InfernoGuy's Weblog

Presidential Debate 08 – Part I

infernoguy — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 01:53:02 +0000

Thought I would jot down some notes/observations from tonight’s debate:

* Obama’s “Ummmm’s” are gone (Thank god)!

* McCain seems a bit more confident in this forum but Obama is not far behind

* The moderator (Jim Lehrer) is trying real hard to get McCain and Obama to fight!

* The facts seem to flow from Obama’s mouth while McCain seems to ramble at times

* McCain’s can’t help but smirk when he leveled his first attack at Obama — he knew he was getting to Barack already!

* Obama isn’t shy about punching back by jujitsu-ing his first attack back at him

* My Friends, McCain needs to drop that line ASAP!

* Obama seems sharp… McCain seem kinda smug. I like this feisty Barack!

* McCain is bringing out the Senate Jargon — way to connect with ordinary Americans John!

* To be fair — McCain is not holding back in attacking Obama

* Lehrer is getting what he wants — fight club!

* Ugh! Stop with the Senate speak John — no one but the other 98 members care…

* Poor Jim Lehrer — he is getting frustrated at both candidates for being evasive on answering his questions

* Obama is on a roll — questioning John on using a hatchet instead of a scalpel on spending cuts – nice!

* Dear John — you should have prepared more on this debate instead of going to Washington. More nuance please, no generalities

* Bam! Obama hits McCain on his voting record with Bush while McCain says he’s not Ms. Congeniality — huh?

* Trap set: McCain said that we are near victorious in Iraq — will Obama fall into it?

* No dice says Obama – I will sidestep this trap even when McCain tries to complicate things with more Senatespeak

Alright… I wanna watch the rest of the debate so I write back later

Where did McCain go?

infernoguy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:05:59 +0000

So I was walking into work yesterday morning and saw this interesting bumper sticker on someones car and had to use the iPhone to snap a picture of it. Maybe it was a mixup or something a little more omnimous….

Dear John

infernoguy — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:50:00 +0000

Please find better speechwriters… Your rhetoric is old and tired. I know you aren’t a great speaker but lame speeches like the one you are giving now aren’t gonna motivate the general public — your base maybe but not the moderates you will need to win in November!

Think about it!

btw the POW thing can only last so long… find something new to use.

The Palin Verdict

infernoguy — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:02:16 +0000

So I’m watching McCain’s VP (or as the left wing bloggers call her — his Trophy Vice) and I’m not impressed so far!

Her candence is waaaaay off. She sound so deadpan that she makes Hillary sound like she has enthusiasm.

The speechwriter needs to be fired. They couldn’t give her some better one-liners or more eloquent phrases to use? I guess that’s why they have Democrats, huh?

I’m beginning to realize another reason why they brought her on the ticket.. she is the epitome of the small town girl. Ready to take on the big city boys and beat them at their game…

She also serves another prupose: To fire up the base! You know, those right-leaning liberal hating small-town folks who were looking for someone to rally behind. Well, looks like the fly-over states found their new hero…

Tidbits from the GOP Convention…

infernoguy — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:34:09 +0000

So I’m watching MSNBCs coverage of the RNC in St. Paul for the first time and here are a few things I noticed:

* While I didn’t see the other speeches tonight (Romney and Huckabee) I’m watching Guliani and I have to say how lame it is… not from a policy perspective but just in it’s delivery… very bland and waaaaay too long!

* The audience seems so much smaller than in Denver — hmmmmmmm….

* The setup is really nice in the Xcel center — it looks very high tech. The screen behind the podium is cool because they can change it to whatever they want…

* I love how the networks do the audience shots… trying to make the audience look more diverse than it really is

* I watched CNN coverage of the DNC so I will stick with MSNBC for the RNC. I liked CNN so we’ll see how MSNBC does

More later…

…and McCain Strikes Back!

infernoguy — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:43:45 +0000

…so after Obama served notice to McCain and the GOP in Denver the Old Man pulled an interesting play out of the playbook today:

He choose Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate!

Huh? What! WTF!?!

Yep, he chose a no name chick as his running mate! Scary right? McCain has lost his marbles and it’s all but over now. I can see the pundits initially saying stuff like Biden will wipe the floor with her in a VP debate. He should just give up they’ll say privately — It’s over for the Old Man… well, maybe not!

The press is catching on this evening on this potential bold move in the making… and it’s not the woman factor that’s the key — although it will help.

You see, McCain just stole Obama’s thunder from the Throwdown at Mile High. For instance, the NY Times still has Panin on the front page and every news organization is now scrambling to learn more about Alaska’s chief executive. There’s even a new website called VPILF.com (no joke — this is a PG show so I won’t mention what those acronyms mean).

In addition, McCain now has something shiny to carry along with him to distract the press from the Obama/Biden machine. We all know that this is Gav. Palin’s first time in front of national media so she will make mistakes — lots of them! So while she’s being interviewed by the likes of Chris Matthews and stumbling along for example, the press will be focused on her and not the “One True Candidate” Obama. If Chris or anyone else gets mean with her because of her lack of experience… guess what she gets to play? That’s right, the chick card! Instant deflection of criticism. I can see the tears flowing down her face now and gaining sympathy all along the way.

What a masterful game this is… the Old Man just gained my respect!

Stay tuned!

Obama Strikes First….

infernoguy — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:24:36 +0000

Ah Barack… You know how to do it, and you do it so well!

After watching the first black presidential nominee from a major political party in the US finish his acceptance speech I marveled at its glory and its simplicity…

See, Barack didn’t have to give an awe inspiring speech even though he had over 80,000 people at Mile High Stadium in Denver… They were already under his spell. He needed to tell McCain what was coming — and boy did he ever!

The framing of his attack on the “Old Man” was masterful. Did you see the re-frame in motion? He has reconfigured his approach to paint McCain as out of step and behind the times. Instead of making him a pinata like the GOP will do next week in the Twin Cities, he attacked with honor — saying he is a noble public servant but one from a bygone era (8 years of Bush/Cheney) and that’s not what America needs anymore…

The solution: Obama + Biden (new leadership + solid principles)

Obama is new leadership — the first serious black presidential candidate with a stern voice and a great story behind him. Biden brings street smarts and experience that people can trust — a nice mix of old and new that is exciting but safe at the same time!

Who wouldn’t want that kinda combo in the White House to deal with foreign and domestic crises… at least that’s one way to sell it anyway!

Is it just me….

infernoguy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:16:46 +0000

…or does this years DNC seem very tame? I would go a step further and say that it is bland. Maybe it’s the first night but it doesn’t have the feel of other conventions… we’ll see what happens!

Obama: The Manchurian Candidate?!?

infernoguy — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:08:37 +0000

I’m finishing up my vacation in SD (San Diego for you non SoCal types) and the good friend that I stayed with is a (bitter) Clinton supporter. She was upset of course that Obama chose Biden instead of her idol Hillary and has been spouting anti-Obama type stuff that we have already heard ad-nauseum….

One thing that my friend mentioned in her constant ranting was that Obama is a Manchurian Candidate but not controlled by Muslims as previously thought — this time it’s the Russians that are pulling the strings. Can you imagine after Obama is nominated, all of a sudden Barack gets a phone call from an unknown voice that says the magic-trigger word and then…. Pandemonium! The Russians will take over the world and it will be Red Dawn all over again… oh the horror! Hahaha!

This is the kinda stuff that you will hear not only from the GOP Swift Boat machine, but the angry bitter Clintonistas will chime in and pile on which could cause trouble later on.

How Obama will handle this stuff will determine how well he will do in the election in less that 3 months away! We’ll see what happens…

The Dark Night

infernoguy — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:29:34 +0000

So I went to see the Dark Night at our local IMAX theater last night and while I was impressed with the movie as a whole (the acting of Heath Ledger especially)…. The whole superhero genre is starting to wear on me! Over the last few years we have constantly revisited old comic book heroes and they (for the most part) do very well! But I think something else is at work…

Americans seem to want/need to see the hero type emerge especially in times of war and dispair… Kinda like the 40′s when these same heroes (Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Captian America, etc.) were around. Singular figures to give people faith in America and themselves — you know the rest of it!

But now… Hollywood is cashing in on it big time and it starting to get old pretty quick if you ask me.