Slow News Day

So I pulled myself from my pit of apathy and sat through the Presidential Debates last night (of course, I recorded them so I could watch and pause at my leisure rather than sit through it start to finish). In a very odd paradox, they were both more boring than I expected them to be and less boring than I expected them to be. Perhaps I could clarify...

I expected a long-winded, circlical speaking and overly intellectual contribution from Kerry. Surprising me, he proved only to be long-winded (though by my count, Bush was the only one to ever exceed his allotted time limit). I was happy with how Kerry handled accusations of indecisiveness, and felt he did an excellent job of explaining and defending his position on the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism.

Bush was surprisingly better than I expected, though it's not hard to be good at speaking only one point--over and over and over and over again. After 90 minutes I get that Bush's camp wants me to think John Kerry is only a flip-flopper and will destroy America because of it. That really was the only straw he tried to grasp and hold on to for the entire debate--which is why it was more boring than I expected. More time was spent on accusing Kerry of being too indecisive, and on Kerry having to defend against this point, for the debate to be all that interesting (granted, there was a nice deal more done, but please, who can remember they talked about North Korea or nuclear proliferation when you think back on the giant monkey head going back to the flip-flop card, despite its inability to work in the debate?).

There are people I know who, when you have a debate/argument/discussion with them, no matter how carefully you word yourself, they just can't seem to respond to what is actually said (or more often typed). It's a major failing in our ability to hold discourse, and it's a major failing I saw in Bush's ability to debate last night.

All that said, though, I hold to my dreary prediction that it won't make a difference and Kerry won't be elected. This is a race that's clearly to be decided by the swing states and the voters who don't traditionally vote. The problem? Those voters weren't watching the debates, and they won't be watching the remaining debates. The majority of the LGBT population don't actually turn out for elections, and despite how heated a time this is for LGBT issues, I continue to see more and more apathy from members of the community than I would expect from reading the vocal minority in the news and in the HRC.

The stoned slackers in the Daily Show viewership sure weren't watching. They were toking up. Ignoring the innaccuracy of the Daily Show viewership being stoned slackers, the real stones slackers, wherever they are, weren't watching the debates, and are just as likely to not vote as they are every other election.

On a final note, I'm going to stop harping on the communities that don't traditionally vote, and aren't expected to vote this time, and harp on one last thing: Theresa Heinz-Kerry. Could she have looked any frumpier and frazzled? Can't someone in the Kerry camp buy this lady a smart, well-fitting suit?