Runway and Debate recaps

I think that maybe my excitement in seeing GLB reappear may have scared him off...if we are very quiet and look the other way, maybe he will come out of hiding again. He can totally write a guest post telling us where he has been for a year and a half now if he wants, too...consider it an open invite.

[Runway spoiler...look away if you haven't watched]

LOVED that Leanne won Runway last night. I thought her clothes were really stunning. Maybe too much of the wave thing, but I loved the subtle colors, the variety of pieces and the...um...chicness? Is that a word? I liked Korto's, too...it reminded me a lot of the stuff that Chloe did in season 2. Kenley's stuff was beautiful, but the only time she broke any new ground, it was when she clipped stuff from other people. There was no way they could pick her as the winner after chastising her repeatedly for her liberal borrowings of design ideas...

[OK...safe to look again]

Anyway...the debate...I thought it was interesting. McCain clearly knows that his days are running out, which left him in the uncomfortable position of having to really attack Obama all night. And Obama is too slick and too polished to let any of that get to him. I think that maybe the McCain folks were hoping that they could get Barry to fly off the handle a bit, but he managed to maintain his composure.

My impression in watching this was that McCain was thinking "Seriously, people...do you know who Bill Ayers really is? Why does no one care that these two are associated?" Unfortunately for him, I think he has had trouble making the association really stick. No one seems to be that phased by Obama's "casual friendship" (that is Obama's spokesman's words) with this guy, and that seems to really frustrate McCain.

So, this debate was clearly spicier than the last ones. Don't laugh, but McCain would have done better if he had not been on camera when he wasn't answering. He just looks kinda creepy and evil when he is just sitting there, blinking and smiling. He could do with looking a little more...I dunno...Presidential?

Let's see, I will say that Obama won the debate by not losing. He is very clearly ahead right now, and this was the last scheduled major event of the race, so McCain needed to make something happen. The tax discussion continued to be totally bogged down in minutiae and avoided the major issues. The health care discussion was as nonsensical and idiotic as it was last time and they made very little progress anywhere else.

I found the education section interesting. I thought McCain had a good moment on school vouchers when he cited the successes in Washington, D.C. I was surprised that Obama said something about paying teachers more in exchange for better accountability...the teacher's unions are a huge supporter of Democrats in general, and will never go for that on any scale. Ever. Also, I found it really interesting that he stopped and called on parents to improve their kids learning. The big, unmentioned truth about education is that money, teachers and resources do not make good schools...parents make good schools. It is unusual to hear a politician note that, especially a Democrat, and especially a Democrat with dark skin (because that is the politically incorrect reason for the "achievement gap" that the left talks about at length). So, while they skimmed over education quickly, I found it the most interesting part of the debate.

I think I may vote for Joe the Plumber. He really seemed to be the star of the show...if they both like him that much, then I think I need to examine him further.

I will talk about the election more as it approaches, but I am not going to tell you who I vote for until the very end. Then, I am gonna do a little bit of an experiment...so, you have that to look forward to;-)