So I sat thru the debates last night. 5 pm PST on CNN. It's been a long time since I have done anything like that.  But I was prepared! First, I filled a bucket glass with ice, 4 fingers of tequila, 1 fresh lime, squeezed and topped with soda. Then with my TiVo controller in hand I was ready!

Once we got past the "photo ops" and the whole pagentry of the gig...  

Right away I was pretty amazed at how much time was given to Clinton and Obama, but as the night progressed, and the other candidates had a chance to speak, it was clear that I have a bunch of catching up to do on the other guys. For example, I liked Sen Joe. I would like to have him over for dinner. I would like to play foos ball with him. I like his straight forward approach to answers. He seems unapologetic about his views. Seemed to stand on his record of action in the Senate and had a cool confident air about him. He knows these nominations are heavily weighted in favor of Clinton and Obama and was able to insert that in his dialogue from time time to time. I felt he answered well, to the point of the question, and stopped talking when his time was up, even in mid sentence. Of all the candidates I was most impressed with him in this forum and plan on learning more about him.

John who? Man, Edwards was a disappointment for me. He is continually seen as the number 3 candidate, but I was far from impressed with him. He may have won the last debate, but after watching him get swatted around by Hillary, I am beginning to think that it was less of a win and more due to the fact that she just didnt show up for the last debate. As one writer put it, Edwards "lost his Mojo."

Now Obama missed a great opportunity last night, and I really wished he would have read my previous post. Don't do battle against Clinton's credibility. Save that fight for the home stretch. He should have used this time to talk about himself, his platform, his beliefs. He gave Hillary additional airtime each time he called her out on an issue, and Blitzer allowed her time for rebuttal.  He was full of rhetoric, and did not take a firm stand on any issue. He also was a bully when it came to overpowering his time limit. If he was focused in his answers, stayed on point and definitive, he would have showed so much better. Instead I came away with a sence that he is a good politician, but not a good leader.

Which leads us to Hillary Clinton. The defense was out, and she knew how to put that to good use.  She continued to bring up her record of performance and her years of work in the political arena and in doing so established that indeed she was the one to beat.

Ok.. so...  I just re-read what I wrote, as I had to pick up a call, and in thinking about last night, and the debate and my evaluation of it all... I can honestly say that the best part of the night was not the debate, nor even the Tequila Gimlet. It was Roller Derby Karaoke which I attended later that evening. In a packed room full of 50 or so, I threw down Jim Croce's "Roller Derby Queen" which is at least to this crowd a love song of the highest caliber. And singing a love song about a "bleached-blonde momma with a streak of mean" to a room full of derby girls makes this guy proud to be an American!

And that my friends, is sad.  To think that these candidates had my full attention, and had me wanting and hoping for real discourse on why they would be the right person for my vote, and all I really remember about it all was some minor crap about the event, the fact that I am now really curious about Senator Biden, and that I feel like I wasted my time. And it continues to piss me off when some poor veteran with 3... count them THREE tours of duty is given a standing ovation for defending his country's way of life when the poor kid was defending HIS life, and the life of his buddies on the line with him. It infuriates me that these soldiers are paraded as such defenders of  truth, justice and the American Way when from what I understand is that most of them have never believed this is a war fought due to a threat against America or our way of life.  But that soapbox is gonna have to wait. It will be interesting to hear both parties begin to lay out their plan to stop a war that is out of favor with American and American soldiers. I honor and respect the efforts and risk these men and women are making on behalf of the country. But do them the courtesy and give them the respect they deserve by tell them the truth as to why they are fighting overseas. They at least deserve that.

But back to the debate: what would be awesome to see, in the future would be an issues-based debate among the candidates with the one loosing the debate voted off the island. Pick the topic of universal healthcare. Start there. Spend a week establishing your position documents and then present your position in public forum. No need to bring thick skin to ward off the verbal attacks. The attacks are to be left outside the forum, and saved for soundbites for the evening news and campaign trail crap.

Tell me what you want to tell me. Tell me how you will do it. Tell me why you will do it. Tell me how it will change the way things are done today. Tell me how you will fix my country. Tell me why I should vote for you.

You have 350 something days to do it. Just don't waste my time. I have better things to do, and more songs to sing.