It seems whenever Sarah Palin performs poorly in an interview (as she did with Katie Couric) or says something off-putting or simplistic to the ears of those in the news media, they’ll make a huge case about it and wonder about her qualifications.  But, if Joe Biden says something silly, they’ll ignore it as not being newsworthy, given how legion his gaffes have become.

Now, given how often they go after Palin, and given that by their definition, her gaffes are as legion as those of Biden, shouldn’t we then pay them little heed?

Byron York may be right that the McCain campaign erred in first sending Palin to the major broadcast networks who would be all to eager to curry favor with the pundits for the major dailies by “proving” the Republican vice presidential nominee is a lightweight.  Hence, the gotcha questions of Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.

Palin, however, seems to have taken their animosity is stride.  It’s too bad she didn’t respond to their questions in kind or try to dance around them with clever Clinton-esque evasions, answering the question by not answering it.

When Hugh Hewitt asked her about the Gibson and Couric interviews, Palin did not respond by whining that she was being treated harshly as might some Democratic presidential nominees, instead she said it was par for the course:

I’m going to take those shots and those pop quizzes and just say that’s okay, those are good testing grounds. And they can continue on in that mode. That’s good. That makes somebody work even harder. It makes somebody be even clearer and more articulate in their positions. So really I don’t fight it. I invite it.

If she invites such tough questioning, she needs to learn to respond better. Maybe it will pay off if she delivers a strong performance Thursday night. Still, Byron York thought it might have been better for her to do her first interviews with conservative media (as she did today in talking to Hugh):

. . . she would have had widespread exposure to the voters most favorably disposed to her. Of course the campaign press corps would have complained, but they would also probably have been forced to use snippets from Palin’s talk-radio interviews, which means that what Palin said in a friendly atmosphere would ultimately make its way to an even wider audience, one that includes independents and undecided voters.

Even then, the MSM would likely have found some way to mock or twist her remarks. Yet, it interesting to see the grace with which she handles their mockery. Do you think Barack Obama would be as gracious should, “the AP–or the New York Times, or the Washington Post, or CNN, or CBS, or NBC, or ABC,” in the words of John Hinderaker, “devote[d] the same energy to trying to get the goods on every sentence uttered by Barack Obama.”

Have you ever noticed how some on the left rush to describe our support (no matter how tenuous) for George W. Bush as that of mind-numbed robots adoring a “Dear Leader” who can do no wrong? I mean, we can fault W, criticize his policies, but say, well, we generally like the guy or think he means well and they describe us as ideological zealots, apologists or hero-worshipers.

As one critic put it in taking issue with some of our commenters a year ago on this blog: “For six long years, conservatives have publicly labeled anyone who disagrees with “Dear Leader” as a traitor.“

I wonder if he’ll take issue with the parents who rounded up their children to appear in this video:

As I tip my hat to Glenn Reynolds for providing the video above, I have seen several versions on the web, to which various friends, including a lesbian reader from Venice, the very burg where the video was shot, have alerted me. A bold and courageous dissident she!

Glenn links one blog which compares this video to that of other children singing the praise of their Dear Leader.

After watching the video, Roger Simon asks of the leftists producing this perverted propaganda:

And they complain about the religious right – can you imagine the reaction to a similar group of kids singing about McCain under the tutelage of an evangelical minister?

Where do conservatives engage in the kind of hero worship that some leftists do of Barack Obama? Have you ever seen conservative display an iconic image of one of our candidates as a bumper sticker? Or on lapel pins resembling religious figures?

And they accuse us of adoring a Dear Leader.

UPDATE:  Of this video, Mo Rocca at AOL’s Political Machine writes:

… it is eerie. What on earth are children doing praying to a political candidate? I’m not sure what bothers me most: Is it their glassy-eyed stares? Is it their Children of the Corn-fed good looks? Their hypnotized vibrato-less tones?

As many of you know, the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah begins tonight at sundown, so as I write these words, some of our readers are already celebrating the holiday.

Every year, as the Jewish High Holy Days approach, I seek to engage in T’shuvah, the word literally means return (as if we return to the right path), where I examine my deeds in the past year and try to improve upon them for the year upcoming. To facilitate this process, I try to read S.Y. Agnon’s Days of Awe: A Treasury of Jewish Wisdom for Reflection, Repentance, and Renewal on the High Holy Days.

I have no clue how many times I’ve read this book since I first discovered it eighteen years ago. I find when I read it, it spurs me to reflection and helps me prepare for the Holy Days and the New Year.

This year, I pulled the book down from my shelves in the now-ending Hebrew month of Ellul, a month when, to paraphrase something I wrote two years ago at this time, we reflect, looking back on the previous year, considering our faults and resolve to improve ourselves. I didn’t get to it until just a few days ago.

I hesitated picking it up, fearing it would too much of a chore to get through, as I wanted to read the whole book over the Yamin Noraim, these Days of Awe, when we turn our thoughts to our Maker and our own improvement.

Once I started reading, however, it was not as much a chore as I initially feared. I found myself coming alive as I read, awakened to both the traditions of my people and the circumstances of my life, circumstances which helped explain (but not excuse) my own faults.  I realized (yet again) I was not the first to stray, not the first to take good things for granted.

I began to understand what it meant to be “humble and contrite.” Humble, that I am human and weak, not always able to live up to my duties and ideals. I’m not so proud to believe that I can always be perfect. Contrite, in that I take responsibility for my failures (even when I understand them) and seek to do better new year.

But, the real lesson I gleaned from this whole experience. While we may feel it is painful to consider our own imperfections, sometimes when we do, we discover the pain is lessened when we can see a path to improving upon them and find within ourselves the resolve to take the first step.

I’ve engaged in this process before. So, I ask another question: why do we hesitate sometimes to do those things which help us improve ourselves spiritually? And make us feel more engaged with our lives. And more alive.

May you, our readers, be inscribed and sealed for a Good Year.

it seems Bruce and I have been reading different sources to reach the same conclusion. It was not a failure of government to regulate which caused the current problems facing Wall Street, but an excess of government intervention which provoked it.

Bruce posts my friend Rich Miniter’s piece which I had not yet seen, but addresses many of the issues I’ve been learning about these past seventy-two hours or so.

A bill passed by a Democratic Congress and signed by a Democratic President (Jimmy Carter–can he do anything right?), the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, basically forced banks to make loans to would-be home-buyers without good credit histories. Another Democratic President, Bill Clinton, expanded on the bill.

The two institutions at the heart of this crisis are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are GSEs. Some media sources sometimes fail to define GSE. Well, it means Government Sponsored Enterprises. Let me repeat they are Government Sponsored Enterprises. They are not the free market.

Republicans have been calling for reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac throughout the Bush Administration, with the President himself calling for reform 17 times just in 2008.

As I mentioned before, John McCain co-sponsored legislation in the 109th Congress designed to fix the problem. Meanwhile, as per the video below, House Democrats thwarted reform while Republicans warned of the upcoming crisis.

And there is Barney Frank in 2004, saying all is hunky-dory at Fannie Mae.

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Is today Financial Armageddon?

UPDATE: (Not My) Speaker Pelosi’s incompetence led to failure of bailout vote.

House leaders held open the vote as they tried to sway reluctant lawmakers to support the plan, which was failing 207-226 after the vote clock expired but arm-twisting continued.

Opponents said part of the reason for the opposition from Republicans was what they termed a partisan speech by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said one GOP source.

“Pelosi’s partisan speech has caused our members to go berserk and may cost us any remaining chance to pass the bill,” the source said.

Pelosi had said that Congress needed to pass the bill, even though it was an outgrowth of the “failed Bush economic policies” of the last eight years.

Wait….remember last week the Democrats didn’t need ANY Republican votes for passage at all.  What happened, Speaker Of Incompetence?

UPDATE: An astounding 40% of Pelosi’s own Democrats voted AGAINST the bill.  This was the Democrats’ bill (before the House Republicans helped improve it).   And all she could get was 60% of Democrats???

INCOMPETENT!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

No, “WE” didn’t cause this Wall Street mess – Richard Miniter – PajamasMedia
(and yes, this is the whole column printed below)

You must be as tired of hearing it as I am.  Somehow, we are all at fault for Wall Street’s meltdown.  We demanded cheap loans for houses we couldn’t afford and voted in corrupt dolts, who took from Fannie Mae and told us what we wanted to hear.  Now, we are getting what we deserve.

Take Rod Dreher’s otherwise excellent column in the Dallas Morning News:

After all, these scoundrels did not elect themselves, nor was there an outcry heard in the land against Wall Street rapacity and recklessness when our 401(k)s were rising, and all but the lowliest plebeian was moving into his very own McMansion.

Along those lines, there’s one proverb that we will all become painfully acquainted with in the years to come: You reap what you sow.

There are two essential problems with this analysis: it is factually false and morally unwise.

Rep. Barney Frank was elected by a majority of the people of his district in Massachusetts. Senator Chris Dodd is brought to us by many but not all of the voters of Connecticut. And so on. Most of us never had the chance to vote for or against these solons. So why should we be blamed?

The regulatory changes that led us to this point were the work of lobbyists, bureaucrats and lawmakers including Dodd and Frank and corrupt executives, like Raines and Johnson. We know or can know their names.

The idea of blaming “all of us” is a way to avoid blaming those who did the deeds and reaped their ill-gotten gains.

What about cheap mortgages?   Sure, some of us took them when they were offered.   But who offered them and why?   Yes, it is the Clinton-era changes to the Community Reinvestment Act that forced banks to lend more for “affordable housing.” Law firms, including ones connected to Obama, sued banks that failed to meet their low-income quotas for mortgages. Bankers were not driven by greed, as everyone says, but by fear.  Fear of the baying hounds of regulators and lawyers would call them racist and ruin their careers.  But who unleashed the hounds on the bankers?

Particular policies and people made this mess. The public’s only role will be to pay the tab, a cruel addition that will equal more than $2,500 per person.  Can’t the talking class at least have the decency to stop blaming the one group generous enough to pay for the party they didn’t attend?

Amen, brother.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Spend just 10 minutes and learn a lot about why we are facing a $700 BILLION financial crisis.

Spend 10 minutes and learn how the same Democrats in Congress who caused this mess, also got massive campaign contributions from the greedy investment houses and lenders.

Spend 10 minutes and learn that these same Democrats are still kowtowing to their Wall Street donors and left-wing groups during this financial crisis.  We expect the people who caused this mess to FIX IT??

Ask yourselves why Chris Dodd & Barney Frank are SO EAGER to pass the Paulson package so we can “move on” to other subjects.   Don’t look behind the curtain, says Barney, just do what I say.

Ask yourselves which political party, over the past 10 days, has stood up for Main Street and which one has had to stand up for Wall Street due to the political support they rely on.

Spend 10 minutes watching this before you decide who to vote for this November. (h/t – Ace of Spades)

[RELATED STORY: Bailout Mess: And You Wonder Why I'm Not A Democrat? - Kevin at Citizen Crain]

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

UPDATE (from Dan);  As that video above no longer works, please check this one out:

If this doesn’t turn the stomach of every voter in America that hasn’t yet been brainwashed by The One or intimidated by the Obama Goons, nothing will.

Soldier’s Family Told Obama Not to Wear Son’s Bracelet – Gateway Pundit

Barack Obama played the “me too” game during the Friday debates on September 26 after Senator John McCain mentioned that he was wearing a bracelet with the name of Cpl. Matthew Stanley, a resident of New Hampshire and a soldier that lost his life in Iraq in 2006. Obama said that he too had a bracelet. After fumbling and straining to remember the name, he revealed that his had the name of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek of Merrill, Wisconsin.

Shockingly, however, Madison resident Brian Jopek, the father of Ryan Jopek, the young soldier who tragically lost his life to a roadside bomb in 2006, recently said on a Wisconsin Public Radio show that his family had asked Barack Obama to stop wearing the bracelet with his son’s name on it. Yet Obama continues to do so despite the wishes of the family.

How dare Senator Obama use the name of a dead Army soldier, whose name he can’t remember, as a sheer political stunt.  And against the wishes of Sgt. Jopek’s family, nonetheless.  

Senator McCain wears his bracelet in kinship and shared sacrifice with the family of Cpl. Matthew Stanley.

Senator Obama wears his bracelet in an arrogant defiance of what America stands for.  To Obama, the bracelet is yet another prop for his campaign, like the American flag he once did not wear on his lapel.

He makes me sick.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

To quote Glenn Reynolds, they told me if George W. Bush were re-elected there would be mobs of intimidating citizens suppressing speech and sowing the seeds of intolerance.

They were right! (h/t – Jawa Report)

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

While Bruce and I have different styles, we usually agree on the issues of the day.  Not so with the bailout.  While I had some problems with the original proposal, now that John McCain got the White House and congressional Democrats to consider some of the House Republicans’ concerns, we could have a deal which will be less bad than the original.  (I pretty much agree with Larry Kudlow who understands these things much better than I.)

Yet, even now, Democrats are trying to keep a provision providing a “slush fund” for the left-wing group ACORN.  Shouldn’t any money brought into the Treasury go to pay down the debt incurred for this multi-billion dollar bill?  Or maybe, if we’re so lucky, to return some to taxpayers?

Don’t the Democrats realize that adding on this bailout to the deficit will only increase the size of the deficit?  And they still want to fund their pet projects?

And Democrats keep sending in more negotiators than originally agreed upon.  Seems Charles Schumer just doesn’t want to be left out.  According to Jennifer Rubin: Treasury Secretary Henry “Paulson actually called [Senate Majority Leader] Reid to ask why there were so many Senate Democrats in there instead of just Dodd and the other 3 principals. Amazingly, Reid told Paulson he couldn’t control them.”  Schumer and the ethically-challenged Charles Rangel are among the Democrats barging in.  Seems House members don’t want to be left out either.

 John McCain has played a considerable behind-the-scenes role in helping House Republicans air their concerns and make this proposal more fiscally sound.  For more on his efforts read these two pieces.

I wonder if the media will take note of his efforts — and highlight Reid’s flip-flops, demanding John McCain come to Washington one day, then when the Republican nominee decided to do just that, telling him he wasn’t welcome.

UPDATE:  Seems they’ve reached a deal.  Let’s hope there’s no ACORN “slush fund” included.  Maybe they asked the interlopers to exit the negotiations.

When discussing with friends McCain’s campaign blunders in the week of September 15, I took note of his big errors, saying the “fundamentals of the economy were strong” (even though the rest of the sentence made clear he was aware of problems),* not immediately pointing his past efforts to promote reform, vowing to fire SEC Chairman Chairman Chris Cox and vowing later to replace him with Andrew Cuomo.

While I still think Cuomo would make a terrible SEC Chief, it seems that George Will notwithstanding, McCain’s call to fire Cox had some merit. Via the Jewish Athena, we learn that under Cox’s leadership:

The Securities and Exchange Commission missed “numerous potential red flags” leading up to the shotgun sale of Bear Stearns Cos., and failed to require the investment bank to rein in its risk taking, according to a scathing report from the agency’s inspector general. Inspector General David Kotz said it is “undisputable” that the SEC “failed to carry out its mission in its oversight of Bear Stearns.” Bear Stearns, one of the most aggressive investment banks, agreed to be sold to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in March after the firm’s clients fled and it was running out of cash.

Whatever Cox’s merits as a Congressman (and he had many), he does not seem to have brought them to the SEC.  Just as McCain was right on the need to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, it appears he was right to call for Cox’s dismissal.  I wonder if the MSM will take notice.

———

*Had he said this as president and not candidate, it would have been more defensible, saying it so as not to cause panic.

You know how upset Democrats (& their allies in the media) get when they claim that a Republican called Democrat unpatriotic, even when they have to twist the Republican’s remark to level that accusation?

Well, now we have a leading Democrat, no less than the House Speaker calling her Republican colleagues “unpatriotic.”  I’m just waiting for the usual sources to take Nancy Pelosi to task.

(H/t the Corner.)

UPDATE:  The Anchoress informs us that Pelosi called “the Congressional GOP unpatriotic for NOT SHOWING UP TO THE MEETINGS THEY DID NOT GET INVITED TO!“

**WELCOME INSTAPUNDIT READERS!**

As of Saturday morning, most of Charlotte-area gas stations still have plastic bags over their pumps and gas hunting cars zipping in, around, and out of their parking lots.  WBT-AM reports than only 7 of 80 gas stations surveyed in the Charlotte metro area have gasoline this morning.

Many parts of the Southeast are in a Gas Shortage Crisis, and the National Mainstream Media continues to ignore it.

Anderson Cooper…. where are you, man?

Gas lines remain today; deliveries still promised – Charlotte.com

It appears to be more of the same at gas stations across the Charlotte metro region, with only a fraction of stations selling fuel and long lines forming — despite promises that shipments of gas are on the way.

Lines began forming in the pre-dawn hours Saturday at a number of stations in the Charlotte area.

But officials from AAA Carolinas, government leaders and gasoline distributors say the tanker trucks are coming. A large shipment of fuel was reported to have been sent to Charlotte on Friday. However, some of those experts warned that the shortage won’t end quickly.

This week’s shortage is a result of hurricanes Ike and Gustav, which hit the Gulf Coast earlier this month, disrupting refinery production. Refineries had enough fuel in reserve to stock Southeastern pumps for about a week, but many stations ran out before the refineries could resume full production.

Four of the 17 Houston-area refineries remain closed, with most others in partial or full operation, AAA said.

Charlotte isn’t the only place grappling with a short gas supply, though the area saw the most serious disruptions in the state, with little or no shortages reported in eastern North Carolina, Crosby said. Stations were running out of fuel this week in Florida, Tennessee, Virginia and elsewhere, with the Atlanta area feeling particular pressure, the Associated Press reported.

Just this morning, I canvassed five gas stations in the South Charlotte area and all still had dry fuel tanks.  I’m staying home now until I know for sure there will be gas somewhere.  I’m running on fumes.

Remember folks, Charlotte is now the 20th largest city in the USA, the 2nd largest banking center in the USA (sorry, San Francisco) and North Carolina is the 10th largest state by population in the USA (sorry, New Jersey).

So where is the media focus and questions that a similar crisis in New York or Washington, DC would have attracted as soon as it started?

And Senator McCain — you’d be VERY wise to have you or Sarah come to Charlotte and talk about Energy Independence.  You would be very popular right now with that message!

UPDATE:  1:30pm – Finally got gas at my local place.  The tanker truck was still there as I pulled up.  The wait was shorter than I expected — about 20 minutes.  Unlike reports from other parts of Charlotte, my fellow gas-starved residents were orderly and no fights broke out.  In fact, there were a couple pumps open for a few minutes — unlike last night when people were cutting each other off and getting into accidents to get to any open pump.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

The world has lost one of the greatest actors of the last half-century.  Paul Newman “who personified cool . . . died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport,” Connecticut.  It says as much about the man as anything that, like Katharine Hepburn, he died where he lived — far from Hollywood.

While he starred in numerous box-office hits as well as critically-acclaimed films, nominated for ten Oscars, he always kept a distance from the culture of the entertainment industry.  Maybe that accounted for his success.

He showed his dramatic range in the two Tennessee Williams movies he made, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth as well as in Hud, Cool Hand Luke and most recently Road to Perdition.  My personal favorites, however, will always remain two of his greatest box-office successes, his (only, alas!) collaborations with Robert Redford, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting.

Redford and Newman had perhaps the best friendship chemistry of any two actors in cinema, Newman the older brother figure, teaching his younger charge the tricks of the trade and leading him to the dark side where he (Newman) delivered some of his best performances.  It’s unfortunate the two men did not collaborate more often

It wasn’t just Redford with whom Newman had such great chemistry.  He also worked well with numerous actors and Hollywood stars, notably his wife of fifty years, Joanne Woodward.  That relationship more than any other defined Paul Newman. 

One of the most handsome men in the public eye, he had his pick of any starlet or hanger-on, yet remained faithful to his beloved.  When asked why he never strayed, he replied, “I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?“

A class act he.  Would it that we had more such men in Hollywood.

UPDATE: In a touching tribute to Newman, John Nolte writes:

Even for a movie star he was uncommonly handsome and charismatic. And yet, somehow,Paul Newman defied the odds. He was a good man.

And he offers this brilliant insight into Newman’s unique niche: “playing loners who disguised themselves as reprobates in order to hide both their loneliness and that they might give a damn about anything.”

And he offers this which defines the man’s decency — and his dignity:

A lifelong liberal, Newman, unlike too many of today’s stars, didn‘t trash the other side. Instead, he was a proponent, an advocate, and — more importantly — one who put his money where his mouth was.

Read the whole thing.

A friend once noted that I’m not very good with beginnings.  In blogging, sometimes I find I have a brilliant idea (at least I think it’s brilliant), but will struggle to express myself because I want just the right beginning.

I even had this problem as a runner.  The first few minutes of the run would be the toughest.  Once I found my stride, however, I could hold my pace for great distances.  I learned to use this to my advantage when I rand road races.  I’d start slow, not minding so much if people passed me, but afer the second mile, I’d be the one doing the passing.  From then on, no one would pass me.

That’s kind of how I saw John McCain’s debate performance last night, except his “second mile” didn’t come until maybe forty or forty-five minutes into the debate.  

Only later did catch the beginning* on FoxNews and thought Obama looked stronger in his opening remarks.  About a third in the debate when I had inititally started watching, McCain looked nervous, almost uncomfortable.  On the watch for Obama’s use of “um,” given the Democrat’s predilection for the word when not using a TelePrompter, I also caught my candidate used the exclamation more than was warranted.

At this point, he only seemed better because Obama was worse.

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When John McCain called Barack Obama on his misrepresentation of what former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said, I thought he might have caught his Democratic rival in the gaffe of the night:

Look, Dr. Kissinger did not say that he would approve of face-to- face meetings between the president of the United States and the president — and Ahmadinejad. He did not say that.

Not only did McCain “win” that portion of the debate, but he caught his rival trying to dress up his foreign policy as something that had the blessing of that widely respected “elder statesman.” Indeed, Kissinger himself “believes Barack Obama misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized:”

Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.

If John McCain had tried to claim a respected Democrat held views similar to his own, the MSM would be all over it. But, like Roger Simon, “My guess is the MSM will do its best to ignore this, because it certainly makes Obama look like a foreign policy amateur.“

Beyond that misrepresentation, Obama did not commit any major blunders in tonight’s debate. He didn’t look as strong or as confidant as John McCain, but did seem more easily rattled than his Republican rival.

Yet, if we had a more even-handed media, they might make much of his attempt to twist Henry Kissinger’s words.  And of the former Secretary of State’s quick repudiation of the Illinois Democrat.

Fresh in from Dan (GayPatriotWest):

I think McCain won the middle third (but just barely), the last third by a larger margin.

He did a very good job distinguishing himself from W. He looked more at the camera than did Obama and seemed more confident in the last third or so. Used a lot more specifics. But, let me repeat the big takeaway (and you were the first to point this out . . . to me at least), McCain was plaing offense, Obama defense.

Finally, Obama tried to be Reagan-esque at the end, but talked our country down more than appealing to the best in us.

Finally, wish there were an um-o-meter to measure the number of “ums” each candidate utters. At least Obama won one.

My final thoughts: Can Congress pass a law to keep T. Boone Pickens off of my television?

And, if Senator Obama was TRULY “post-partisan”, wouldn’t he NOT have had a “spin room”?

And, can someone call Roger Ailes and let him know there is a new way of delivering news on cable?  It is called high-definition TV.  I hate having to watch CNN for these kinds of events.

Shadow’s final thought:

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

UPDATE (from Dan): Please note I tweaked my remarks a bit. I wasn’t able to watch the first third as I was stuck in LA traffic, so can’t comment on that. I thought McCain had a slight edge in the second third, seeming nervous at times.

That was quick!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

From GayPatriot Back Injury Central, the Presidential Debate is about to begin and I’m liveblogging under the influence of some strong stuff.

Here’s my view.  I am watching CNN, to my dismay.  Hey, FOX News Channel REALLY needs to discover high-definition TV broadcasting.

The debate is 10 minutes away…..

9:00 PM – Wolf Blitzer says we are a minute away.  Hey, if he took my drugs — he’d be Wolf Blitzed!   LOL.

9:02 PM - Jim Lehrer is now giving the intro and the rules.  Is it just me, or do his wide, glassy-eyed gaze make him look as stoned as I feel?

I almost forgot!  My Pajamas Media colleague, Steven Green from VodkaPundit, is drunkblogging at Pajamas Media.

9:06 PM – First question about the Economic Meltdown of 2008.  Barack spews out the same talking points he’s been regurgitating all week.  Took a shot at blaming the whole mess on McCain and the GOP.  Bill Clinton would disagree.

9:08 PM – Good deal with McCain explaining the Bailout and also for bringing up the need for energy independence.

9:10 PM – McCain is going heavy on the need for accountability in Washington & Wall Street.  Those of us watching on CNN are being shown a real-time graph of a focus group in Ohio.  I am noticing something interesting so far — when McCain answers, the Independents are frequently scoring above Republicans and Democrats.

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WELCOME INSTAPUNDIT READERS!

Yes, the rumors you have heard all week are true:  GayPatriot will be Vicodin-Live-Blogging the Presidential Debate tonight!

Okay, it isn’t actually vicodin — but I am on some seriously strong pain medication to help with the arthritis-related pain in my lower spine.  More on that topic another time….

So tune in here at GayPatriot.org beginning shortly before 9PM Eastern for my at-the-moment, unique, and pain-medicated-induced view of the debate.

Who knows what I might think I hear coming from the TV tonight!

UPDATE: Hmmmm, Vicodin-Podcasting would be even more of a challenge!

UP-UPDATE: Wow, this medicine I’m on is quite strong.  I just had a nausea spell and broke out into a serious sweat.  Sheesh.

Here is my outpost for the night:

And here is my blogging partner tonight enjoying a pre-debate snack.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)