I watched the VP debate last night against my better judgment, knowing there'd be hell to pay today as I drag my tired body around, still scratching my head over John McCain's choice for VP. But my teenage sons were tuning in, so what choice did I have?
Two observations. First, why didn't Joe Biden get the nomination for president? He certainly seemed in command and presidential last night, although the level of competition was decidedly mediocre. I mean, they practically had to dig a trench to get the bar low enough. Second, and here's where I question Palin's appeal with some voters: when did we start wanting the leaders of our country to speak as though they're having a casual conversation in a parking lot? Governor Palin was fine when she was delivering (and re-delivering) well-rehearsed talking points, some of which she appeared to be reading from prepared text. But that folksy patter has got to go. I don't want my VP to talk like that unless she/he's over for dinner
Sentences to nowhere are perfectly acceptable in everyday chatter. Listening to a person who could be president of the United States meander through a paragraph like a person taking a walk in the woods, lost and bumbling their way through a grammatical maze, was painful. Hasn't eight years of listening to Bush flailing around in the English language been enough?
Makes me want to go nukular.
Final Arrangements
10 years ago
2 comments:
I agree.
Had to eat my way through the debate and now all the oreos are gone. I have been wondering who these hockey moms and Joe six-packs are. There are two in my house: me, a hockey mom since Joe was 5, and Joe, now a teenager known to drink a six-pack from time to time. She gives this hockey mom a big headache. I thought about this as a blog post, but I thought I might get too worked up in writing it!
Two things annoyed me about this debate, besides, as you point out, the use of language as a shield to hide that she couldn't think of anything to say.
Call me an old fashioned New Englander who clings to formalities, but I found the "May I call you Joe?" and then the constant reference to him as Joe off-putting in the extreme. First because it was too obvious a "let's be down home about this" ploy; second, because there is something to be said for standing on ceremony at these events: it bestows the gravity the occasion deserves, and her ignorance about this bothered me. In most of the debates among the Republican and Democratic candidates during the primaries, even long-time colleagues referred to each other by their titles.
The other thing is that gowl-darned accent of hers. I know Minnesota is not Alaska, but I kept thinking of Frances McDormand's dead-on take in "Fargo," dontcha know.
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