Halfway through the debate last night, a link to a The Week article popped up in our box, where David Frum, that crazy Maddow-baiter (and the guy who confused Keith Olbermann with a comedy writer at 23/6) switches tactics midstream and starts bemoaning the fall of the old guard.
Which means, halfway through Grandpa's stories about Joe Plumber and abortion litmus tests, even the most steadfast soldiers of the Republican party start to question their ability to win the war:
Haha, this debate. This debate was so out of left field. Like, who knew to put Joe the Plumber down in their debate bingo square instead of maverick? If you for some reason had decided to take a drink every time Obama and McCain referenced their imaginary friend, you'd be dead. Dead of alcohol poisoning.
Who saw Bob Scheiffer being so in the bag for Obama? It was all over with the VP question, right? Look at McCain's reaction when he had to talk about why Sarah Palin would be a better president than Joe Biden:
SNL's Weekend Update moved to a new spot in lieu of the upcoming elections, and last night marked the first time the precursor to The Daily Show featured a mid-week special, hosted by Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler.
Was it funny? Meh. Was Bill Murray there? Ye-op:
I like to watch the debates on PBS with all the original gangstahs, but it's always great to go on a forum or Youtube the next day and see what was going on at CNN. By now, the "squiggle lines" at the bottom of the CNN screen — where 30 undecided voters in Ohio get dials and turn them up or down while reacting to candidate's statements — are pretty addicting, if only for how goofy they look. Seriously, we're going to decide who wins this election by a seismographic of some guys in Ohio? It's more of one of those quirks CNN has added to the debates to draw viewers to their coverage, like an extra application box on Facebook.
But those hypnotizing squiggles might actually be influencing your opinion on the candidates more than you think:
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Most assessments today of last night's presidential debate are grim. Under a picture of Barack Obama and John McCain squared off in Tennessee, the Drudge Report presented a single-word critique: "Boring." Politico is calling it the "worst debate ever."
We beg to differ. Instead, how about worst electorate ever?
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Despite complaints that no one tuned in for the first presidential debates on Friday, the total amount of viewership tallied somewhere in the 52.4 million mark. Which seems like a lot, but then you remember that number is spread across 11 different channels that aired the commercial free event.
ABC came out ahead of the ratings pack with 11 million people watching…a suspiciously close number to the station's dismal Emmys Awards, which garnered what? 12.33 million? But the Emmys' ratings were more indicative of bad tidings, since the broadcast was exclusive to ABC.
Either way, it's time to get off your YouTube and turn back on that television you may or may not still own. Escapism is a wonderful salve to deal with the hardships of everyday living during an economic crisis; just ask your grandparents.
So who won the debates Friday night guys? PBS with their straight-forward coverage, or MSNBC with their talking head analysis and play-by-play? J/k. Everyone knows CNN won: they had that awesome gadget that was sort of like a clap-o-meter except it told you how conservatives and liberals and indies reacted to every statement the candidates made with seemingly arbitrary spikes and slopes. (Maybe it was connected to McCain's heart moniter?)
Haha! Kidding again: McCain won the debates because he precogged it so. Or maybe Obama won because he actually looked at his opponent instead of pretending he wasn't there?
Either way, the best part of the debates, hands down, was the scandal of Braceletgate '08:
Although we can’t always shake the nasty habit of writing in the royal we, occasionally one of our editors decides to shake off the cloak of anonymity to write a short, pithy statement long, rambling diatribe about a topic of their choice. Today, Debbie Newman is that editor.
According to a new Harvard University study, "nearly two-thirds of Americans do not trust press coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign." Moreover, "four out of five people believe coverage focuses too much on the trivial — and more than 60 percent believe coverage is politically biased."
Fortunately, it looks as though they can't blame everything on the mainstream media. As everyone who watched last night's overly-hyped Republican YouTube debate learned, politicians are pretty good at making themselves look boring/trivial, not to mention mindlessly repetitive.
Between Gossip Girl and Project Runway , you may have forgotten about last night’s YouTube Republican debates, where "You" were the star. The show had its high points, but drew some criticism for continuing to go on even while "You" were busy contemplating whether mismatched couple Serena and Dan (and a dozen or so wanna-be designers) could "make it work." CONTINUED »
Dan Rather warned them. So did Frank Rich. But when it comes down it, not even democratic candidates can avoid the inevitability of Hillary Clinton’s Democratic nomination. At last night's Democratic debate, if Hillary wasn't talking, someone else was talking about her short comings.
In Sunday’s paper, Barack Obama promised he would come down hard on Clinton and distinguish himself from his rival in being the first ever (blank) president. Instead, it was John Edwards, a regular white male, who attacked Clinton most effectively.
Obama did make a nice jab at Mitt Romney, saying he was thinking of wearing a two-sided Mitt Romney mask for Halloween. Zing! Hillary will have to use that one if Romney gets the nomination.
After the jump, a pie chart of who spoke the most last night broken down by word count. Not surprisingly, Hillary got the largest slice. CONTINUED »
Sometimes I just have to say, “what the fuck?” and the royal we doesn’t work as well. These are my thoughts—raronauer
Cord Jefferson over at Mollygood thinks I am a jerk for not paying for the new Radiohead album.
This from a man who once said Victoria Beckham’s forehead looked like an everything bagel.
I might be a jerk, but at least I'm not an idiot. Check out Cord's justification for dropping ten bucks on a free album.
CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and MSNBC's Chris Matthews to moderate the first Republican Presidential debate of the 2008 campaign that focuses on economic issues, reports TVNewser.
"The objective of the debate is to draw out the important differences on the candidates' positions on topics like taxes, trade, inequality and social security," said Bartiromo in a press release.
Topics that won't be discussed: (1) The Republican candidates' (save Mitt Romney) complete and utter inability to stay married to their original spousal partners and (2) what that says about their innate willingness to board a private jet and fly around the world with a certain high-profile CNBC anchorwoman in tow.
• It's official! The View has picked their next washed-up comedienne to take the reins.
• Manhattan Media buys New York Press, leaving thousands wondering, "Why?"
• Cable television hit record numbers this summer, proving once again that Americans are fat, lazy and watch far too much of the Lifetime channel.
• Everybody hates Rupert Murdoch. Enough already, we get it!
• More Republicans agree to join the YouTube debates, except none of the ones who actually matter.
• What's the only thing worse than being thrown into Lebanese prison? Being thrown into Lebanese prison and having everyone think you're actually an Israeli spy.
• ""You're not going to survive very long in this business if you internalize every rumor that is out there," Paula Zahn tells the AP. "To a certain extent, my staff and I were able to drown out the noise and do what we were expected to do." You know, until she "voluntarily" resigned.
• Salon readers, YouTube subscribers don't like being called "novices."
• Exciting news! JLo will grace the cover of that annoying Fashion Rocks outsert you'll glance at (briefly) before tossing into the trash.
• NY Times donates over 700,000 pages of personal letters, financial documents and photographs to the New York Public Library. And it should all be available to the public as early as…the year 2050.
"Monday will deliver a milestone in presidential campaign history, as user-generated video drives a debate," wrote CNN as part of its pre-YouTube debate marketing bonanza.
But how much of the content was really user-generated? And how much of it was indirectly manufactured by CNN?
HuffPo looks to the questioners for answers.
• LiLo got drunk, drove a car and got arrested! While speeding and wearing coke-stained pants! Natch, TMZ finishes out the day with no less than 21 Lindsay Lohan related posts. Then again, there's still about three hours to go, West Coast time…
• Gay actor Rupert Everett does not believe homosexual male couples should be allowed to adopt children. Surprisingly, however, he has no problem with the idea of bull dikes getting tykes.
• Hillary Clinton steps up during the YouTube debate.
• Barry Bonds' ex mistress to reveal everything you ever wanted to know about steroids (and her giant boobies) in a Playboy spread.
• Minimum wage increases by 70 cents an hour! Which is almost enough to pay the rent, feed the kids and cover the cost of healthcare, except not at all.
• Does anyone else find it slightly nauseating that Eva Longoria's wedding is third on Forbes' list of the "Top 10 most expensive celebrity pictures" of all time?
• During the Bancrofts' "not acrimonious at all" discussion regarding the potential sale of the Dow Jones corporation, "Christopher Bancroft entered the hotel wearing a 'Bite Me' fishing cap." Touché.
• WSJ vet leaves paper after 22 years to join Portfolio, avoid working for Rupert Murdoch.
• Gossipy Hamptons rag Dan's papers sold for enough money to buy a "pretty nice" house on Amagansett Lane.
• Wenner Media and Time Inc. promoted a bunch of lowly staffers who you've probably never heard of.
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