they say so, they dont crank out a piece every M-W-F just to keep their editor and publisher happy.

The candidates have made their case and the election is actually over. We are just waiting for the Polls to open so we can get on with it. If the polls opened tommorow are there any of you who would say " I need a little more time to make up my mind"?

Hardly.

We've reached the point in the battle where the 'signal to noise' ratio is so high that weve all reached down into the dashboards in our mental cockpits to turn off our radios and missle warning systems. There's just too much chaff in the air, so it's time to get back to our "seat of the pants" instincts. Most of us made up our minds months ago. Some of us made up our mind on Sept 12, 2001.

The Republic will survive no matter who takes the office of President. If Kerry wins, He gets a Congress where half of it is solidly Republican and the other half is still a majority Republican. This means that a Democrat president will get bubkus done. If this was peacetime, the Conservative in me would be ok with that, but since were not, I'm not. Presidents always enter office all spry and "happening", but Kerry is gasping for air already and he's not through with the campaign ( or is he...?). I would be amazed if he simply survives the first 4 years, but he's not getting anything done during that time anyway, so enjor the ride. I can't wait for Kerry to face the actual need to send troops 'into-harms-way' during his tenure in office. As Spock said in Star Trek, "only Nixon can go to China", but its my guess that "only Kerry can restart the Draft".

If Bush wins, He's going to have to remove about half of his cabinet, as they clearly seem to have left the reservation. Rumsfield, as much as I love the guy, is getting a bit old. Powell looks to me like he is screaming face down into his sofa cushions during most evenings. So, While I still think Bush will win, It hardly means that everything is going to be "happy fun time". The left in this country and the world is not going to roll out the red carpet and support him no matter how many people he liberates and brings freedom. Bush will never get nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, while Arafat has one on his mantle. Bush will always be seen as the devil himself, despite the 25 million people who live in freedom today that didnt before he took office. How many people did Carter liberate? Arafat?. Compare and contrast, Reagan and Bush "The Great Liberators", Carter and Clinton, "The Great Prevaricators". Who is more loved and by whom? If I were a Pole, whos father spent 60 days in the Gdansk shipyard, against a tryannical murdering government my answer might be different than that of the spoiled babies in Moveon.org in this country. If being attacked and going to war can't get your oppostion party to back you up, theres not much thats ever going to do it.

For Bush, its another 4 years of sitting at the top of a cultural civil war. For just $225,000 a year, to be called "Worse than Nixon or Hitler", to have every single movement you make scruitinzied, to go to bed every single night knowing what most of us never will know about the ongoing of covert and overt actions around the world, it's no wonder Presidents always look like freshly hammered dog crap after they leave office.

We will survive, we will prevail. Let's not get our knickers in a twist. I dont care how you dress these guys up, they all sound like the Honorable Gov. William J. Lepetomaine so Let's not try to deify these guys too much.

Favorite quote: "Gentleman!, We've got to do something to save our Phony Baloney Jobs !"

So tonight, I see theres a new show called "Wing Nuts" on Discovery channel. I Guess I'll have to check that out. Why the rest of you are watching a "debate", I have no idea. Life is too short for that much bile production.

UPDATE: A lot of people have written to tell me "Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan hasn't made up his mind, so theres still alot of people who havent made up their mind about Bush." . Ok kids, I like Andrew Sullivan, He is a fine writer and his thoughtful on many things he says. He's changed my mind on more than a few things. but those of you who think that he hasn't made up his mind also think that Andy is still just waiting for the right girl to come along. Andy is a one issue voter, and he sees Bush and Cheney on the wrong side of that issue, no debate is going to change his mind on that.

Not Watching

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