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My friend Corey is convinced that Obama will win Georgia. I'm convinced he won't. So is his wife. So was everyone else at their house last night for Break Fast. Made for an interesting evening. That, and his wife has turned their son into a Phillies fan, for which I will never forgive either of them (his wife for doing it, Corey for failing to prevent it). But then there's this poll that puts the Georgia race at 49-46 with a 4% margin of error. (Guess who sent me the link.) The poll is from local pollsters Insider Advantage, which makes the poll more interesting considering how close it is. Note, however, that Libertarian candidate Bob Barr is not part of the question. I'll put Georgia in the "lean McCain" list rather than "strong McCain," but our 15 EV are going in the red column come November. If they don't, that night's going to be a bloodbath - give Obama 350+ EV and the Dems 60 Senate seats and +25 in the House. But that ain't gonna happen. Tags: election, politics, poll
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My friends, did anyone else get the feeling that John McCain is a lot like the sweet, old grandpa at a wedding? He totters around from table to table, talking to everyone with a genuine joviality even if he doesn't know them but calls them by name anyway, my friends. My friends, he tells the same story over and over again, getting a few of the details wrong or conflicted or confused, my friends, and everybody smiles and laughs politely at the same not-quite-as-funny-as-he-thinks jokes that he told at the rehearsal dinner last night. Everybody likes him, but nobody really wants to be around him for very long. He's not quite right in the head, but he does okay, my friends. His ideas are a bit old-fashioned, but he's old so that's okay, too. When he climbs into bed that evening, he tells his beloved wife what a wonderful time he had and how nice all those people were. He's still got it, he says, and kisses his wife good night. Back at the party, which is still ongoing, everybody agrees Grandpa's a sweet, old man, but he sure does talk a lot, my friends. They can only take him in small doses, they say, and what's with his always saying "my friends"? Poor guy must be exhausted from scurrying around all night saying hi to everybody, but isn't he sweet for doing it? A little on the crazy side, but in an endearing kind of way. That's the impression I got from the debate tonight, my friends. That, and McCain sure does like to talk about how he has the answers to all of our problems, but he won't talk about what those answers are. Take a look back at his "answer" about social security, when he promised to answer the question (which Obama didn't, really) and then just said how "we know what the answer is" but, again, wouldn't give the answer. Maybe he doesn't want to telegraph it. Tags: debate, election, politics
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Saturday was a busy day. In the early afternoon, I drove all the hell way out to Stone Mountain Park for a little LJ get together, mostly folks ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) lemon_says knows. Since they all had small kids, the idea was to meet at the big-ass playground they have on the opposite side of the mountain. But the road was closed. As living proof that private entities are so much better at providing service than government, the private company that operates the state park that is Stone Mountain Park decided to pick late September to mid-October as the perfect time to repave several miles of the loop road, effectively blocking off access to several miles of the park, including the playground. It's a good thing the weather is always terrible in early fall here in Atlanta and there aren't any festivals scheduled for the park this time of year. </sarcasm> Luckily, the highly efficient, customer service oriented, and market driven private company was sure to warn all visitors to the park that the road is closed by posting the information on the website and letting people know at the entrance, as they paid the $8 entry fee. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! No. No, they didn't. In spite of private enterprise's best efforts (and the Invisible Hand of the Market is doing so well lately), we all had a good time anyway. The road closed at Confederate Hall, which has a sizeable lawn, a low wall to jump on, and a couple of good climbing trees. Throw in blankets and a few soccer balls, and kids younger than six have no problems amusing themselves without getting themselves killed. Especially with a dozen or so hyper-alert adults (including one grandma) keeping an eye on them to prevent death and/or dismemberment. Pictures of the afternoon are here. Beware the cuteness! After two Saturday afternoons in a row wrangling very small people, I spent the night with adults seeing a very adult show. Not like that. missy_carter and I went to the Vortex for burgers (since our first choice, Solstice, was closed for a private event and we both had a hankering for a burger) and then to Dad's Garage to see the 10th anniversary remount of Cannibal! The Musical. Neither of us saw it the first go 'round, so it was new to both of us. I haven't laughed so hard in ages. Master of Gore rotzo_the_clown was there so we could compliment him on his effects (the steaming skull and the cyclops's eye were particularly awesome). Well, he wasn't there for our compliments, but since he was there we said "hi" anyway. We also saw some other folks I hadn't seen down there in quite a while, which is always a good thing. Anyway, highly recommended show. Just don't bring the kids. That's what Uncle Grampa's Hoo Dilly Story Time is for. Cannibal! really is a musical, though you don't necessarily want to hear all of the cast singing. Luckily, those who can't sing but do either play it for laughs or are completely lost in the sheep. Yes, sheep. A couple of them really can belt it out, though, and they're worth hearing. They'll leave you with a heart as full as a baked potato! Incidentally, Troma is releasing a "13th anniversary edition" of the DVD of the movie in mid-November. Hopefully, it will have the same footage of the original Dad's production that's on the current version of the DVD. Sunday I watched football and baseball. I also got gas, but I only put in another half-tank ($30) in the hopes of watching the price of gas (I paid $4.29) drop in the next couple of weeks. Tonight, I drive all the hell way out to Snellville for a college fair. Tags: pic, theatre, weekend
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Man, Sarah Palin has some chutzpah. After surviving her debate, she's started a new line of attack against Obama, claiming he's "palling around" with domestic terrorists from the 1960s. Say it ain't so, Sarah -- there you go again looking backwards. This election is about the future, right? Isn't that what you said? Why talk about what some guy did back when you were just dreaming of sashes and tiaras instead of what's going on a little more recently? Such as: How can we trust someone whose husband was a card-carrying member of a secessionist political party, someone who, as Governor, taped a welcome to their convention and told them to "keep up the good work"? She also keeps calling herself a "Joe Six-Pack" or something like that. I don't know how things work in Alaska, but no middle class American I know can afford to build herself a lake house so she'll have a place to dock her own personal seaplane. Some people might call such lines of attack "disingenuous" or "smears." But the people you're pandering to down in Florida call it "chutzpah." Look it up.Tags: election, politics
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Once again, God smote my apartment's plumbing on Rosh Hashanah. Well, this year it's the day after, but the upshot is the same. Last year, it was the water heater eating itself and flooding half the apartment. This year, it's the sewer pipes backing up into the shower and toilet. Again. This happened a few months ago and a quick rooter into the toilet pipe cleared things up. Or so we thought. Wednesday night, the toilet did weird things about flushing. Yesterday morning during my shower, the toilet made these really loud blub, blub noises. At the end of the shower, the tub stopped draining and then coughed up some nasty-ass gunk. Luckily, I was pretty much done by then. Landlord Don called the plumber again, but this time rooting it out didn't help. So today, the plumber is supposed to come back with a guy with a snake that has a camera at the end of it to see if there's something blocking the pipes underground. One theory is that the underground pipes have rotted away, broken, or been invaded by tree roots. My new upstairs neighbor (she moved in this past weekend) is having a similar problem, but not quite on the same scale. I think. She's old and has a really thick accent (Hispanic of some sort) and I don't think her English is as good as expected from someone who's lived in the States for decades, so I'm not exactly sure what she said was going on. In any event, I had to go to PB&J's place to shower this morning. It was like Grand Central Station over there. They've taken in another family for a month while that family's house is somethingsomethingsomething. They have a giant dog named Augie (the Doggie) who is awesome and very friendly. And big. I got to see Superman off to preschool (he was wearing his cape yet again today); he announced he "can't wait" for kindergarten. I can't wait to take a shower in my own apartment. It's weird using someone else's shower. I've known Nicole for mrmphmm years and her boys since they were born and her husband for a decade, but it was still weird using their master bathroom. Maybe it was the glass door for the shower. Luckily, the mirror over the sink isn't directly in front of the door. I've already done that. It's creepy. Don is, right now, waiting to hear from the plumber, who is waiting to hear from the guy with the camera snake. Plumber suggested it may have to wait until tomorrow. Landlord Don suggested he show up this afternoon. Let's hope Landlord Don wins. Tags: flood
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There were two debates going on tonight. Joe Biden won the debate of ideas; Sarah Palin won the debate of perception. Advantage: Palin. Palin proved herself to be the perfect disciple of the Rove Doctrine: If you say anything -- anything at all -- enough times with enough conviction and enough charm, people will believe you. No matter how blatant the lie or how false the front, people will believe you. Madison Avenue has been doing it for years, it's just that Rove, through George W Bush and now Sarah Palin, has perfected it for politics. Palin hardly answered any actual questions. She simply repeated the same meaningless platitudes and falsehoods with -- literally -- a wink and a smile. The woman was winking right at the camera! "Maverick." "They'll raise taxes." "McCain was right about the surge." "I'm an outsider." Then she used all kinds of not-too-subtle codes for elitism: "East Coast politicians" (oh no she di'int! East Coast represent, yo!) "Mainstream media filter" "Main Street of Wasilla." She showed poise because she only said what she wanted to say, the question be damned. Everything came back to the repetition of "maverick" and "cut taxes." Biden made the mistake of ignoring her nonanswers and doggedly stuck to the facts, ma'am. Let me let you in on a secret: Nobody cares about the facts anymore. There are millions of Americans who still think Obama is a Muslim. There are millions more who think Saddam Hussein was involved in the attacks of 9/11. Palin was right about how the pundits will dissect everything said tonight, and she skillfully eviscerated any criticism they're going to have about what little she did say. It won't matter. Tonight's debate wasn't held as part of a college debate tournament with a disinterested judge scoring points based on how skillfully the debaters melded facts into their arguments. If it were, Biden would have crushed her. This debate was about personality and likability and Palin charmed the pants off of everybody, including Joe Biden. Had he once -- just once -- called her out on how well she didn't answer any questions or provide any real useful information, he would have cut her off at the knees and ruined her entire strategy. Or tactic. Whichever. It's a shame, really, because Biden's a great guy. He spent the entire 90 minutes holding back instead of really enjoying himself. He got in one zinger about a bridge to nowhere that didn't really work because she finally stopped talking about the real one (so he wouldn't have the opening). Now Obama is going to have to spend the next two debates calling John McCain a liar without coming across as an asshole, and I don't think that's possible. So the polls will bounce the other way now that people will feel more comfortable with Palin (she can pronounce Ahmadinejad!), and no one will trust another "MSM" interview with her. She'll stick to locally based conservative talking heads/bloviators who can recite the GOP talking points by rote. She'll go out on the trail on her own more often, but won't take questions from the "biased" media; she'll just stick to the stump speech and practice what the master Karl Rove preaches: Say it often, say it with a wink and a smile, and people will believe you. Tags: debate, election, politics
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back in time 
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