Debatable

Well that stunk. I was excited and ready to hear from those two, but boy was that a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I still think either one of them will be miles better than Bush or Clinton, but sheesh. That was like kids bickering on the playground. I said that first. I've been saying that for years. I was there first. I've been there for longer. Blah blah blah. I think part of it is a background in the Senate rather than a governorship, but they both blew it.

So debates are out as a tool to help me pick a candidate. Unless they throw away the moderator and the notes and stick them in the octagon for 90 minutes to talk. Or bring in Colbert to actually make them answer a direct question, or suffer for avoiding them. I hope Sarah vs. Joe will be better, it sure seems like it has the potential.

Scott Adams has been pretty good lately at his blog. He posted two news links today, one and two. Read 'em if you have a few minutes, they're pretty good, dealing with the subject of bias. Apparently most of us have already made up our minds (on everything), and when we are presented with good factual evidence contrary to what we already know to be true, it only reinforces our opinions. We don't even really absorb or process information that doesn't fit into what we already know.

I read these this afternoon, and then listened to some radio commentary driving this evening on NPR even concerning who won the debate. And it was pretty clear that whoever was speaking their opinion of who won had preemptively formed that opinion months ago. Red or blue, both sides sounded ridiculously unobjective in support of "their" candidate. So what is the value in that? I already know that Republicans like McCain and Democrats like Obama, they would commentate in the same way the candidates would "answer" the questions, with preformed rhetoric. This is worthless information.

What concerns me however, is the potential illegitimacy of my own opinion. What if wanted to hear them both sound like a couple of whiny babies so that I could cry about it? I feel like I was trying to be objective but I'm not sure. They both made a limited amount of good points, and I tell myself that I wanted one of them to convince me, but I don't know if I'm buying it. I think I'm happier not taking a side and slamming both of them. And that maybe I secretely wanted that to happen weeks ago. So that's some food for thought.

I wish there was someone/thing trustworthy and objective out there. Oh wait, that's Jesus. Government is important but it's not going to help. I decided that I'm a libertarian socialist.