A Contest Of Reason

Sarah Palin wore a great big flag pin. Now that the most important thing about last night is out of the way, let’s move on.

I like this definition of the word debate:

Debate is a formal method of presenting arguments in support and against a given issue (expressed in a form of a debate topic) in which debaters present reasons and evidence to persuade an audience or a group of judges.

How much evidence did we see last night? It all depends on who you believe. One side says one thing, the other side says it’s not true. The other side says something else, the other side says it’s not true. This is a debate? What is gained by this?

Perhaps the debates could stand to have a panel of referees. Someone to point out what is true and what is false. This is especially true in the case of someone’s voting record. The senators themselves probably don’t really know what they are voting for half the time, how are we supposed to figure it all out? How many members of Congress read the Patriot Act before voting on it? How do you weed out what’s really going on when there is so much pork attached to everything they vote on? Like wooden arrows for children. Last nights bickering about who voted for what does not add clarity, it only muddies things up even more. What is the average American voter supposed to make of all of this?

“Analysis” from the talking heads does not help at all. Style trumps substance in their world, and they try as hard as they can to make it be that way in our world as well. So the meme that spreads about last night is that Sarah Palin held her own. I think that Sarah Palin is Bush redux. Not only in substance, but also in style.

A debate is supposed to be a contest of reason. That’s not what I saw last night.

Update:
From George W. Palin by digby:

Last night Palin appeared to have mastered the art of George W. Bush style gibberish --- obnoxious, confident and dumb. And the conservative elite are all relieved. They were afraid they had a real problem on their hands --- a candidate who was timorous, insecure and dumb and that is a sure loser.

I'm going to start referring to her as George W Palin. She has every one of the characteristics that people thought were so refreshingly "authentic" when he ran in 2000 and which led us to disaster. This arrogant, empty, anti-intellectual faux populism has just proved itself to be inadequate for the presidency and yet they've put up another one.

Does Size Really Matter?

I hate symbols. I really do. For those who believe in them, what does it say about politicians who wear tiny flag lapel pins when instead they could be unfurling a 75 feet by 150 feet monster everywhere they go. Shhh, don’t give them any ideas!

From American Flags as Big as Fields by John Branch:

On the field before the All-Star Game, Major League Baseball plans to assemble the largest gathering of Hall of Fame players in baseball history. And as fans salute their heroes, the former players will join the crowd in saluting the American flag — one that is roughly 75 feet by 150 feet, as long as a 15-story building is tall, spread horizontally over the Yankee Stadium turf.

Read the rest here.

Mahmoud Abbas' Treachery

From Because Nothing Expresses Patriotism Quite Like A Three Dollar Stars And Stripes Enamel Flag Pin, Mass-Produced For Walmart In A Beijing Sweatshop:

So I guess it's not just Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos who think the key test of Presidential material is whether Obama wears a flag pin. There's actually someone else in the world who thinks just like them. And it's Hamas! How about that.

I Feel Unsafe

The politicians and the media have let us down. No longer do I see flag pins on every lapel. No longer do I know what color the “Terror Alert Level” is. This can mean only one thing. The terrorists have won.