Deflate

Good god, that debate was boring. We've watched all of the debates on C-Span, 'cause we dig the split screen. I find it really irritating to watch Bush try to form a sentence. His mannerisms just push me right over the edge--the constant smirking, the up and down shifting of his shoulders, the beady little eyes, the way he leans over the lectern for emphasis when he's particularly pleased with a word or phrase that he's been able to remember. (He likes "comprehensive"--he used it twice in his first two answers.) Last night he seemed more child-like to me than ever before (and that's saying a lot). But some of the endings to his answers were so abrupt that he reminded me of a child who's been told to memorize something and then seems particularly pleased with himself when he thinks he's aced it.

Decades ago, I adopted a quirky motto. Call me crazy, but I swear it's served me well. Ready? Here it is. Never trust anyone with thin lips. I'm just sayin'...

But as irritating as I find Bush to watch when he's trying to form a sentence, he's equally as entertaining when he's listening. Kerry often seems to be (at least looking like he's) taking notes while Bush is speaking, whereas Bush almost always looks at Kerry at some point while Kerry's speaking. It seems as if Bush has to watch Kerry form the words to comprehend their meaning. And then there's 'the look.' Boyfriend waited for it last night, and he wasn't disappointed. The look that's a mixture of "He's pissin' me off!" with "Oh, shit, I thought I nailed him with that one." Waiting for that look? That's some good sport there.

But for my taste, there were way too many figures being bandied about by both sides last night. It seems to me that that only serves to confuse voters, because both candidates contradicted the other's statistics. So then it becomes a matter of: which one's lying?

Boyfriend got particularly peeved when Bush did his bit about No Child Left Behind...creating jobs? I missed it, because about halfway through the bore-fest I moved to the laptop to see if I could find some live-blogging. There were only a few posts at Kos and Josh Marshall wasn't blogging during the debate, but I knew Wonkette would be. She was good, and she had a link to Mr. Sun, a blog I'd never read. I was reading excerpts from both Wonkette and Mr. Sun to the boyfriend and we were having a few good laughs, but I lost it when I got to Mr. Sun's Rain Man bit. I'd simply never thought of Bush within the Rain Man reference, but it suddenly made perfectly hilarious sense. And please, know that I mean no disrespect when I say that--I have the utmost regard for savants.