"The Straight Talk Express Lost a Wheel on That One"

With Sarah Palin back in Alaska keeping an eye on the Russians, John McCain once again took on opponent Barack Obama in a lovely debate. This one town hall meeting style- because apparently John McCain does well at town hall meetings. So anyway, after 45 minutes of rules- most of which were broken in the first five minutes of the actual debate- Tom Brokaw got the questioning underway. So, here are the top 10 things I learned from watching the second Presidential Debate- in no particular order of course.

1. AIG took their top earners on a $400,000 spa retreat- a week after being bailed out by the government. Maybe Dr. HokieKev and I should have bought that half million dollar house we couldn't afford four years ago so we could get bailed out too.
Dear AIG, I WANT MY MONEYBACK! kthxbai

2. We owe China a lot of money. A REALLY lot of money. Good thing we have a strong military so that China won't hop over the ocean and attack us to get their money back.

3. At least McCain and Obama agree on one thing- Warren Buffet is a smart dude. Maybe he should run for President. He MADE money this year. Even Bill Gates lost money.

4. Nailing down Obama's tax proposals apparently equals trying to nail Jello to a wall. I have never tried nailing Jello to the wall but I suppose epoxy may work better. In any case, maybe we should call off the election and let the two candidates Jello wrestle for the title. Fully clothed, of course.

5. John McCain has secret plans to fix the economy and capture Osama Bin Laden. He looks to Teddy Roosevelt as his hero, yet cannot accurately quote possibly the most famous thing he ever said. It is "SPEAK softly, but carry a big stick." Not walk softly, not talk softly. McCain also says "my friends" alot.

6. We have two new foreign policy doctrines to put on the AP Test- seriously, I think that is the only place foreign policy doctrines show up. The short versions- Obama Doctrine: It may not always be a national security issue, but moral issues will be at stake. The US can't do it all so they have to work with Allies in these situtations. McCain Doctrine: The only good is the US and the US should help when beneficial. I bet France is happy to know it is not good.

7. British military commander Sherard Cowper-Coles says there needs to be an "acceptable dictator" in Afghanistan. Wasn't Saddam Hussein the "acceptable dictator" in Iraq? Yeah, we see how well that turned out.

8. Neither candidate can answer a simple yes or no question. Case in point:
Brokaw: This requires only a yes or no. Ronald Reagan famously said that
the Soviet Union was the evil empire. Do you think Russia under
Vladmir Putin is an evil empire?
Obama: I think they have engaged in an evil behavior...(they) still have
nationalist impulses that are dangerous.
McCain: Maybe.
Last time I check, neither of these answers were yes or no. Guess it is a good thing Sarah Palin is on Russia Watch 2008.

9. According to John McCain, we should have stayed in Afghanistan longer in 1980 after we helped the Afghans get the Russians out. Had we stayed the Taliban wouldn't have resurfaced. I mean, its not like we gave the Taliban the guns to fight the Russians. (By the way, we did give the Taliban the guns to fight the Russians. We also gave them tanks and missiles.)

10. In order to energy independent withint 10 years, we need to have a JFK like attitude and just do it. I would like to remind both candidates that when JFK said we would be going to the moon in ten years, he backed it up with federally funded education programs in math and science. There were contests and prizes and lots of money being spent on research and development. If you want to be energy independent you really should think about funding programs that will make people want to go into the field. And that probably means raising taxes.

Just for good measure, let's add a couple more things learned.
11. "that one" is apparently a racist remark. I think it was just an old guy looking down on a young guy. Obama could have been purple and McCain would have said the same thing. Or maybe it was a senior moment.

12. Asking the American people to allow the government to cut certain programs as a way to sacrifice in a time of war is indeed asking them to make a sacrifice. After 9/11, good ole' G.W. asked the American people to go shopping. Spending money on consumer good is not quite the same sacrifice as when, during WWII, the government asked people to give up things like...oh I don't know...butter, sugar, and meat.

So, there is what I learned from the second Presidential Debate. Life lessons, all of them.