The Debates
October 17, 2000
OK, I'm biased, but I think this was the clearest case of why Al Gore should be president:
#1: Al Gore honestly knew the issues. While I'm sure he was was prepped by advisors, he was clearly able to talk about details
#2: Bush was a puppet, unable to say anything beyond the rhetoric he was taught on numbers, social issues & foreign policy. Bush was better spoken on the death penalty, I'll easily grant him that, but I wouldn't for a moment believe either candidate's declaration of the death penalty as a deterrent. If you're sending retards, people with IQ's of under 65, being represented by lawyers who have long histories of being "written up" for badmouthing their clients, and then ignoring newfound evidence, something is wrong.
#3: George Bush had to rely on a joke and, like his dad, a "vision" thing. Al Gore was able to say what he thought about everything: Call him a boring nerd, but who do you want to call the shots on foreign policy? A guy who already understands where all the parties are coming from, or someone who has a fuzzy idea of everything? Who do you want to make sure social security is there for you when you retire? A guy who wants you to gamble it on the stock market or a guy who wants to make sure that it's a steady, slow, 2% return, year after year.
#4: Al Gore is a nerd & he knows the smartest will come out on top. Who do you want to run the school system? A guy who wants to test the public schools and, if they fail, take money out of the public system and throw it into the religious system, without taking pains to better the already strained & baby-boomer-generation-Y bursting classrooms? A guy who wants to put morality training into effect? I'm a Tipper-hater, but I'll take Al's attitude of more school buildings and better funding of old schools, more and better teachers, across the board testing for new teachers to insure the next generation of teachers stays abreast of their specialty & that the old ones die out peacefully, better standards for kids to achieve plus universal pre-school, $10,000 college deductions & more opportunities to re-educate yourself as you grow older.
Finally, it all comes down to our own voices as to the direction our country will take. Don't kid yourself: This election is important. Some people say that the Democrats and the Republicans are the same. They are wrong. Our country is harshly divided right now, and a lot of that division rides on the simple seperation of church & state. The next president will decide the fate of, at the least, 2 seats on the Supreme Court, age-wise, possibly as many as 5 of the 7 judges.
If you honestly believe that Al Gore is the best choice for our country, vote for him. If you find that one of the "3rd party" candidates, like Ralph Nader, feels right to you, then you have the option to vote for one of them. If you find George Bush as the best choice, then you can vote for him. Hell, if you really think that Eminem would make a great president, then you can write him in. No thoughtful vote is a wasted vote.
Remember: If you don't vote, you can't bitch.
October 11, 2000
I'd chalk this one up to Al. He stuck to the questions, answered them fully and then proceeded to slam Dubbah on every issue he tried to insert. Duhbba was unable to carry the night due to his seeming lack of preparations on anything but prepared statements.
October Third Results:
It's a tie: apart from saying that some kid's are unable to be educated, Bush made no made fatal mistakes, and that was all that was required of him.
Al Gore made no major mistakes, apart from being his boring self.
My own thoughts
I think Bush took a lesson from H. Ross Perot and tried to talk like "an everyman", instead of tackling Gore, the guy with an education. Time was that people respected someone with an education and experience, but the Bush Campaign thinks that time is passed... ergo:
What we learned
George Bush wants public school funds to go to private schools. Al Gore wants Public Schools to be better.
Bush wants everyone to who fucks to breed, Gore wants choice.
Bush wants you to pretend that you're a "day-trader" with your social security, Gore wants it to remain there for you when you're old and senile.
Bush wants to exploit American oil now, Gore wants to sit on it on until the mideast seriously decides to stick it to us.