It Was The Hands Down BEST Debate Of 'Em ALL!!!
This is being written a little more than 2 hours after the final presidential debate that was held at Hofstra University in New York, on this, the 15th of October, 2008.
I live in the Los Angeles area, I'm a baseball fan and the Dodgers were eliminated by the Phils in the National League Championship Series more than an hour ago. I've been in mourning, but after throwing some cold water on my face, I'm ready to do some writing.
I don't know about you, but I thought the debate tonight was the BEST debate!!! Too bad they weren't all like this debate was!
And let's hear it for debate moderator, Bob Schieffer!!! Nobody expects a debate moderator to be able to completely control a couple of guys who want to be the next President of the United States, but Schieffer controlled the proceedings a lot better than any of the other moderators did.
I thought that both candidates brought their "A" Game!
A Couple Of Memorable Quotes...
"I don't care about an old washed-up terrorist!" John McCain talking about Bill Ayres, a guy that Sean "Little Lord Fauntleroy" Hannity seems to have a man-crush on.
"I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against HIM, you should have run four years ago!" John McCain's way of telling Barack Obama that he (McCain) was/is tired of being compared to President Bush.
"NOBODY is FOR abortion!" Barack Obama countering statements made by John McCain, especially the "health of the mother" argument in which McCain seemed to suggest that when debating the abortion issue, The Life Of The Mother Is Not Important!
Oh, yeah. That'll get McCain a lot of votes from all those "undecided" women voters.
AND SPEAKING OF THE "ABORTION" ARGUMENT...
The country is going to hell in a hand basket as far as the economy goes, people are losing their homes, their jobs, we have two or three very expensive wars going on and we have mindless zealots who want to talk about Bill Ayres and the very divisive issue of ABORTION?!?
Okay! I'LL talk about abortion!!!
I grew up believing that Abortion was evil. And any woman who had an abortion was evil.
But as I got older, I began to wonder why it was that MEN seemed to be the vast majority of people who were (in essence) telling WOMEN what they could and couldn't do with their own BODIES!!!
And the more I thought about it, the more I came to believe in the rights that women have because of Roe vs. Wade.
But talk is cheap and whenever the subject came up with friends, I would offer my "cheap talk" view. I spent a lot of years as a talk show host and every once in a while the subject of abortion would come up and I would let the caller give his or her view and more often than not, the next caller would disagree with the previous caller's view. I never gave my own view when doing a talk show until a few years ago when I went public with a story for the first time. I went public to make a point about abortion and how an opinion can be challenged and what that opinion will be after it IS challenged.
This will be the second time I have publicly told this story.
This happened more than 27-28 years ago. I was having a love affair with the woman who was and still is the love of my life even though I haven't seen her in more than 25 years.
One day, she told me she was pregnant. Like most single guys, my first reaction was to be stunned, but I got over that feeling quickly because even though I wasn't thinking about marriage at the time, this news made me think about marriage. And a few days later, the day I was going to ask her to marry me, she told me she planned to have an abortion.
Needless to say I was stunned. Again! Stunned "two", if you will!
It turns out she didn't want a child and she also didn't want to get married.
But I didn't want her to have an abortion!
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't talk her out of it.
To make a long story a little shorter, she had the abortion, we split up for a short period of time, we got back together again (we were like rabbits who couldn't stay away from each other) and the affair ended permanently less than a year later. Her choice. Just like the abortion was.
I will never forget her and I will never forget the abortion. Of my child. I hated it!
But when all was said and done, I STILL believe it should be the WOMAN's right to choose.
If that means I passed the "opinion" test, it's not a source of pride for me. It simply means I think the Supreme Court got it right when they ruled on the Roe vs. Wade case.
Oh, the woman who had the abortion and then split up with me? She tried to get back together with me three or four years later. I thought about it. I thought hard about it! But because she broke my heart twice, I didn't think I'd have the strength for a third "break"! So for health purposes (mine), I "passed" on her offer. Best lay I ever had.
BACK TO THE THIRD AND FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE...
One of the questions that Bob Schieffer asked that I really liked was the "Why would the country be better off if YOUR running mate became President?" question. That's a fun question you can pose to friends of yours who are interested in the upcoming election.
Who do I think WON the debate?!?
First of all, I was just so happy to see that both candidates were "on fire" and that both candidates came TO debate! And they were more specific about (some) things than in any of the two previous debates! Yeah, some of their answers were a little confusing, but to be fair, it's safe to say that in some cases they won't know what they can really do until after they're elected.
The pollsters declared Obama the debate winner right after the debate ended, but what surprised ME was when I heard the Fox News panel declare that they thought Obama came across as more presidential than McCain.
November 4 is Election Day. Less than 3 weeks from now.
What kind of shape will our ECONOMY be in THEN?!?
And will Joe The Plumber have his own talk show by then?
Speaking of talk shows...I'll be on with talk show host Wayne Powers this Friday night (10/17) for about 10 minutes or so on WBT, 1110 on the AM dial in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their night time radio signal is heard in a LOT of states! My scheduled time to be on the air is the beginning of the 10pm (Eastern Time) hour until close to 10:15. If you can't hear this station on your radio at home, you can listen on the internet. http://www.wbt.com/ It's free!!!
TWO FILM RECOMMENDATIONS!!!
"Appaloosa", a new Western that was co-written by, directed by and stars, Ed Harris along with three other outstanding lead actors. Great cast of supporting players as well. This is a film that breathes between scenes and a lot of the dialogue. And it's that "breathing" that helps make this film special. So special, that Newsweek columnist George Will wrote his whole back page column about "Appaloosa" in the new Newsweek.
"Nights In Rodanthe" is a film that stars Richard Gere and Diane Lane. I'm a big fan of both actors and I liked this sweet love story and the dramatic twists and turns it provides. A LOT!!!
THOUGHTS OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I write back to everyone.
THE NEXT BLOG? Unless something unexpected comes up, a week from today. As a rule, a new blog is posted every Wednesday afternoon (late) or (early/late) Wednesday evening.
I live in the Los Angeles area, I'm a baseball fan and the Dodgers were eliminated by the Phils in the National League Championship Series more than an hour ago. I've been in mourning, but after throwing some cold water on my face, I'm ready to do some writing.
I don't know about you, but I thought the debate tonight was the BEST debate!!! Too bad they weren't all like this debate was!
And let's hear it for debate moderator, Bob Schieffer!!! Nobody expects a debate moderator to be able to completely control a couple of guys who want to be the next President of the United States, but Schieffer controlled the proceedings a lot better than any of the other moderators did.
I thought that both candidates brought their "A" Game!
A Couple Of Memorable Quotes...
"I don't care about an old washed-up terrorist!" John McCain talking about Bill Ayres, a guy that Sean "Little Lord Fauntleroy" Hannity seems to have a man-crush on.
"I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against HIM, you should have run four years ago!" John McCain's way of telling Barack Obama that he (McCain) was/is tired of being compared to President Bush.
"NOBODY is FOR abortion!" Barack Obama countering statements made by John McCain, especially the "health of the mother" argument in which McCain seemed to suggest that when debating the abortion issue, The Life Of The Mother Is Not Important!
Oh, yeah. That'll get McCain a lot of votes from all those "undecided" women voters.
AND SPEAKING OF THE "ABORTION" ARGUMENT...
The country is going to hell in a hand basket as far as the economy goes, people are losing their homes, their jobs, we have two or three very expensive wars going on and we have mindless zealots who want to talk about Bill Ayres and the very divisive issue of ABORTION?!?
Okay! I'LL talk about abortion!!!
I grew up believing that Abortion was evil. And any woman who had an abortion was evil.
But as I got older, I began to wonder why it was that MEN seemed to be the vast majority of people who were (in essence) telling WOMEN what they could and couldn't do with their own BODIES!!!
And the more I thought about it, the more I came to believe in the rights that women have because of Roe vs. Wade.
But talk is cheap and whenever the subject came up with friends, I would offer my "cheap talk" view. I spent a lot of years as a talk show host and every once in a while the subject of abortion would come up and I would let the caller give his or her view and more often than not, the next caller would disagree with the previous caller's view. I never gave my own view when doing a talk show until a few years ago when I went public with a story for the first time. I went public to make a point about abortion and how an opinion can be challenged and what that opinion will be after it IS challenged.
This will be the second time I have publicly told this story.
This happened more than 27-28 years ago. I was having a love affair with the woman who was and still is the love of my life even though I haven't seen her in more than 25 years.
One day, she told me she was pregnant. Like most single guys, my first reaction was to be stunned, but I got over that feeling quickly because even though I wasn't thinking about marriage at the time, this news made me think about marriage. And a few days later, the day I was going to ask her to marry me, she told me she planned to have an abortion.
Needless to say I was stunned. Again! Stunned "two", if you will!
It turns out she didn't want a child and she also didn't want to get married.
But I didn't want her to have an abortion!
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't talk her out of it.
To make a long story a little shorter, she had the abortion, we split up for a short period of time, we got back together again (we were like rabbits who couldn't stay away from each other) and the affair ended permanently less than a year later. Her choice. Just like the abortion was.
I will never forget her and I will never forget the abortion. Of my child. I hated it!
But when all was said and done, I STILL believe it should be the WOMAN's right to choose.
If that means I passed the "opinion" test, it's not a source of pride for me. It simply means I think the Supreme Court got it right when they ruled on the Roe vs. Wade case.
Oh, the woman who had the abortion and then split up with me? She tried to get back together with me three or four years later. I thought about it. I thought hard about it! But because she broke my heart twice, I didn't think I'd have the strength for a third "break"! So for health purposes (mine), I "passed" on her offer. Best lay I ever had.
BACK TO THE THIRD AND FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE...
One of the questions that Bob Schieffer asked that I really liked was the "Why would the country be better off if YOUR running mate became President?" question. That's a fun question you can pose to friends of yours who are interested in the upcoming election.
Who do I think WON the debate?!?
First of all, I was just so happy to see that both candidates were "on fire" and that both candidates came TO debate! And they were more specific about (some) things than in any of the two previous debates! Yeah, some of their answers were a little confusing, but to be fair, it's safe to say that in some cases they won't know what they can really do until after they're elected.
The pollsters declared Obama the debate winner right after the debate ended, but what surprised ME was when I heard the Fox News panel declare that they thought Obama came across as more presidential than McCain.
November 4 is Election Day. Less than 3 weeks from now.
What kind of shape will our ECONOMY be in THEN?!?
And will Joe The Plumber have his own talk show by then?
Speaking of talk shows...I'll be on with talk show host Wayne Powers this Friday night (10/17) for about 10 minutes or so on WBT, 1110 on the AM dial in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their night time radio signal is heard in a LOT of states! My scheduled time to be on the air is the beginning of the 10pm (Eastern Time) hour until close to 10:15. If you can't hear this station on your radio at home, you can listen on the internet. http://www.wbt.com/ It's free!!!
TWO FILM RECOMMENDATIONS!!!
"Appaloosa", a new Western that was co-written by, directed by and stars, Ed Harris along with three other outstanding lead actors. Great cast of supporting players as well. This is a film that breathes between scenes and a lot of the dialogue. And it's that "breathing" that helps make this film special. So special, that Newsweek columnist George Will wrote his whole back page column about "Appaloosa" in the new Newsweek.
"Nights In Rodanthe" is a film that stars Richard Gere and Diane Lane. I'm a big fan of both actors and I liked this sweet love story and the dramatic twists and turns it provides. A LOT!!!
THOUGHTS OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I write back to everyone.
THE NEXT BLOG? Unless something unexpected comes up, a week from today. As a rule, a new blog is posted every Wednesday afternoon (late) or (early/late) Wednesday evening.
posted by Scott St. James at 9:48 PM
1 Comments:
In the deep loss Scott felt with the taking of that life, he validated the distinct humanity of his unborn child. Roe vs. Wade, however, neglected that validation. It placed one person's right to act upon her own body above another person's right to live.
Post a Comment
<< Home