Another night, another debate, and once again, I cannot watch, for basically the same reasons mentioned in this diary. (I also thought the Town Hall was the foreign-policy debate, so my comments about Mitt Romney being well nigh useless on foreign policy still stand.)
More below the socialist tangerine beignet.
So I cannot watch... but I need to know. I need to know Bob Schieffer is trying to be more than Jim Lehrer without the Roger Rabbit googly eyes. I need to know that it's President Obama (and not Professor Obama) that's making a strong case for four more years -- as opposed to four more years of the Dubya administration. Most of all, though, I need to know if Mittens is being called on his lies, because I know he'll bring a sackful of them, and has no problem with using every last one.
To my mind, the President cannot just "win" this debate. Instead, he needs to drive a stake through the cavity where you'd usually find a heart, because it's been obvious for months now that Willard "MittWitt" Romney has no heart. I wish I could link to Maureen Dowd's column from this weekend (No subscription? No service!), which includes her usual dose of sideways snark towards Obama, but had a great quote about Mittens preferring spreadsheets to people: Spreadsheets don't have emotions -- they're just numbers. That perfectly explains how Romney could live his life in such a bullying, life-crushing way, and yet not be tempted one morning to throw himself off the top of one of the buildings he owns because it's all just too damn much going through life with a soul the size of a brussel sprout.
Jeff Goldblum said it best in 1982, and this monologue still works today -- be it for Mittens, for the Koch brothers, for Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, or anyone else who spends their time doing things other people shudder to even consider doing for a living, and doing them 24-7-365:
Funny then, and funny now... but I simply cannot listen to someone who runs their life like that, nor can I stomach the idea of someone running my country who embraces that egregious mindset -- not to mention this mindset from another 80's classic:
So I'm going to put on my headphones and write up a CD for a web site I write for from time to time. If my TV is on, it'll either be on the ALCS (GO GIANTS!) or Monday Night Football, or another Top Gear marathon (Greatest... show... EVER) on BBC America, or anything but "the Battle in Boca Raton."
But I still need to Know.
And that's where the livebloggers and the commenters come in. You guys are the firewall that keeps me from throwing a 46" flat-screen through a set of French doors -- and don't think I couldn't do it, because given the quality and size of the rage that Willard "MittWitt" Romney can generate in me, it's well within the realm of possibility. So on behalf of my sanity (and my media center), I thank everyone pounding Chiklets about the debate tonight. You're a lot stronger than I am, and I hope it's a good ride for all of us -- both tonight, and two weeks from tomorrow night.
I close with the same words I closed the diary linked above:
Sic 'em, President Obama!