Well, That Was the Debate That Was

We're within a month and a half of the elections.   We now have to just make sure everyone goes out to vote on Election Day.  I'm new to this business, so I don't know how mail ballots and stuff work.  But normal ballots: you go to the poll place on November 5th, line up, sign in, and vote. There are some older people there who compare your signature with one that they've got in a book, if they approve, they give you a ballot (for us it's just a scantron form), you sit at a table with screens on either side, mark in your votes, take it up to the girls who manage the voting machines, and feed the ballot through the slot. 

I usually find out who is running for the local races (mayor, DA, dogcatcher, etc), because if you don't know their names, it becomes messy.  There have been times when the Democratic candidate was a bit of a number, while the Republican wasn't too bad. 

It's hard to keep up enthusiasm for such a long time, but because of Trump's shenanigans, it's a little easier. 

Honestly, I do not want another debate—except, a walz-Vance debate might be entertaining.  Someone should give Trump a Word Find puzzle book.

Flip-Flopping

'Ti's the season for candidates to accuse their opponents of flipflopping on the issues.  In border policy, on abortion, on tax policy; practically everything. 

(I'm not talking about the Republican candidate, here, though I think he should be allowed the same degree of flip-flopping as anyone else.)  I'm talking about Kamala Harris.  When deciding on what, and how much to tax, it all depends on what everyone can tolerate.  During debates, of course, each side is trying to trip the opponent up, making them say things that can be used as fuel for TV ads, and so on.  But it makes no sense to hold them to opinions they expressed five years ago.  Conditions change.  Trump himself trotted around the globe, destroying diplomatic agreements, making threats, threatening allies; he changes everything, and sucking up to national leaders the US has generally regarded with suspicion.  (One of his stated goals has been to build a reputation for himself as being difficult to anticipate.  Which could also mean that he's undependable.)

Arch

Books on Politics

There are a huge amount of books that have been published, both by commentators, and by politicians themselves.  This disclosure may completely discredit me with the cognoscenti, but I haven't read any of them, except Andy Borowitz's 'Profiles in Ignorance.'

I might have remarked about that one soon after I read it.  It was tough to read, but I learned a great deal from it, basically how widespread conservative ignorance was.  Well, it's probably a matter of choice; conservatives just don't want to know data that they consider irrelevant.  Like Sherlock Holmes's fictitious brain, they must consider that their own brains have finite memory capacity, and unlike frantic liberals, they're not going to go out and get a larger memory, just so that 'socialists' can persuade them to their cause.  'Profiles' was a groan a minute, but it was fascinating to look back on Reagan, in particular, and see how he ran away with US—and World—politics. 

There are non-books, like 'The Art of The Deal', and real books, like 'Profiles in Courage', and Hitler's 'Mein Kampf', and similar books.  The closest thing to a book like that in my library is 'Life, The Universe and Everything', by Douglas Adams, but then he went and killed himself (I think), which gave the book the flavor of a long suicide note!  (No, it isn't; I should strike that out, and perhaps I will, someday.)

Joe Biden is a man from Pennsylvania.  We Pennsylvanians are cursed with being surrounded by New Yorkers, and New Jerseyites, and (now even) Ohians, writing books, and making noise with their elegies, and it drives our native sons to settle elsewhere, and yearn to leave a legacy.  Throughout his long political life, Biden has been driven by the desire to get something done for his home state of Delaware, and for the country at large, and to be remembered for his achievements.  He did lead us out of the Covid pandemic, with the help of Anthony Fauci, but there is so much misinformation flying around, and so much disinformation being desperately passed around MAGA circles, that it would be hard for someone with the unique character of Biden to see himself as a hero, worthy of writing a book.  The laughable, but menacing character of Trump hangs over him, like a toupée, ruining everything.  But Biden will be remembered, mostly, for being the one who firmly put a stop to runaway Trumpism, though it was a laborious process that still hasn't ended. 

I feel bad at throwing shade at 'The Art of the Deal' without having read it.  But in my defence, there are numerous, more highly respected books, that I also have not read. 

Archimedes