James Cochran’s Blog

I had figured that since everyone set the bar so low for Gov. Palin that she would come out looking good last night.  What I did not expect is how good she actually did.  I enjoyed hearing her speak and I enjoyed watching the debate although it was more of Gov. Palin talking directly to me and Sen Biden trash talking President Bush and Sen McCain than it was an actual debate.  My favorite part is when Gov Palin began laughing and said something along the lines of, “There you go again Joe.”

Honestly though, and I think my wife said it best, If you were in it for Biden you are going to think he did well and if you were in it for Palin you are going to think she did well.

This article from the Wall Street Journal sums up a lot of how I felt about last nights debate.  Here’s a small excerpt:

As far as Mrs. Palin was concerned, Gwen Ifill was not there, and Joe Biden was not there. Sarah and the camera were there. This was classic “talk over the heads of the media straight to the people,” and it is a long time since I’ve seen it done so well, though so transparently. There were moments when she seemed to be doing an infomercial pitch for charm in politics. But it was an effective infomercial.

Joe Biden seems to have walked in thinking that she was an idiot and that he only had to patiently wait for this fact to reveal itself. This was a miscalculation. He showed great forbearance. Too much forbearance. She said of his intentions on Iraq, “Your plan is a white flag of surrender.” This deserved an indignant response, or at least a small bop on the head, from Mr. Biden, who has been for five years righter on Iraq than the Republican administration. He was instead mild.

But what do you think?

Today Palin slapped Obama across the face and said, “Five across the face!” while she did it. At least that is how I imagined it when I read the headline over at Reuters. Palin defends qualifications, slaps Obama was not as interesting an article as I thought it could have been. Still, I enjoyed what they had to say about the whole thing. Maybe they don’t realize some people take all the news from headlines alone. The same people that vote straight ticket. Especially those darned Republicans!

Ahhhh Labor Day.  A welcome day off for many.  At least in the U.S.  But what is labor day exactly?  ”A day off!”  you say.  Exactly.  It started way back in 1882 when some union workers said, “Hey!  We want a day off!”  The Central Labor Union of NYC actually said that they want, “a day off for the working citizens”.  I say thank you NYC union workers since I’ve enjoyed Labor day off most my working life.

Now you must understand that it took 12 years before Congress made it an official holiday.  In 1894 they finally said, “Hey, it’s the 90′s.  Lets take a day off.”  This started a long tradition of congress taking a day off.  Mostly physically but much of the time mentally.

Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday of September.  This year it is September 1st which is nice because we didn’t have to wait most of the week until we took the day off.  However, the problem lies in the fact that most people mark this as the end of summer.  Instead I’d rather think of it as the beginning of Football season.  The NFL as well as the NCAA start their season now.  NFL will have their first real game this Thursday when Washington faces the Giants.  Go Giants!

So thank you to those Americans that came before me allowing me to have the eight hour work day, picnics, and the start of the regular season(NFL).

My friend over at Porch Dog likes Sarah Palin, but for all the wrong reasons.  I like her as well.  Also for all the wrong reasons.  It made everyone I know duck at the ball thrown from left field.  It made a jump in the search and news reference for the word “maverick”.  And it made me laugh a little.  Unfortunately, if I’m honest with myself, I view this the same way I viewed the Biden pick.  This is a political move to get more voters.  I thought that about Obama and I think it now about McCain.  But that’s politics right?  Every move is orchestrated in the hopes to get the most votes.  The ultimate popularity contest.  I think America might be getting too good at it.  Porch Dog (from here on out referred to as Porchy) is right when he says the democrats are about to make a fool of her.  I just hope it’s not so bad that her other qualities don’t redeem her.