Wednesday, October 06, 2004
last night
I had forgotten how boring politics and baseball can be if you’re not drinking. It was hard to make it through either of the two events I was so excited about last night. I’m surprised that a man can dish out as many sensational lies and personal attacks as Dick Cheney did and still be ineffably, stultifyingly boring. One of the main far-right wing-nut canards after the first presidential debate was that Kerry may have won on style, but Bush won on substance. That’s like saying Liston really beat Ali because his punches were individually more damaging. Or that Bruiser Brody beat the guy who stabbed him to death ‘cuz he bled all over his shoes. (I won’t get into the phantom punch or Liston’s mob ties or Brody refusing to job or any of that bullshit).
BUT SO – that line of attack is manifestly not true, in relation to that first debate. Kerry pummeled Bush on style and substance alike. You could apply that assertion to last night, though, but only if you completely flipped it around. Cheney is the most soul-crushingly boring public figure I can remember ever paying attention to, but I think there’s no doubt that he came off better than Edwards last night, at least during the foreign policy section. (Disclaimer: I spent more time watching baseball than the debate after they got into domestic issues) Even though many of his claims are easily proven to be lies (such as never having met Edwards before, and claiming to have never implicated Iraq in the 9/11 attacks) and distortions (pretty much everything that had to do with Kerry’s record, and redefining the coalition to include the Iraqis), Cheney speaks in such a direct, no-nonsense, authoritative way that most folks who don’t already hate him or know better will believe him. Edwards didn’t do a good enough job of countering these attacks, and there were definitely a few moments that, when replayed by the disinterested and/or openly biased media, will look like Cheney completely stomping Edwards. People aren’t going to remember the responses, and they definitely aren’t going to get the facts; what’s going to stick out in their heads are Cheney’s attacks, and whether or not there’s any truth or accuracy to them won’t matter once the media’s finished. Cheney didn’t even try to respond to most of Edwards’ factual observations about the shitstorm in Iraq, because other than lying and saying that things are going well and that we’re turning the corner there’s nothing they can say that wouldn’t concede the point. Edwards definitely won on substance, but in the first half, at least, Cheney and his remarkable facility for deceit played better on television.
Meanwhile, I was far more atwitter about seeing the best pitcher in baseball, and my favorite non-Brave, non-Sox, non-Giles player, take it to the god-damned Yankees. If you don’t pay attention to baseball, and if you’ve never seen Santana pitch before, and only know what the Fox video package presented, you probably would think that he’s really overrated, after watching last night’s game. It was not one of his best starts, and he obviously struggled at spots. But he’s so ridiculously great that, even without his best stuff, he still shut out the Yankees for seven innings. Now, as a fledgling Sox fan I feel conflicted; am I supposed to root for the Yankees in this series, so that the Sox can bust them up in the ALCS? I would like to think not, as every single man, woman, and child alive should be rooting for the Twins (probably the most anti-Yankee of all the anti-Yankees around, moreso even than the A’s). What’s sad is, for horribly selfish and retarded fantasy baseball reasons, I almost want the Twins to lose this series, just so Gardenhire won’t tire out Johan’s tender young arm throughout the post-season. I wouldn’t want my young stud franchiser to go the route of Beckett or Prior next year.
Anyway, to sum up, last night was an okay evening for tv, but it would have been cosmically more interesting had I picked up some beer on the way home from work.
I had forgotten how boring politics and baseball can be if you’re not drinking. It was hard to make it through either of the two events I was so excited about last night. I’m surprised that a man can dish out as many sensational lies and personal attacks as Dick Cheney did and still be ineffably, stultifyingly boring. One of the main far-right wing-nut canards after the first presidential debate was that Kerry may have won on style, but Bush won on substance. That’s like saying Liston really beat Ali because his punches were individually more damaging. Or that Bruiser Brody beat the guy who stabbed him to death ‘cuz he bled all over his shoes. (I won’t get into the phantom punch or Liston’s mob ties or Brody refusing to job or any of that bullshit).
BUT SO – that line of attack is manifestly not true, in relation to that first debate. Kerry pummeled Bush on style and substance alike. You could apply that assertion to last night, though, but only if you completely flipped it around. Cheney is the most soul-crushingly boring public figure I can remember ever paying attention to, but I think there’s no doubt that he came off better than Edwards last night, at least during the foreign policy section. (Disclaimer: I spent more time watching baseball than the debate after they got into domestic issues) Even though many of his claims are easily proven to be lies (such as never having met Edwards before, and claiming to have never implicated Iraq in the 9/11 attacks) and distortions (pretty much everything that had to do with Kerry’s record, and redefining the coalition to include the Iraqis), Cheney speaks in such a direct, no-nonsense, authoritative way that most folks who don’t already hate him or know better will believe him. Edwards didn’t do a good enough job of countering these attacks, and there were definitely a few moments that, when replayed by the disinterested and/or openly biased media, will look like Cheney completely stomping Edwards. People aren’t going to remember the responses, and they definitely aren’t going to get the facts; what’s going to stick out in their heads are Cheney’s attacks, and whether or not there’s any truth or accuracy to them won’t matter once the media’s finished. Cheney didn’t even try to respond to most of Edwards’ factual observations about the shitstorm in Iraq, because other than lying and saying that things are going well and that we’re turning the corner there’s nothing they can say that wouldn’t concede the point. Edwards definitely won on substance, but in the first half, at least, Cheney and his remarkable facility for deceit played better on television.
Meanwhile, I was far more atwitter about seeing the best pitcher in baseball, and my favorite non-Brave, non-Sox, non-Giles player, take it to the god-damned Yankees. If you don’t pay attention to baseball, and if you’ve never seen Santana pitch before, and only know what the Fox video package presented, you probably would think that he’s really overrated, after watching last night’s game. It was not one of his best starts, and he obviously struggled at spots. But he’s so ridiculously great that, even without his best stuff, he still shut out the Yankees for seven innings. Now, as a fledgling Sox fan I feel conflicted; am I supposed to root for the Yankees in this series, so that the Sox can bust them up in the ALCS? I would like to think not, as every single man, woman, and child alive should be rooting for the Twins (probably the most anti-Yankee of all the anti-Yankees around, moreso even than the A’s). What’s sad is, for horribly selfish and retarded fantasy baseball reasons, I almost want the Twins to lose this series, just so Gardenhire won’t tire out Johan’s tender young arm throughout the post-season. I wouldn’t want my young stud franchiser to go the route of Beckett or Prior next year.
Anyway, to sum up, last night was an okay evening for tv, but it would have been cosmically more interesting had I picked up some beer on the way home from work.
