It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

Random thoughts and observations:

VP debates don’t really matter much in the bigger scheme of things.

Foreign policy issues matter far more to me than domestic issues

Biggest questions in my mind were completely ignored or avoided by Edwards:

“Global test”: Edwards doesn’t explain what this really means; notes that Kerry said “no veto”; but if “no veto,” what, exactly is the global test?

Ifill asked Edwards a zinger about their plan to bring in French and German troops being dead in the water because both Germany and France have already said “no.” “Isn’t your plan naïve?” she asked. Again, Edwards completely avoided the issue, answering lamely that success breeds contribution.

Cheney also took Edwards to task for failing to acknowledge contribution of Iraqi allies, especially troops on the ground.

Can’t someone at least raise the possibility that Osama bin Laden might be dead? How does Edwards know OBL is alive? There has been no video of OBL since Tora Bora. How do we know he isn’t pulverized in some bunker-busted cave in Afghanistan?

Cheney brings up “Senator gone” highlighting Edwards’ absence from the Senate. Cheney has served as president of the Senate but “the first time I ever met you was when you walked onto the podium tonight.” This is a personal pet peeve of mine. Senators should do their job (even when they are campaigning). So should presidents for that matter.

Ifill noted that Edwards had the least amount of experience of any candidate since 1976. Edwards simply replied that Americans want to feel safe.

Edwards twice mentioned Paul Bremer’s criticism of not enough troops in Iraq. I scratch my head. Hasn’t Kerry repeatedly said that he won’t send more U.S. troops to Iraq (“not for Iraq” said both in the DNC and the first presidential debate).

Haliburton!
Meals on Wheels!
Kerry voted for or co-sponsored more than 600 tax cuts!
“If they can’t stand up to the pressure of Howard Dean, how can they expect to stand up to our enemies?”

Cheney won, but doesn’t matter much.

UPDATE: Of course none of this matters, because I've lost my mind.

UPDATE II: Scrappleface hits the nail on the head:

2004-10-05) --The only vice presidential debate of 2004 is now history, and Americans who watched or listened to it are eager to learn which candidate won.

A flash poll conducted moments after the debate showed that most Americans believe they will soon have opinions about how well Vice President Dick Cheney did compared with Sen. John Edwards.

The formation of those opinions could require days of intensive listening to commentators from the major news networks and CBS, and countless hours of reading weblogs or even newspapers.

One typical poll respondent said, "I watched last week's presidential debate and I thought President Bush won. But I later found out that I was wrong. How embarrassing. Tonight, I thought Dick Cheney did well, but this time I'm going to wait until I find out what I should think before I go shooting my mouth off."

UPDATE III: Cheney lied! All politicians should exercise extreme caution before saying anything in this day and age. Daily Kos has the photos to prove a Cheney-Edwards encounter if not meeting here and here. So scratch out "The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight."

On the other hand, whether Cheney had actually met Edwards is, to me, less important than the other charges Cheney made in the same section of the debate:

"Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that‘s not very distinguished. You‘ve missed 33 out of 36 meetings in the Judiciary Committee, almost 70 percent of the meetings of the Intelligence Committee.

You‘ve missed a lot of key votes: on tax policy, on energy, on Medicare reform.

Your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you “Senator Gone.”

You‘ve got one of the worst attendance records in the United States Senate.

Haven't heard any real response to those charges, charges which make Dennis Kucinich look quite good by comparison.