Barack Infomercial

To start: I am registered to vote but those jerks spelled my name wrong - and I'm still pissed.

I only caught the tail end of this infamous infomercial, but I was surprised to see what exactly it was. I guess I shouldn't have really expected much, but it certainly wasn't what I expected, whatever that may have been, because I'm still not sure. I felt as though he simply restated everything he has already said. He talked about his Dad and that void in his life. He talked about his Mom raising a family on her own, he talked about his Mom's death and the health care system. He talked about education and reform (albeit he used an example of a very small school - not sure if that is relevant and workable in the rest of the country) and his wife talked about his strong family ties. It just seemed to me like one big sob story turned into heroic efforts. And this is coming from someone who plans to vote for Obama come next Tuesday. I was disappointed overall, but I know that the news coverage says that it worked for Obama because he didn't put on a huge display and wasn't extravagant in his delivery as he usually is.
I guess all the hype I had heard about it beforehand revved me up to hear something great, a life-changing, eye-opening speech, and when I didn't I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Again, not exactly sure what I wanted to hear from him, but whatever it was, I didn't hear it.

Campus Voter Registration - Legit?

So remember when I wrote about how I registered to vote on campus when the celebrity was coming - but I got there before hand blah blah blah. Yah. Well guess who STILL hasn't received their information on where to vote? ME. And I'm pissed. Why haven't I gotten it yet? My roommates have received their absentee ballots. What if I don't get mine? I wasn't given any sort of number to call, no time period when it should arrive. And the election is in what... like two weeks? What if I don't get to vote? This is the first time I will be allowed to vote in a presidential election and let's not be shy here - it's pretty damn important. This is something that I want to look back on and say that I was a part of it. And if some jackass college kid f****ed up my registration form so that I won't be able to - - I don't even want to go there.
Which makes me wonder if some sort of fraud is going on. Maybe they just threw out anyone who wasn't republican. Also, should they rethink who they allow to run registration? Or is any average joe allowed to be the expert for the day?
I guess I should start doing some research as to what happened to my registration form...

Sarah Palin

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Debate Number 2

I stayed up late the watch the second presidential debate. First I will make a couple observations: Both walked around, but McCain's seemed very calculated. It was three steps, stop, three steps, stop, three steps... you get the point. It was almost like he couldn't walk and talk at the same time. Obama would walk and stay in one spot, directing his answer mainly to the person who asked it, but McCain addressed his answer to the whole crowd. During McCain's questions, Obama sat listening, seated in the awkward chairs they provided for them. During Obama's questions, McCain was standing, moving around, walking and what seemed to me like talking to someone in the crowd at some points in time. It was to be honest, very distracting. Both went over their one minute time limit - but the one time McCain kept it under one minutes, he felt the need to point it out to everyone. He also made what I felt were childish comments throughout the night, whether they were applauding himself for staying within the time limit or using phrases like "that one" to refer to Obama. I'm not sure if these were attempts at jokes or laughs, but they failed miserably. I felt they just made him look immature. Obama as well cut in after questions and asked more than once if he could respond to questions McCain answered. He knew it was against the rules, but still felt the need to make a rebuttal. McCain at times completely talked over the mediator, which to me was just rude, and Obama at one point made the statement that he had to correct McCain "not surprisingly". All in all I thought it was a complete dog show and both parties made mistakes in the etiquette arena. Don't get me wrong, I listened intently to answers and their takes on issues, but these are the things that I pick up on during any sort of conversation. Maybe this is because of my psychology background, or just my extreme dislike for disrespect and childish behavior. Whatever the case, I think that these mistakes and actions were annoying to the rest of the United States and maybe made more than a few people very upset that they were so focused on putting one another down rather than building themselves up.

The VP Debate

I am sitting in bed on my boyfriends laptop as the debate is going on. All day there have been statistics on Palin that he approval ratings for ability as VP have gone down throughout the month of September. I have a feeling based off of conversations I have overheard that this decrease in her popularity has much to do with her speeches and interviews made within that month. It is a general feeling that the more she opens her mouth, the less faith people have in her abilities. So far in the debate, I have only made a few observations on differences between Palin and Biden. One is that rather than talking to Gwen, she speaks into the camera (or to the American people as she sees it). Biden however talks to Gwen and Palin making eye contact, not worrying about the cameras. Palin also seems somewhat robotic because of it. It seems that her answers are not coming out naturally, but more formulated and calculated. Biden on the other hand seems that he knows his position on the issues and personal issues that he can talk about them freely without worrying that he will trip up over his own words, as it seems Palin fears she may do if she isn't careful about her word choice.
Another point that blows my mind was the response by Palin on the issue of global warming. I have heard over and over from friends that Palin doesn't believe in global warming, so this was a question I particularly wanted to hear the answer from her own mouth. She went on to say that she doesn't believe global warming is man made, and that it is part of the earth's natural cycle. And while many people think it is a load of crud, if you have watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, you would know that yes, the world goes through cycles of warming and cooling, but this particular warm cycle is almost three times warmer than any other warming cycle before it due to a huge increase in carbon dioxide - a man made increase. She also said that we should come together to fix global warming, but if it is a natural cycle, how do you fix it? How do you battle something you "don't understand" or "don't know the source" of? You don't.