My friends all noticed the weird shape on Bush’s back during the last debate. We figured it must have been a bullet-proof vest, albeit a very uncomfortabel one. Turns out quite a number of people (including Salon) think he was wearing a wire with an earpeice so someone could tell him what to say.
I hope whoever was coaching him got fired.
Holy crap, I’m watching Wonkette analyze the debate on NBC news. The other talking head is a republican. Wonkette goes both ways, so how fair is that? Cool: both bloggers have ibooks with the Apple logo in the TV frame.
(9:47) Things are getting a little less scripted and a little more interesting now… The moderator said the word “Halliburton!” Yay (have a drink)… WOW! She just nailed Cheney on gay marriage referred to his lesbian daughter (not in so many words, of course)… Edwards is extra-outing her now, even though he stops way short of supporting marriage… Edwards did a good Lakoff-framing thing when he said “we don’t just value wealth like they do, we value work”…
(10:26) Uh, I think Edwards just fucked up seriously. Instead of answering the question of what makes him different than the other VP candiate, he spent the time rebutting Cheney. This should have been a softball! Here’s what I would say: “The similarity is we have both been successful financially. The difference is that I did it by helping people fight abusive corporations, he did it by profiting off one of those corporations.”
(10:33) I wonder how much we’ll hear in the press of how much Cheney muffled his mic or how you could hear Edwards tearing his paper so loud. Or how the moderator lost her place for a moment and almost gave Edwards an extra rebuttal. Oops!
I know John edwards has more to say than recycling John Kerry’s lines from last week! How disappointing. Although Edwards’ debate performance is good, I think it actually reflects poorly not just on himself but on Kerry. What seemed like thoughful arguments in the last debate are now reduced to repetetive talking points. The same problem Bush had last week.
That just doesn’t have the ring of “Mr. Smith goes…” does it? Anyway, I’ll be working in DC this entire week, which might lead to lighter posting here. Then again, now that I can blog from my phone (using Flickr or mo:blog), there’s not much excuse for not posting.
Another cool thing that I can do with my phone now is play MP3 files and live streaming audio! And even though national NPR and my milquetoast local station won’t offer their streams in a format I can use, WNYC (guess where) offers it’s FM (hi fi) and AM (lo fi) streams for free 24-7. Yay – gotta get my NPR… I am becoming such a news junkie. I’m suprised that I’m not overloaded or at least sick of all the political crap by now, but I’m soaking it up like a sponge. Still, I am looking forward to the election being over – especially since Kerry is gonna win! ;}
How is this not a scandal?
Earlier Friday, FOXNews.com posted an item purporting to contain quotations from Kerry. The item was based on a reporter’s partial script that had been written in jest and should not have been posted or broadcast. We regret the error, which occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice.
It’s weird when you find yourself agreeing with Andrew Sullivan, but sometimes he really nails it: “No president who has presided over Abu Ghraib should ever say he wants to put anyone on a leash.”
Not to mention his daughter! Quite disgusting.
In my presentation yesterday, the topic of e-mail communication came up over and over. I will definitely have to incorporate more on that into that session (unless I can concince BCBS to add another hour on that). Since I’ve been back in the office a number of things have come to my attention that would be of interest to the participants there:
Become an Online Fundraiser!
Online fundraisers increase their organizations reach, engage new supporters and communicate with their stakeholders more effectively. If you are not yet fundraising online, here’s your chance to learn how! In this one-day class you’ll learn about the innovative ideas and groundbreaking techniques that organizations like yours are using successfully. Find out how to use the Internet to effectively engage people and raise more money.
Please drop me a note (by clicking on the [rants] link below if you were at the Healthy Community Institute in Charlotte. Did you like it? What other information do you need to get your nonprofit’s online strategy up and running?
They appear to be getting an early start at Roses. Here’s the large x-mas display behind the Halloween stuff (still over a month away). I guess Halloween just isn’t profitable enough.
I’m going down to Charlotte now to do my bi-annual presentation “Your Nonprofit: Online” (PPT) at the BlueCross BlueShield NC Healthy Community Institute. It’s a little corporate for my tastes, but it’s a great resources for small, community-based organizations in North Carolina. Plus it’s fun, and I always see someone I know from the nonprofit sector.