Does it make me a bad person that I will be watching the Steelers game instead of the debate?
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by John Cole| 97 Comments
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.
I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.
if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.
The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.
The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.
Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.
This blog will pay for itself.
A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.
With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.
If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.
Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?
If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.
Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.
Peak wingnut was a lie.
Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.
The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.
Everything is totally normal and fine!!!
This fight is for everything.
Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.
You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.
Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.
Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.
Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity
Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.
Linkmeister
I got baseball myself.
donnah
What about halftime?
It’s my dad’s 81st birthday, he’s fighting cancer, and we want to celebrate with him. No debate viewing for us, but that’s okay. I trust Old Handome Joe will do a good job.
karl
Not bad, per se. Impish, perhaps.
Bort
You can get a re-cap from Sully afterwards. Now with 800% more hysteria and fainting!
22over7
No. It’s a sign of good health.
You can always check a liveblog of the event. Several are planned around left blogistan. Anyone have a recommendation?
Mike Lamb
I’ll be watching ASU – CU. So, no.
hildebrand
No. Because the bloody thing means even less than the Presidential debates. If they did, we would fondly remember how Vice President Bentsen turned the ’88 election around.
maody
as long as you spin The Terrible Towel for Joe, also, too.
Waldo
Unless Biden rips off his shirt and challenges Ryan to a bare-knuckle brawl (always a possibility), you probably won’t be missing anything. Me, I’ll be watching Yanks vs. O’s.
Alison
Dude, I think I’d rather watch someone getting an enema than watch this debate. (Although…hopefully pulling all the shit out for the world to see is precisely what Biden will do to Ryan…LITERALLY har har.)
As much as Romney’s face and voice make me want to scream, Ryan is even worse. He’s so fucking smarmy and so incredibly arrogant, in a different way than Mitt. Ryan strikes me as those frat boy types who are overly sweet and polite to their date’s mom and then are the nastiest, booziest egotistical bastards behind closed doors. And he’s just so disgustingly self-satisfied, and all over a bunch of plans and ideas that are horrifying cruel and inept and archaic.
UGH. Times like this I almost wish I drank.
hildebrand
Does it make me a bad person that I want to smash Howard Fineman in his smug face as hard as I possibly can?
Hill Dweller
I didn’t watch the Obama debate live, but after everyone went mental, I checked it out.
I doubt I’ll watch this debate nor the next couple of Presidential debates. I’ve always found them to be too scripted and, ultimately, meaningless.
wobbly
Yes!
Grumpy Code Monkey
I sure as hell am not going to watch the debate. I don’t need the aggravation. Ryan’s going to prevaricate, Joe’s going to say something awesome and embarrassing, the moderator’s going to make me rethink my position on assault weapons, and all that time I’d be thinking that I could be doing something more productive like repeatedly stabbing myself in the thigh with a spork.
So no, I don’t think you’re a bad person.
kindness
No PIP John?
Of course the debate would be the small pic with no sound in my house. Guess I’d use closed caption to act like I was paying attention.
No, I’d be A-Bing it back and forth during commercials.
fubar
Nope, not a bad person but a sane one. You would however be a bad person if you watched this debate (or any debate for that matter) in order to make up your mind on who to vote for, based on some sort of “who da man/woman” kind of criteria.
WereBear
You are not a bad person.
I bought a bottle of wine; I was stone cold sober last time. Can’t let that happen again.
joeyess
I’m doing the same thing. After the American football, I will turn on the American baseball.
NCSteve
Of course not. Why waste time watching a debate when the only thing that’s important is how the twittering MSM twits decide we should feel about it in the three days after it’s over?
jharp
I’m watching baseball.
A really terrific game this afternoon that sent the Reds packing. Could not happen to a better group of fans.
I sure wish they could pick up Cincinnati and all the racist bigoted redneck white trash and dump the entire city in Alabama where it belongs.
Spaghetti Lee
I won’t be watching football, but I won’t be watching the debates either. I like speeches. I like rallies. I don’t like debates. Everything feels so dull and scripted. I do have 50 bucks riding in Vegas on Joe calling Paul a dimwit before the night is out.
KG
@Mike Lamb: me too
stratplayer
If the Patriots were playing tonight, there’s no freakin’ way I’d watch the debate. There’s always youtube, anyway.
MobiusKlein
@Linkmeister: @jharp: Baceball!
Mine’s on later tonight, also a 5ths game nail biter.
Go Oakland!
JPL
John, Your blog will be crashing tonight with or without comments and you won’t know. Does that make you a bad blog dad? I don’t know.
KG
@Waldo: I’m pretty sure if that happened, even ESPN would cut in with a live feed.
Polish the Guillotines
No. It makes you a bad person that you’re not going to be watching the A’s and Tigers.
Go A’s!
Davis X. Machina
Considering you probably won’t get winked at this go-round, no, it doesn’t.
Cris (without an H)
It might make you a happier person.
I eschew primary sources anymore. I’ll just wait to see the reactions from Rebecca Schoenkopf, Jon Stewart, and the Balloon-Juice commentariat.
quannlace
No prob’s, John. The pundits will tell you exactly what happened, the ‘gaffes’ and how you should feel about it.
James E. Powell
No. As we have learned to our collective horror, what actually happens in a debate is meaningless. It’s all about the post-game chatter.
I didn’t watch the Denver debate because I cannot stand watching Romney talk. I hate him more than I hated George W Bush and I didn’t think that would ever be possible.
Paul Ryan? I can’t stand him or his manner. Like Romney, he is a slick, lying bastard. He didn’t get where he is without considerable talent in that regard. I have to have faith in Joe Biden to peel off the veneer of ‘seriousness’ that the Village painted onto Ryan. I am not getting my hopes up, but then I never do.
schrodinger's cat
Go ahead watch the game, and leave Tunch in charge of live-blogging the debate.
BTW I made you guys a lol and did not eated it.
? Martin
No, but aren’t we trying a liveblog here for the first time because everyone lost their shit last debate? As our fearless host, you should probably keep an eye on that at least.
geg6
Well, I’m of the opinion that it’s pretty damn simple to do both. That’s what I’ll be doing. And recording Project Runway at the same time.
Unlike you, Cole, I can multitask.
Alison
Also too, I’m way too elated about my Giants managing to pull this one out of the fire and win the NLDS to let Ryan and the MSNBC Emoprog Pearl-Clutching Brigade bring me down.
trollhattan
Some of us will never get past the Steelers thing, but I suspect you knew that already. :-P
Got my ballot in yesterday’s mail, but think I’ll watch tonight’s debate before I fill it out; you know, in case I learn something important.
Patricia Kayden
I’ll be watching Project Runway. I’ll check out MSNBC at 10:30 pm and see if Matthews and Schultz are freaking out like they did last week. I’m sure between BJ, Little Green Footballs and The Obama Diary websites, I’ll know everything I need to know about the debate by tomorrow morning.
? Martin
Is there any way we can get Sully’s hyperventilating in it’s own liveblog without his reporting on the debate, and then we can re-imagine what must be taking place in the debate based solely on his emo responses? That could be far more entertaining.
trollhattan
@geg6:
Ooh, snap. That’s an attack on a dude’s very essence: “You cannot handle entertainment technology!”
[also, too, my cable rig cannot handle three HD feeds simultaneously, but there’s no reason to watch the debate in HD unless one’s fascinated by Joe’s plugs or Rand Ryan’s hypnoeyes.]
Scout211
I just voted and dropped the ballot in the mailbox. Now I don’t have to watch any debates.
Yay!
Note to California voters: the Cal Dem Party has a list of the propositions and their endorsements at their website. It was very helpful.
Cris (without an H)
The debate starts at 7:00 in my time zone, when I will be reading the second half of chapter 7, “In The House of Tom Bombadil” to my six-year-old. He’s totally jazzed to hear more about the barrow-wights.
trollhattan
@Scout211: Since I’m lazy, what do they say about the competing tax initiatives?
John D
Yes, it does, if only because they are playing the Titans.
Scout211
@trollhattan:
yes on 30
which other one?
gelfling545
For the health of my electronic equipment (which I might smash) and myself (who might pop an artery) I do not watch debates.
trollhattan
@Scout211:
Prop 38, the Molly Munger initiative.
jharp
@MobiusKlein:
Sorry friend but my heart is with Detroit. Used to live up there and love the city.
Nothing against Oakland mind you.
And sorry to remind you that Justin Verlander is one tough cookie and maybe the best player in baseball.
Should be an exciting game. And I have to say many of the games have been really good. Don’t remember so many exciting games as this.
Oh, and good luck should the A’s come out on top.
PurpleGirl
I only watched a half-hour of the presidential debate. I’m planning on spending some time this evening researching crafts programs on the web. And then spending some time crocheting. I’ve got politics overload and I want the election NAOW before I go truly insane.
Your sanity is more important; then football it is.
? Martin
@Scout211:
Yes (taxes, ⅔)
No
No
No
No (I support it, but this is the legislature’s job)
No (same as above)
Yes (Should be same, but can only be changed by initiative – stupid fucking state)
No (support but legislature’s job)
No
Yes (taxes, ⅔)
Yes (stupid fucking reverse rules for initiatives)
Scout211
trollhattan,
No on 38
[they don’t state why they say no, and for the other ones they give a reason]
N. Eugene
Not unless I’m a bad person for missing the first debate because I was watching David Byrne and St. Vincent blow my mind. I still haven’t watched it, but I’m told it didn’t go well for the President?
trollhattan
@Scout211:
Okay, thanks. I know there’s a concern that they could somehow knock each other both into the loss column, so it may be the CDP wants to minimize that possibility. Were they to both pass I suspect the top vote getter would prevail, but two raise-taxes propositions passing in the same year seems extremely unlikely.
We’re hosed if they both go down.
Redshift
@James E. Powell: I think the difference between Romney and Ryan is that Ryan is a true believer. Romney is a total BS artist with no core beliefs whatsoever, and will say (and probably even believe, temporarily) whatever serves his ambition at any given moment. Ryan, I think, actually believes that his budget will accomplish the great things he says, and that people are poor because they “don’t believe in the American Dream” and all that other crap. He isn’t anywhere near as smart as he (and the Village) think he is, so he is unbothered by the fact that if pressed, he can’t explain why his numbers don’t add up. He doesn’t need them to add up, he just knows, they’re right.
But the point is that while he’s also a BS artist, Ryan has ideas he’s committed to, and I think he’ll have a harder time than Romney just pretending he never believed them. While Romney’s default response to unpleasant questions has been “of course I believe whatever people want right now,” Ryan’s has mostly been “I’ve signed on to Romney’s plan, I won’t talk about anything I believed before.” I doubt we’ll be lucky enough to get an “A Few Good Men” moment, but if pressed on his record, I think Ryan will have a hard time getting through 90 minutes not talking about it and still look good.
Bubblegum Tate
Ha! My mom called me a little while ago and said, “I know the Steelers are on tonight, but I’m sure you’ll do the right thing.”
My response: “I sure will do the right thing. I will watch the Steelers game, then catch up on the debate later.”
trollhattan
@Redshift:
“90 minutes just isn’t enough time to go into the math.”
This is my prediction, which is mine.
? Martin
@Scout211: The problem with 38 is how the money is earmarked, the higher tax rates in that initiative, and the longer duration of the initiative. It’s not a bad initiative in isolation, but the goal is to pass 30.
trollhattan
@Cris (without an H):
Reading to a 6 YO pretty much trumps anything, short of clearing the house due to fire.
Mine’s now 10 [sigh].
Joel
Debates just make me angry. I learned that lesson from Cheney-Edwards and I broke my embargo only to watch parts of last week’s debate. So that probably turned me off from debates for another few years…
Scout211
@? Martin:
thanks
I did vote no, but it is nice to know why 30 was recommended over 38
Just Some Fuckhead
I’ll watch the game too. Unless the Steelers are winning, then I’ll prolly switch over to the debate and comment on Wonkette.
trollhattan
And in Bain news, gee, they helped big tobacco break into post-Soviet Russia, along with other swell advice on “maximizing shareholder wealth.”
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_10/merchants_of_death040439.php
As Kilgore notes, pretty odd for somebody high in the rabidly anti-tobacco Mormon church.
lamh35
I’m at work and don’t get off until 8pm so once I get home, I sure won’t feel like watching the debate.
I don’t think it’s a big deal if ya don’t watch the debate, but I sure as shhhh don’t wanna hear bitchin’ later cause the pundits say Biden did this or did that. It would make you no better than the average person who didn’t watch the debate, but took cues from the media. So no, I won’t be watching it, but I also won’t be chiming in on how bad Biden was or Ryan, unless I watched it for myself.
James E. Powell
@trollhattan:
90 minutes just isn’t enough time to go into the math.
I think it is, depending on whether the moderator allows Biden to follow up and demand an answer.
The budget has a huge gap between revenues and spending. The only deductions or credits or treatments (sometimes referred to as ‘loopholes’) that are big enough to make a measurable reduction in that gap are popular.
So Ryan, like Romney, has to be pressed to name the ones they want to eliminate or, at the very least, name the ones that they are not going to eliminate. Their entire campaign is coming down to this tax plan, no? What else do they have?
trollhattan
@trollhattan:
Also, too, I keep hearing and reading that Ryan needs to avoid being too much of a wonk tonight. This strikes me as odd, as I’ve yet to hear him function as an actual wonk–just a dumb person’s idea of what a wonk may sound like (to borrow a phrase).
Just Some Fuckhead
@trollhattan:
I’m pretty sure “wonky” for a Republican means looking thoughtful while you are pushing for more thoughtless tax cuts, deregulation and shredding of the safety net.
schrodinger's cat
@trollhattan: I guess if you are not a Mormon RMoney does not care if you die.
MobiusKlein
@jharp: Root for who you like! Can’t fault you choice of the Tigers. And yes, it’s been quite a series. Verlander is tough, but A’s have beaten him before.
geg6
RIP, Beano Cook, a Pittsburgh institution:
http://espn.go.com/dallas/ncf/story/_/id/8490526/beano-cook-espn-commentator-cardinal-college-football-dies
Maude
@trollhattan:
Wonk is really spelled wanker.
trollhattan
@James E. Powell:
Given that he wouldn’t even go into it for Chris Wallace, despite being hoisted on a pillow of the finest eiderdown at Fox Galactic Headquarters and plied with a gallon of 5-Hour Energy, the last thing I think Ryan will allow is to be cornered into budget specifics.
He has shown the ability to spout Republican bromides at seventy miles per hour, and that’s the Ryan I expect, tonight. Can Joe and the moderator force it? Something to hope for, at least.
Mnemosyne
I’m going to a debate-watching party despite the fact that I kinda feel like poop since my flu shot this morning. But, on the other hand, 1,000 Chocolate Chip Cake.
trollhattan
@schrodinger’s cat:
Admittedly, it leads to moar and faster post mortem baptisms.
blingee
@Bort: Sully is a drama queen. He will do the same thing in the opposite direction next time around. This time with added ‘spunk’…if you know what I mean.
jwb
I’ll probably follow it on twitter, perhaps turn it on with the sound off for 15 minutes or so to observe body language. But I think it will make me physically ill to actually watch it. Just way too nervous.
Raven
I can’t believe Cole doesn’t have PIP!
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
No, you’re a bad person because you’re not watching the Orioles.
FTFY. That is all.
MTmofo
Yes. Because it’s the fucking NFL channel which is wholly owned by the fucking NFL. On Dish the NFL chnl is on the second tier, which costs more than the basic tier.
Call it the Replacement (or scab) NFL channel.
geg6
@MTmofo:
They play it on a local channel here. But here is Pittsburgh, so if you’re not here, you’re out of luck.
2liberal
only because you will be pulling for the Steelers.
Dee Loralei
@Mnemosyne: Recipe. Want. Now.
danimal
Californians–It’s ok to vote Yes on 30 and 38. The top vote getter will be implemented. The CA Dem Party can’t come up with a reason to vote No on 38 because there isn’t one from a liberal POV except that 30 is Jerry Brown’s proposal, and his credibility is on the line. It would be a disaster if 30 doesn’t pass; it would be party time if 38 and 30 both passed.
Heliopause
Yes, but because you’re watching the Steelers, not because you’re skipping the debate.
Kadzimiel
@trollhattan:
“That’s fine, Paulie. Name the loopholes Mr Romney is going to close and how much revenue each of them will raise.”
Scout211
@danimal:
good to know
thx
Lojasmo
Yes. > Previous thread.
Lojasmo + 2
hitchhiker
Matt Taibbi in the RS that came in my mailbox yesterday:
(paraphrased b/c I’m too lazy to go get it and quote directly)
There are three things in an election: the Democrat, the Republican, and The Process. We’re not allowed to just spend a day or two considering the relative merits of the first two. We have to, instead, spend 2 years having The Process shoved into every available square inch of our lives. And we hate The Process so much that we just turn away in disgust.
Yes to that. I had to stop with all election-related press/podcasts/broadcasts/livestreams or lose my sanity . . . I will admit to being the sort of person who always looks at the end of the tense novel ahead so that I can relax and enjoy the story.
I’m going to enjoy reading the books written about this era of our beknighted history very much. The real-time blow-by-blows? NO.
folsom ca
@? Martin: I know there was a front pager that said local issues could be covered. I have some questions, as a Calif resident about some of the initiatives, it would be great to have an open thread on some of these. I have two sons, and I am compiling a book for them to read, one lives in La Jolla and the other in Placer county, which is (well fill in the blank). I live in Folsom, but I am anti death penalty, but I do have some education questions, (both of my kids went to public schools, and graduated college). I would love a CA open forum. Thanks.
MTmofo
@geg6:
Thurs. night is the NFL chnl’s nationwide broadcast of that week’s game, in this case Pit at Ten.
But, duly noted, he can enjoy a local broadcast of the game. We don’t have those nice things in bumfuck Montana. :)
Thanks for that clarification.
geg6
@MTmofo:
Yeah, everyone HATES the Thursday night games. Somehow, the local Steelers station (they get all the pre-season games) get to show the games on their secondary channel, which is a broadcast channel. This occurred a few years ago when they began running the games on the NFL Network and the local populace went apeshit because nobody wanted to pay for the extra channel for, maybe, one game a year.
Xecky Gilchrist
Me, Imma refresh 538 every few minutes and watch Obama shed 10 electoral votes every time.
This is getting silly.
Darkrose
@Alison:
That game took years off my life, especially since I was about to go into a meeting with my boss’ boss’ at 2. If Romo hadn’t gotten Bruce out when he did, I might have imploded.
That picture of a dejected Mat Latos in the dugout is my new happy place.
Mnemosyne
@Dee Loralei:
Sorry, it’s from the Ralphs (Kroger) market, so no recipe. :-( But it is quite tasty.
trollhattan
@Darkrose:
Did NOT expect that, especially coming back from 0-2. Especially sweet for Buster, coming back from the gruesome leg injury. Maybe the As can keep things interesting in the Bay?
apulrang
Not at all! I’m watching “My So-Called Life on Netflix. Because apparently, in addition to being terrified to watch the debate, I’m a 13 year old girl in 1995.
Darkrose
@trollhattan:
Fingers crossed…I really am happy for the A’s and their fans. It’s amazing seeing O.com full.
Ted
No worse than you already are, what with being a Steelers fan and all.
Uncle Cosmo
Speaking of football– FINAL: Tennessee 26, Pittsburgh 23. Rob Bironas 40-yard FG as time expired.
–Anyone check in on Cole? I have this distressing vision of him in the bathtub as it fills with body-temperature water running his thumb along the sharp edges of a broken Iron City longneck & muttering Matt Fucking Hasselbeck under his breath over&over again …