I'm speechless

I don't care who you voted for.

The night of Nov. 4 was as close to magical as anything I have witnessed in my 23 years of life.

I was one of those voters who was divided between the presidential candidates. After agonizing over my absentee ballot for weeks, I finally bubbled in the oval next to John McCain's name.

Last night, I found myself in the middle of Central Boulevard in downtown Orlando just as a victory gathering for President-Elect Barack Obama was ending. The thousands of people that had gathered got in their cars and trickled onto the sidewalk, but many didn't go home.

Central Boulevard became a mass of honking cars with Obama signs hanging out windows, and the sidewalks were lined with elated voters who looked like they still couldn't believe what had just happened.

Drivers stopped their cars to get out and dance in the street.

The president of the Florida Civil Rights Association ran up and down the street, dancing and laughing with anyone who was doing the same.

Hispanics cheered in Spanish, blacks danced on the roofs of their cars with rap music blaring, whites of all ages stopped to give high-fives and take pictures on cell phone cameras. Every color was represented, and I got a glimpse of what unity might look like if our next president does his job right.

Please, Mr. Obama, please live up to this celebration.

That's what they call perfect timing

The evening before millions will go to the polls and choose between the Republican and Democratic tickets, one half of the Republican ticket has been exonerated -- at least on one issue.

The Alaska Personnel Board contradicted the state Legislature in its just-completed report, stating Gov. Sarah Palin acted fully within the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in the situation now known as "troopergate."

When the Legislature previously ruled that she abused her office by allowing her husband and staff to push for the firing of a state trooper who just happened to be her sister's ex-husband, Palin-haters screamed "Aha!"

When I read the headline today, I thought perhaps this would change people's minds about Palin -- just a little. But when I read it out loud, the person nearest to me said, "I don't think anyone will even care."

People are certainly reluctant to change their negative opinions, but it was a good try anyway, Palin.

Wait, wait, don't tell me!

What is this country's obsession with polling?

The day before Election Day, every paper and Web site that even pretends to have anything to do with the news is showing maps of the U.S. divided into red and blue states and results from polls that, by the way, hardly ever match.

USA Today says Barack Obama has an 11-percentage-point lead on John McCain, a lead that they say is widening.

The Wall Street Journal puts Obama ahead by only 8 percentage points and says McCain is quickly catching up.

Call me ignorant, but if the polls are accurate, shouldn't they be consistent?

All of these efforts to predict the outcome are an enormous waste of time and resources. People are being paid to come up with these numbers, and chances are extremely good that the numbers will end up being completely wrong anyway.

No poll can accurately predict the intracies of the human mind and every human's tendency to change his mind multiple times. So all the polls are really doing is adding more confusion to the situation.

I don't know about everyone else, but I kind of want to be surprised. I hate when people ruin the ending.

Obama wins presidency ... according to Washington Post

It's two days before Election Day, but thanks to the Washington Post's ability to predict the future, we already know who our next president will be.

"Barack Obama and the Democrats hold a commanding position two days before Tuesday's election, with the senator from Illinois leading in states whose electoral votes total nearly 300 and with his party counting on significantly expanded majorities in the House and Senate.

John McCain is running in one of the worst environments ever for a Republican presidential nominee. The senator from Arizona has not been in front in any of the 159 national polls conducted over the past six weeks. His slender hopes for winning the White House now depend on picking up a major Democratic stronghold or fighting off Obama's raids on most of the five states President Bush won four years ago that now lean toward the Democrat. He also must hold onto six other states that Bush won in 2004 but are considered too close to call."

Not so fast, Post. If the past has taught us anything, it's that you can conduct all the polls and interviews you want and still find out you were way off when the results come through.

Race, unfortunately, still plays a factor in this race. Right now, it seems as though it's considered trendy to be an Obama supporter and racist not to be. But how many people are saying they're Obama supporters just to win public approval? Will those people who are driving the poll results toward Obama actually vote for him once they are alone in the voting booth with their ballots?

"Two factors cloud the final weekend projections. The first is how voters ultimately respond to the prospect of the first African American president in U.S. history, a force that could make the contest closer than it appears. The other, which pushes in the opposite direction, is whether Obama can expand the electorate to give him an additional cushion in battleground states."

And that's why this race is still too close to call -- unless you actually can predict the future.

Surgery in a developing country? Sign me up!

Forget the horror stories about back-alley appendectomies and missing kidneys.

We've always known that having surgery outside of the U.S. can be cheaper -- but better?

This is new to me.

The Los Angeles Times lets Andy Dijak tell his story of getting sophisticated knee surgery -- in Mexico.

When Dijak found out that the surgery would cost between $12,000 and $15,000 in a U.S. hospital, he started looking outside American borders. The best deal he found was in Monterrey, Mexico: $4,500, including the plane ticket.

He was picked up at the airport, recovered in a private room overlooking the Sierra Madre and got a copy of the operation on DVD.

"I got better care there than I would have in the United States, unless I were a
billionaire," he said.

The cost of American health care is driving people out of the country now.

Oh, Mr. President? You've got your work cut out for you.

Endangered food tastes better

The Los Angeles Times took a break from gloom and doom to make fun of two brothers.

Yep, just two regular brothers. Well, one is a marine scientist who saves sea life, and the other is a gourmet food critic who delights in eating sea life -- sometimes while it's still wiggling.

Leave it to the Times to find such a hilariously ironic and completely obscure juxtaposition and then write it in a way that makes you giggle, even as your property taxes go up.

Behold:

Mark Gold, the esteemed marine scientist and president of Heal the Bay, knew it was only a matter of time before his older brother, Jonathan Gold, the equally esteemed Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic, would pick up a set of chopsticks and commit the ultimate act of fraternal betrayal.

"From his perspective, if you've already eaten Jamaican goat penis, what's wrong with whale?" Mark asked.

Jonathan -- reached on his cellphone this week while eating puffer fish at Dae Bok in Koreatown -- first corrected his ever-tut-tutting brother:

"It was Vietnamese goat penis."

Look, he added, he doesn't promote eating whale. And it's not as if the whale was harpooned in Santa Monica Bay.

He happened to be in South Korea, coming out of a whale museum, when, perhaps ironically, he came upon a row of whale restaurants. A man whose curious palate once led him to eat a live prawn as it glared back at him, antennae spiraling in fear, he knew he had to try. In his words: "It was there."

And, he concluded, it was delectable.

This is only funny until Mark goes after Jonathan with a harpoon. But that hasn't happened yet, so feel free to laugh a little longer.

Happy Halloween!

The dogs of Winter Park take Halloween very seriously. Thank you, crazy Halloween puppies. You endured some uncomfortable (and often embarrassing) costumes for the enjoyment of humans everywhere. And that is precisely why ALL dogs go to Heaven.

The greatest love story ever told

OK ... I'm definitely tired of talking about Sarah Palin, and I made a mental vow to myself that I wouldn't do it anymore.

But I couldn't stay silent about Kathleen Parker's op-ed piece in the Washington Post.

I think I'll just let her explain.

"McCain had met Palin only once -- in February, at the governors' convention in Washington -- before the day he selected her as his running mate. The second time was at his Sedona, Ariz., ranch on Aug. 28, just four days before the GOP convention.

As [writer Robert] Draper tells it, McCain took Palin to his favorite coffee-drinking spot down by a creek and a sycamore tree. They talked for more than an hour, and, as Napoleon whispered to Josephine, 'Voilà.'"

Yup. That's how Parker brings reason to McCain's unusual VP pick. Palin is beautiful; McCain was smitten. The end.

I'm well aware that Palin is an (ahem) unconventional choice for McCain's running mate, but I'm just not ready to believe that her appearance was the driving force behind that choice.

Oh, but Kathleen isn't done yet.

"McCain the mortal couldn't mind having an attractive woman all but singing arias to his greatness. Cameras frequently capture McCain beaming like a gold-starred schoolboy while Palin tells crowds that he is 'exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. . . .'

Had Antony not fallen for Cleopatra, Octavian might not have captured the Roman Empire. Had Bill resisted Monica, Al Gore may have become president, and Hillary might be today's Democratic nominee."

Hear that, ladies? With a flutter of your eyelashes and a wiggle of your hips, you, too, can be vice president. No brains necessary.

And that, my friends, is a little something called sexism. But where are the feminists when you need them? Probably on a street corner somewhere holding "Abort Palin" signs.

Sarah Night Live

As I prepare myself for Sarah Palin's guest spot on Saturday Night Live in t-minus 30 minutes, I can't help but wonder what the papers will say tomorrow.

Will the headline be "Palin plays herself, to comedic effect" or "Palin really is a joke"?

Props to Sarah for willingly walking into a studio filled with clever liberal comedians who just don't seem to like her very much.

Why, Sarah, why?

"But you know, I just want to be there to show Americans that we will rise above the political shots that we take because we're in this serious business for serious challenges that are facing the good American people right now."

Hmm ... not really the message I get when politicians make fun of themselves. But an equally important message is conveyed: Politicians actually can have a sense of humor. An important message, indeed.

Good luck, Sarah. Don't let them smell your fear.

Many pro-lifers calling a cease-fire

Pro-life voters are turning away from the GOP as the election approaches.

And it makes perfect sense.

Before I say anything else, let me just say this: I'm pro-choice -- I just happen to believe that abortion is always the wrong choice, and I wish that women wouldn't choose it.

I will never be convinced that abortion is an acceptable solution to an unwelcome pregnancy (and some personal experience has helped to strengthen this opinion), but I don't think that the government should be able to take away a woman's right to choose. And even if I did think it was the government's place, I don't think Roe v. Wade will ever be overturned ... no matter who is in the White House.

And I'm not the only one who's come to that conclusion.

Slate Magazine has uncovered a change among pro-lifers: They're not voting based on abortion anymore.

Marlene Turnbach is a pro-life Democrat who voted for George W. Bush twice because of his views on abortion. She said, "Bush won because all my friends who are Democrats voted for him and put abortion over everything else."

Barack Obama is ahead of John McCain in polls of Catholic voters, and six in 10 of Catholics are pro-life. What changed?

"It isn't that Turnbach's stand on abortion has shifted any, she says. But her view of the Republican Party's commitment to seeing Roe overturned has: 'Even if McCain does get in, he's not going to do anything' that would lead to a reversal of Roe. The legality of abortion 'is not going to change,' she's concluded, 'and I really don't think it should be an issue' in this presidential race."

I'm inclined to agree. I understand feeling strongly about an issue, and I do feel strongly about this one, but why base your vote on a single issue when that issue is unlikely to change under any circumstances?

The real issue in this election is the economy ... and on that, I think McCain might be in trouble.

"10 Ways to Please Your Man" isn't in here, either

Newsweek, how DARE you run an un-airbrushed photo of Sarah Palin on the cover of your magazine?!

I know your name has the word "News" in it and that it's the cardinal sin of photojournalism to alter images, but that picture is "mortifying." Not just unflattering ... MORTIFYING.

You can see some stray eyebrow hairs and ... gasp! ... PORES!!! No one can know she's human!!

Ok ... what you just witnessed was biting sarcasm. Unfortunately, the people in this clip from FOX News weren't being sarcastic because they were too busy being complete idiots.

I have my concerns about Palin (not as many as most people, but some), and I have conservative leanings, but I sensed nothing unfair about the way this photo was treated. She looks a lot better than I would that close up, and she's twice my age.

I hesitate to express my political opinion because I inevitably get lumped in with people like this who try to find liberal bias and controversy in the stupidest places. So on behalf of reasonable conservatives everywhere ... stop barking like overeager beagles at every whiff of unfairness and talk about the REAL news! I'm begging you.

P.S. Democrats, the same goes for you when it comes to sniffing out racism toward Obama. It's not as prevalent as you think, so put your tails down.

It's the end of the world ... let's talk about kittens

The economy sucks, and the presidential candidates are attacking each other.

But I refuse to talk about that. I am going into my little bubble of happiness, full of fuzzy things and happy times, and The New York Times is going with me.

The Fashion & Style section broke a big story on Oct. 3. Get this, people: A lot of men actually like cats.

I know, it blew my mind, too. But it's The Times ... they know everything.

"[Adam] Fulrath is one of a growing number of single — and yes, heterosexual — men who seem to be coming out of the cat closet and unabashedly embracing their feline side. ...

"Indeed, it seems that man’s best friend is no longer a golden retriever, but a cuddly cat named Fluffy."

They even have a Web site: menandcats.com.

Oh, New York Times, thanks for reminding us that stereotypes are sometimes ridiculous.

Now we just need a story about crazy spinster dog ladies.

Not quite a victory, but no blood on the stage

The biggest story of the day is that Sarah Palin didn't crash and burn last night as everyone was so sure she would.

I mean, come on guys ... she's been stuck in the world's most intense study session for the past week. Of course she didn't choke, but ...

She was extremely repetitive and sometimes failed to answer the question that was posed, almost as if McCain had told her, "Now, Sarah, make sure you mention this and this and that at some point in the debate. Make me proud, my little barracuda!"

Despite her shortcomings, Palin held her own with Sen. Joe Biden (except for that part when she called him Sen. Obiden ... the Obama/Biden hybrid, perhaps? Oh, and the numerous times that she pronounced "nuclear" wrong). All in all, I was proud of Palin, and I gained respect for her when she admitted that she and McCain don't always agree on everything. Who wants a vice president who's nothing but a yes woman? The VP should act as a natural balance to the president's power ... the voice of reason, a second opinion.

I was pleasantly surprised at how friendly the debaters were toward each other, often smiling good-naturedly as the other kindly pointed out past and present faults.

But probably the most enjoyable part of the debate was the stark contrast between Biden and Palin. He has all the makings of a politician: strong voice, strong stance, distinctive white hair. Palin reminds me of a kids movie: hockey mom goes to Washington.

The Los Angeles Times noticed it, too:

"Palin's novelty was on full display: Rarely are debates at this level peppered, as Thursday's was, with references to Saturday soccer games and casual phrasings like 'I'll betcha,' 'darn right' and 'doggone it.' She winked repeatedly, and often uttered remarks in a sing-song lilt more often heard in a children's classroom than on the national stage."

Is this a bad thing? That remains to be seen, but it's certainly not something we're used to seeing behind a podium. There's a word for that ... oh yes, change.

Mourning the loss of the new old blue-eyes

Paul Newman is my hero.

In Hollywood, humility and selflessness are neither common nor particularly valued. This man was perhaps the most beautiful actor I have ever seen, and his humility made him devestatingly handsome.

He was talented and successful not only in acting, but in the food industry, but he "never stopped believing he was a regular guy who'd simply been blessed, and well beyond what was fair. So he just kept on paying it forward."

In one of the many obituaries and tributes written following Newman's death, Slate writer Dahlia Lithwick beautifully explained why his death is such a loss for all of us.

Newman was a regular visitor to The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, one of the many camps he founded for children with terminal illnesses. The kids didn't know he was famous, they just thought he was "this friendly old guy who kept showing up at camp to take them fishing."

Lithwick writes:

"It took me years to understand why Newman loved being at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. It was for precisely the same reason these kids did. When the campers showed up, they became regular kids, despite the catheters and wheelchairs and prosthetic legs. And when Newman showed up, he was a regular guy with blue eyes, despite the Oscar and the racecars and the burgeoning marinara empire.

The most striking thing about Paul Newman was that a man who could have blasted through his life demanding 'Have you any idea who I am?' invariably wanted to hang out with folks—often little ones—who neither knew nor cared."

He was married to Joanne Woodward, just a regular non-Hollywood American, for 50 years and "always looked at her like something he'd pulled out of a Christmas stocking."

As the significant other of an actor myself, Newman's relationship inspires me to hope that a Hollywood marriage can be not only healthy and successful, but just like a fairy tale.

As a citizen of this seemingly godforsaken country, he inspires me to hope that people can be good, even given the corrupting influence of show business.

Jenga! Economy Edition

Our economy is inches away from game over, but here's the stabilizer: President Bush is finally acknowledging that there's a problem.

After numerous press conferences during which Bush used every combination of words that exists in the human language to say "The fundamentals of our economy are sound," he is at last admitting what every American has been feeling in the pits of their stomachs over the past month: Very little about our economy is sound.

Last night, Bush stood in front of America and said, "Our entire economy is in danger."

I can only imagine how difficult it must be for a president to admit to his country that he was wrong, which is essentially what Bush did in this address.

Throughout his presidency, Bush has strongly opposed government intervention in free enterprise. He said he still believes in free enterprise and allowing businesses to thrive or fail based on their own practices, but he explained that "these are not normal times."

I know many people are divided on the issue of this bailout, and with good reason -- $700 billion is more money than most people can visualize after hours of concentration -- but Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has taken a line of reasoning that I think everyone should adopt in this crisis:

"Whatever you think about whether or not there was a need [for a bailout] . . . once the president, secretary of the Treasury and chairman of the Federal Reserve have announced that if you don't do this, there will be a collapse, there's probably going to be a collapse if you don't do it."

But the bottom line in this situation rests within just a few sentences of Bush's address:

"This rescue effort is not aimed at preserving any individual company or industry. It is aimed at preserving America's overall economy. It will help American consumers and businesses get credit to meet their daily needs and create jobs. And it will help send a signal to markets around the world that America's financial system is back on track."

And I think that's a goal we can all agree on.

Trick or dog treat?

Last weekend, I witnessed an unnatural phenomenon: the power of pets in Halloween costumes.

I was working a booth at the Orlando Home Show in the Orange County Convention Center, and I was only a few feet away from the runway. Oh, yes, I said runway.

You see, Saturday was the day of the pet fashion show. I'm not mocking the pet fashion show. I'll even admit that I was excited to be stationed so close to the action. I guess I was just a little surprised to see what a frenzy occurs among a crowd of people who are treated to the sight of dogs in people clothes marching down a miniature runway.

I can see you struggling for a mental picture. Don't worry; I went backstage so I could provide documentation. If you have access to "Chariot's of Fire," play it now. If not, "Celebration" will work nicely.

Martini the princess

Conrad, Cooper and Cody the 3 little pigs

Vinnie the police officer

Ricky the carpenter/handyman

Molly the diva

On second thought...

Remember when we talked about the government passing on helping failing banks during this financial crisis and how maybe that was a good thing? Yeah, about that, I may have spoken too soon.

And, coincidentally, so did John McCain.

Poor McCain. Like so many of us, he seems to be just a little confused in the face of this "Category 4 financial crisis."

After Lehman Bros. went over a cliff and Merrill Lynch clung to the feet of Bank of America to avoid going over the edge, American International Group seemed to be the next in line.

On Tuesday, McCain was firm that "we cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else."

OK, McCain. On Tuesday, I was inclined to agree with that statement.

We've figured out that this crisis is a direct result of bad business practice. Slate puts it this way: "Just like the people who took on mortgages they couldn't afford, financial institutions took on way more debt than they could handle. And just like most people dealing with the credit crunch, these institutions now must learn to live without so much borrowed money."

That sounds like a personal problem.

But then McCain had a change of heart. By Wednesday, he was publicly supporting the Fed's tentative plan to create an entity that would buy unwanted mortgages and debt.

OK, McCain. I'm starting to see the reasoning for that idea, too.

According to Slate, here's the problem with leaving these businesses to fend for themselves and simply enforcing restrictions on spending: "If everyone cuts back, that would almost certainly lead to a recession, and while that's bad in and of itself, it could also translate into big problems for regional and local banks that have issued lots of loans to businesses that will inevitably suffer."

The dreaded domino effect. And the last dominoes to fall, thus bearing most of the impact, would be the taxpayers themselves.

McCain is under a lot of scrutiny for changing his mind on this issue, and while no one wants to see a man who is inches away from becoming the president flip in just one day on a subject as crucial as the economy, isn't it possible that he simply thought better of his opinion after taking one more day to consider the circumstances?

I did. Just something to ponder.

*Disclaimer: I am not in any way suggesting that confused monkey up there is John McCain. It's simply a confused monkey that I think McCain would be able to identify with.

No do-overs on Wall Street

Nothing bores me more than the economy, but here I am having an opinion about it anyway.

Sifting through the blah blah blah and Dow Jones Industrial this and that in the stories about the Wall Street crisis, I was surprised to find that I actually experienced a genuine emotion: annoyance.

First, some background for others who tune out at any mention of the stock market. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 504 points. This is bad. In fact, it hasn't been this bad since the day after the Sept. 11 attacks. Before that, Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection -- and they're the largest company to ever do so.

So I was reading the Los Angeles Times' coverage, and it was this little part here that melted the glaze from my eyes:

"[T]he selling in the stock market accelerated after [Treasury Secretary Henry M.] Paulson's remarks, which seemed designed to reassure investors but also make clear that the government had no plans for further intervention in the troubled financial system.

'We're working through a difficult period in our financial markets right now as we work off some of the past excesses,' Paulson told reporters at the White House. 'But the American people can remain confident in the soundness and the resilience of our financial system.'

The Treasury chief also said that he 'never once considered that it was appropriate to put taxpayer money on the line in resolving Lehman Bros.'"

So, basically, you're telling me that investors are upset because the government isn't going to make the boo-boo all better?

I have an extremely limited knowledge of the process here, but doesn't investing sometimes come with a little risk? A little gambling, even?

Lehman Bros. is a business like any other, and sometimes businesses fail. And being on the wrong end of a bad investment isn't ideal, but it's all a part of playing the game.

Seven years. How quickly we forget.

As I aimlessly surfed channels, I accidentally landed on the History Channel. The next two hours of my night were swallowed in images of chaos and tragedy.

The channel was showing a special about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that featured footage taken by news channels and civilians. I saw the faces of New Yorkers as they realized that this was not going to be another typical workday. I saw people trapped in Tower 2 as they hung out the windows with black smoke billowing behind them. I saw the towers fall, knowing that hundreds of workers and firefighters were still inside. Even more powerful than that, I saw the expressions on the faces of those who saw it happening.

I felt sick. I tried to walk away from the TV several times, but I kept coming back because I knew that I needed to remember that day ... and I'm not the only one who's forgotten.

At one point in the show, a man being interviewed after the first tower fell said, "We should just go over to the Middle East and start blowing things up!" Irrational? Perhaps. But I think every American said or thought that at some point that day and in the weeks that followed, when the shock gave way to righteous anger.

Time has erased much of the pain we felt on that day, but it's also erased the anger. When we see Osama bin Laden's image in the news, we need to feel that anger again. When we look at the place where the towers once stood, we need to feel that anger again. And when we hear news of the conflict in the Middle East, yes, especially then, we need to remember what this country has been through and what brought us to this place in history.

The terrorists declared war on America that day, and they have never stopped plotting their next move against us. They celebrated that day. We need to remember that.

U.S. Government: The bucket to Fannie and Freddie's Titanic

Enough with Fannie and Freddie, already!

Well, they might finally drop out of the news now that the big turning point in the fall of the mortgage giants came and went with a hard-core government takeover Sunday. So, what does that mean, exactly? Apparently, the government is now controlling the companies that control most of the nation's new-home mortgages. And that's huge.

If these companies went under, the effects would be felt around the world; I get that. But this is far from a win-win situation, if such a thing even exists in the world of business. In some ways, the government wins: It gets $1 billion in preferred shares for every company it now controls, and it can buy up to 80 percent of each of those companies. Also, bondholders that have something coming to them are protected because their investments in those companies are now backed by the government. So far, so good.

But the Washington Post puts a little rain on this takeover parade: "There is no guarantee that the takeover will work, and it comes at a potentially massive cost to taxpayers."

Yikes. And what sort of cost would that be, you ask? The only figure available at the moment is $25 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But even that's not definite, and the estimate is likely to increase as the situation unfolds.

With all of this in mind, I have to wonder ... will the wins outweigh the cost?

Lacking in wit, leading in wisdom

After Sarah Palin’s “pit bull” speech and many other harsh words spoken by former Republican presidential candidates on what turned out to be a Wednesday night full of red meat, McCain’s speech last night was less than impressive from a performance standpoint.

In comparison to Obama, who shares the gift of powerful speech with Martin Luther King Jr., McCain’s speeches almost always fall flat. The Washington Post today reports:

“McCain freely acknowledges that oratory is not his greatest talent, and his speech lacked the flourishes and drama of two others delivered during the conventions.”

But what’s a more important quality in a potential president’s speech: the power of his delivery or the power of his message?

While Obama criticizes the Republicans, Palin criticizes Obama and every other speaker finds fault with the other side, McCain is the only one who takes a stand against his own party. During his speech, he said:

“I don't work for a party. I don't work for a special interest. I don't work for myself. I work for you.”

Sure, a lot of vagaries pepper the speeches of both candidates, and McCain could have been more effectively critical of the current administration if he hadn’t tried so hard to avoid mentioning President Bush’s role in the party’s downhill slide. But I respect the wisdom he did show in resisting the temptation to place total blame on the opposing party, as so many others did.

Just for fun, Colbert's opinion of political speeches.

McCain paling beside Palin

Is presidential hopeful John McCain doubting his controversial pick for running mate? No way.

Is his running mate stealing the political spotlight? Absolutely.

Since the announcement that little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would join McCain in his fight toward the White House, the media have been abuzz.

Legitimate questions have been raised: Does she have enough experience? Is she too young? What's all this controversy back in Alaska?

Well, Palin batted away most of those doubts in her big speech last night.

But perhaps the most ridiculous question to be asked regarding McCain's VP pick is one that reared its ugly head following the media's discovery that Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant. That question: Is Sarah Palin a good mother, and can she be a good leader?

My answer to that: Since when do a child's decisions determine whether her mother is fit for a role of political leadership? Bristol's poor decisions have no relevancy to the way she was raised and should not have a place in the debate about Palin's role in this election.

The media's obsession with this gossip is embarrassing, and it's blurring the line between news and tabloid trash.