Presidential Debate # 2
So, the big news over the past couple of days was the second debate between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
I really only saw a bit of this debate, and will admit to not watching this live. Funny, but in previous elections, I made much more of a point in tuning in, even when I was not intending to vote for either major party candidate. This year, it seems, I'm just not all that interested in tuning in at all, having not watched a single live debate yet.
From what I saw, and from what most people are saying, Obama came out much more aggressively this time for this debate. He and Romney actually confronted one another, accusing each other, even pointing fingers at one another, evidently (saw a picture where they were pointing at each other).
Most people seem to think that Obama won the debate, and challenged Romney on several points. Romney took much the same approach that he had in the first debate, and reiterated his line that the past four years were, in essence, a failure, and that this is the responsibility of President Obama.
Apparently, the most famous moment from this debate came when Romney claimed at some point that while he had been governor of Massachusetts, he had been handed "binders full of women" after asking his staff to find qualified women to fill some cabinet posts. The way that was worded was a bit clumsy (Romney might say it was inelegantly stated, as he said about his infamous 47% gaffe), and so it became kind of the comic moment of the debate, if not of the debates in general for this year.
There are moments that live on in Presidential debate history. Gerald Ford claiming that the Soviet Union was not really a threat, almost assuring Jimmy Carter the victory in the election afterwards. Ronald Reagan had a very famous, humorous moment in 1984 against Walter Mondale, when he promised that he would not use his opponent's youth and inexperience against him. In 1988, in the Vice Presidential debate, Lloyd Benson famously dismissed Senator Dan Quayle's seemingly comparing himself to Jack Kennedy by retorting that he had known Jack Kennedy, and then uttering the famous words, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." George H. W. Bush was caught looking at his watch in 1992. In 2000, it was Al Gore standing entirely too close to George W. Bush, who was speaking at the time.
We shall see where this rates in Presidential debate history. Whether it will live on in infamy, or ultimately, prove to be a minor gaffe, and not a deciding point, remains to be seen.
In Other News
- Former Presidential candidate George McGovern's family said that he is no longer responsive.
- In South Africa, where the recent violence involving mine protests and the police reaction to these, Gold Fields CEO Nick Holland is apparently hours away (as of the time that I am writing this) from firing 23,000 miners. If he goes through with it, you have to wonder if the violence that erupted there, and seemed to many (both inside and outside of South Africa) to be reminiscent of the apartheid days) will break out yet again.
-The alleged organizer for the attack of the school girl who was shot had been held and released back in 2009, evidently.. The girl is presently being treated in Great Britain. She had been speaking out against the Taliban's efforts to prevent girls from receiving education. They claimed that she was attacked because she had spoken out against them, and also praised US President Barack Obama. Here is the link to the article "Attacker of Pakistani schoolgirl was held, freed in 2009: sources" by Reuters that I got this story from"
http://news.yahoo.com/attacker-pakistani-schoolgirl-held-freed-2009-sources-073050759.html
- More protests in Greece to protest against austerity measures, which many there feel is too harsh.
- An international mediator claims that the violence in Syria presently could involve many others in the Middle East, if proper care is not heeded.
- Drone attacks in a southern Yemen farm town have killed nine alleged rebels.
Sports
In baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals avenged their 7-1 Game 2 beating by winning Game 3, 3-1, and getting the lead back in the series with two games to one over the San Fransisco Giants in the National League playoffs.. In the American league, Game 4 was postponed because of the threat of rain. The Detroit Tigers hold a 3-0 series lead, and will have a chance to close out the series tonight.
In football news, I commend Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe for posing in, OUT, a gay magazine, in order to advocate equal rights for homosexuals.
"To me", says Kluwe,"this fight is about equality and human rights. The fact is, there are Americans who pay taxes and serve in our military - who defend this country- who do not receive the same legal protections as the rest of us. To me, that's flat-out discrimination. That's the same as segregation or suffrage."
Kudos to Chris Kluwe for speaking his mind on an issue that matters to him! I hope he has a terrific year!
Here is the link to the article, "Vikings punter Christ Kluwe poses in gay magazine to support same-sex marriage", by Doug Farrar:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/vikings-punter-chris-kluwe-poses-gay-magazine-promote-144612785--nfl.html
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Book Review: Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Sphinx
When the newest Indiana Jones movie, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", it kind of had a bit of a feel like the newer Star Wars trilogy had. it was good, but not quite on the level of the original trilogy. Sorry, but it just wasn't quite there.
Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed it. But in some strange way, it makes you appreciate (and long for) the originals that much more.
So it was that I began to long for more. I wanted to see the other movies again, and decided to get the new DVD releases of the films. I began to watch them quite a bit more, and it was like revisiting a part of my childhood. You see, I think that the first movie that I ever saw was Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was in Loch Sheldrake, New York. If memory serves correctly, the advertised price was $2.50. Can you remember the last time you saw a new movie in a theater? I think I'm dating myself here. I was scared to death at some points - particularly the end scene, when the Ark is opened up, and all of the bad guys who could not contain their curiosity had their eyes and interiors burned out, while Indy and Marion kept their eyes tightly shut, and avoided the worst.
Yes, it was a bit like revisiting some childhood past, yet it was a bit different, as well. Those movies are enjoyable as an adult, and I found myself really enjoying them, with a newfound appreciation, admittedly. I began to long for more Indiana Jones.
Does that make me a bit of an overgrown child?
Perhaps.
But I was enjoying it, and that's no crime, right? After all, Indiana Jones is a hero that we can actually believe in. A true good guy, yet with a kind of dark side to him, as well. He can be greedy, and is very sarcastic. He seems to have a bit of what we might call a nerdy side to him, yet he does not match the typical nerdy impressions that we have of such people. He is good looking, well built and very strong and tough, winning almost every fight that he finds himself in. He gets involved with numerous sexy women, and just seems to be completely comfortable in his own skin. Plus, he just has a penchant for adventure and excitement, which is, after all, what the movies and stories are all about.
So, yes, Indiana Jones is indeed a hero that we can believe in. A highly educated man who goes looking for not only adventure, but treasures - as well as answers to some of the most perplexing mysteries known to humanity. Yet, what he finds, to paraphrase the words of the character of Jones himself, belongs in a museum. He is not merely looting the priceless stuff, and you get the sense that these historical artifacts could not be in better hands.
I began to look for more stuff of Indiana Jones. Things like the old television series, "The Young Indiana Jones". When I was a kid, that series aired, and for whatever the reason, I did not like it so much, and simply did not follow it. Perhaps I had been expecting something a bit more like the movies, I don't know. But perhaps I have reached an age where I can appreciate it better now.
Lately, all these years later, my craving for more Indian Jones stuff began to grow yet again. I looked into something new, and the focus began to be on books.
I had read the Crystal Skull book after the movie release, in hopes of understanding it better, and gaining a newfound appreciation for it. I had read the book for the last Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith, before it came out, and I think it actually enhanced the movie going experience for me. Of course, by then, I had already seen the new Indiana Jones movie, but had felt myself perhaps wanting more, somehow. It worked somewhat, helped me to understand it a bit better. But again, the movie just was not as exciting, as vibrant, perhaps as sexy, as those earlier movies.
So, I began to explore more books, specifically. Until recently, however, I had just kept looking at the books for sale on Ebay, and had not actually committed to purchase - until late last month, when i got a package of fifteen books of Indiana Jones.
It took a while to get to me, but I was excited when it finally did. I opened the box up, feeling almost like a kid. Here were new Indiana Jones adventures, indeed! Some of the covers even looked like they could pass for movie posters! This was exciting!
Finally, I chose one to begin reading, and that was the one that I am reviewing here.
In many ways, it is your standard Indiana Jones adventure. It would not have been out of place in the movie theaters back in the eighties, starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. There are parts that might have seemed a bit....well, strange. Different. But on so many other levels, this is, indeed, vintage Indiana Jones. It was exactly what I had been longing for.
***Spoiler Alert***
Here, Indiana Jones finds himself in the Shaanxi Province in China just a couple of years or so after the Japanese invasion, looking for a rare buried treasure from the tomb of the emperor Qin. He has another guide, and just like in earlier adventures, the guide is not entirely trustworthy. But Jones finds a way inside of the hidden vault on the side of a mountain, and once again has to tread very carefully, and avoid the numerous booby traps, which includes, of course, water.
He manages to escape this through his wits, but only to get captured by the occupying Japanese. Eventually, he manages to make an exciting escape out from Japanese imprisonment, as well, but then is pursued by them for the rest of this adventure. In the process of his escape, he meets with Faye and her daughter Mystery, who are traveling magicians that happen to be in town. They help Jones to make his escape via merchant marine vessel, but of course it does not end there. The ship is attacked by the Japanese, and the crew find themselves on an isolated island that serves as a leper colony.
Faye tells Jones about her husband, who has mysteriously disappeared, chasing another all powerful find that will, naturally, pique the interest of Indiana Jones, and send him (and us, the readers) on yet another adventure.
Off they go to Iraq.
What is he off to find this time? The Omega Book, a book of such mystery and power that it gives the one who possesses it will be able to control the fate of the world!
They meet the Yezidi tribe, who while not precisely Satan worshipers, nonetheless pay honor and respect to him, in what most of us would feel was a twist. These people hold a secret of their own - the Staff, which is supposed to have some incredible, mystical powers, according to legend.
At first, the stick seems old and brittle and devoid of any real power. But as it so happens, it has some sort of attachment to Faye. She can bring it to life, if you will, again, and it regains volume and strength and freshness while in her possession. Almost by accident, Faye's association with the Staff is found out, and the trio take the Staff with them to Egypt, where they begin to search for the real prize that they are after, the legendary Omega Book.
Once in Egypt, they meet Sallah, the Egyptian archaelogical digger that we first met in two of the three original Indiana Jones movies. With Sallah's help, they go to the site of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid at night, once the tourists are gone, and with the power of the Staff, led by Faye, they manage to find the long lost secret chamber that houses the legendary Omega Book.
Of course, it will not be easy. It is booby trapped, and surviving all of that takes some doing.
Also, as they are about to find out, they are being followed by their Japanese rivals, who begin to grow bolder themselves, now, as they are so near their prize.
They find the Omega Book, but the book is without real beginning or end. It is real, and made evidently of precious metals, made to be paper thin. Mystery urges Indy not to look up his own name, warning him that the trap of the book is to look up your own name - because then it will tell you that you never got out of that chamber alive. Soon, we find out the truth of this assertion when the arrogant head of the Japanese team demands to know his own fate. But the rest of the Japanese hold the team prisoner, and intend to kill them, essentially.
The power of the Staff, which only Faye can truly utilize, manages to save the day for them. They get out of the secret chamber, and decide to bury it. Indy tells Sallah that the world just is not ready yet for the power of the Omega Book, and it will be found in due time, sometime in the future.
We see Indy return back to the familiar surroundings of Princeton University, right here in New Jersey, where he takes down a jar that seems initially to be filled with liquid and nothing else, but out of which he pulls out....tah-dah!...a Crystal Skull! No, not the Crystal Skull of the later adventure, and the subject of the most recent movie in 2008. But a Crystal Skull nonetheless.
It has cost him someone he loves, already, and so he decides that he needs to go back to British Honduras to return the skull to it's rightful home.
This becomes an adventure itself, as he is confronted by an enormous Anaconda snake intent on eating him. He manages to dodge it, almost by dumb luck as by anything else, and finds a smaller corridor that, luckily, the snake is too big to fit into. He travels until he finds this strange mist, which he is afraid to approach. But not wanting to go back to confront the snake, he then has to take his chances with the mist, and he finds himself transported through time, back to the days of a very ancient civilization about to witness sacrificial rituals that Indy watches, almost as if he were the ghost.
Next, we see a hesitant Indiana Jones reluctantly approaching, and finally meeting, with a famous professor that we can only assume to be Albert Einstein. He asks about the possibility of time travel, and is initially disappointed by the professor's (presumably Einstein) response. But the answers, the professor assures Jones, are within him already, and he does not need anyone else to define his own sanity. Jones nods, understanding that, in fact, he knew this answer already.
The book ends with a rather impressive short essay all about magic. It is a short piece, yet it goes into some detail about all the different kinds of magic, as well as a bit about recent magic. The essay also delves into the specifics of those historical and legendary elements of this story, including the Staff of Moses, which the author, Max McCoy, explains is actually the Staff of Aaron, and it's mysterious powers, as well as the apparent lapse in knowledge about where it came to rest. There is a brief description not about the Omega Book, which the author admits was a product of his own imagination, but about the concept of Omega itself, and finally, about the Sphinx and it's history.
The essay could be passed over by fans just wanting to read an Indiana Jones adventure novel, or it could even be read by itself, as a nice little essay that is tightly packed with all of the history and legends just mentioned. It references books for further exploration by the reader. I would recommend reading it along with the book, as they seem to be good companion pieces for one another.
"Any suffiiciently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke
Don't get me wrong: I enjoyed it. But in some strange way, it makes you appreciate (and long for) the originals that much more.
So it was that I began to long for more. I wanted to see the other movies again, and decided to get the new DVD releases of the films. I began to watch them quite a bit more, and it was like revisiting a part of my childhood. You see, I think that the first movie that I ever saw was Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was in Loch Sheldrake, New York. If memory serves correctly, the advertised price was $2.50. Can you remember the last time you saw a new movie in a theater? I think I'm dating myself here. I was scared to death at some points - particularly the end scene, when the Ark is opened up, and all of the bad guys who could not contain their curiosity had their eyes and interiors burned out, while Indy and Marion kept their eyes tightly shut, and avoided the worst.
Yes, it was a bit like revisiting some childhood past, yet it was a bit different, as well. Those movies are enjoyable as an adult, and I found myself really enjoying them, with a newfound appreciation, admittedly. I began to long for more Indiana Jones.
Does that make me a bit of an overgrown child?
Perhaps.
But I was enjoying it, and that's no crime, right? After all, Indiana Jones is a hero that we can actually believe in. A true good guy, yet with a kind of dark side to him, as well. He can be greedy, and is very sarcastic. He seems to have a bit of what we might call a nerdy side to him, yet he does not match the typical nerdy impressions that we have of such people. He is good looking, well built and very strong and tough, winning almost every fight that he finds himself in. He gets involved with numerous sexy women, and just seems to be completely comfortable in his own skin. Plus, he just has a penchant for adventure and excitement, which is, after all, what the movies and stories are all about.
So, yes, Indiana Jones is indeed a hero that we can believe in. A highly educated man who goes looking for not only adventure, but treasures - as well as answers to some of the most perplexing mysteries known to humanity. Yet, what he finds, to paraphrase the words of the character of Jones himself, belongs in a museum. He is not merely looting the priceless stuff, and you get the sense that these historical artifacts could not be in better hands.
I began to look for more stuff of Indiana Jones. Things like the old television series, "The Young Indiana Jones". When I was a kid, that series aired, and for whatever the reason, I did not like it so much, and simply did not follow it. Perhaps I had been expecting something a bit more like the movies, I don't know. But perhaps I have reached an age where I can appreciate it better now.
Lately, all these years later, my craving for more Indian Jones stuff began to grow yet again. I looked into something new, and the focus began to be on books.
I had read the Crystal Skull book after the movie release, in hopes of understanding it better, and gaining a newfound appreciation for it. I had read the book for the last Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith, before it came out, and I think it actually enhanced the movie going experience for me. Of course, by then, I had already seen the new Indiana Jones movie, but had felt myself perhaps wanting more, somehow. It worked somewhat, helped me to understand it a bit better. But again, the movie just was not as exciting, as vibrant, perhaps as sexy, as those earlier movies.
So, I began to explore more books, specifically. Until recently, however, I had just kept looking at the books for sale on Ebay, and had not actually committed to purchase - until late last month, when i got a package of fifteen books of Indiana Jones.
It took a while to get to me, but I was excited when it finally did. I opened the box up, feeling almost like a kid. Here were new Indiana Jones adventures, indeed! Some of the covers even looked like they could pass for movie posters! This was exciting!
Finally, I chose one to begin reading, and that was the one that I am reviewing here.
In many ways, it is your standard Indiana Jones adventure. It would not have been out of place in the movie theaters back in the eighties, starring Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. There are parts that might have seemed a bit....well, strange. Different. But on so many other levels, this is, indeed, vintage Indiana Jones. It was exactly what I had been longing for.
***Spoiler Alert***
Here, Indiana Jones finds himself in the Shaanxi Province in China just a couple of years or so after the Japanese invasion, looking for a rare buried treasure from the tomb of the emperor Qin. He has another guide, and just like in earlier adventures, the guide is not entirely trustworthy. But Jones finds a way inside of the hidden vault on the side of a mountain, and once again has to tread very carefully, and avoid the numerous booby traps, which includes, of course, water.
He manages to escape this through his wits, but only to get captured by the occupying Japanese. Eventually, he manages to make an exciting escape out from Japanese imprisonment, as well, but then is pursued by them for the rest of this adventure. In the process of his escape, he meets with Faye and her daughter Mystery, who are traveling magicians that happen to be in town. They help Jones to make his escape via merchant marine vessel, but of course it does not end there. The ship is attacked by the Japanese, and the crew find themselves on an isolated island that serves as a leper colony.
Faye tells Jones about her husband, who has mysteriously disappeared, chasing another all powerful find that will, naturally, pique the interest of Indiana Jones, and send him (and us, the readers) on yet another adventure.
Off they go to Iraq.
What is he off to find this time? The Omega Book, a book of such mystery and power that it gives the one who possesses it will be able to control the fate of the world!
They meet the Yezidi tribe, who while not precisely Satan worshipers, nonetheless pay honor and respect to him, in what most of us would feel was a twist. These people hold a secret of their own - the Staff, which is supposed to have some incredible, mystical powers, according to legend.
At first, the stick seems old and brittle and devoid of any real power. But as it so happens, it has some sort of attachment to Faye. She can bring it to life, if you will, again, and it regains volume and strength and freshness while in her possession. Almost by accident, Faye's association with the Staff is found out, and the trio take the Staff with them to Egypt, where they begin to search for the real prize that they are after, the legendary Omega Book.
Once in Egypt, they meet Sallah, the Egyptian archaelogical digger that we first met in two of the three original Indiana Jones movies. With Sallah's help, they go to the site of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid at night, once the tourists are gone, and with the power of the Staff, led by Faye, they manage to find the long lost secret chamber that houses the legendary Omega Book.
Of course, it will not be easy. It is booby trapped, and surviving all of that takes some doing.
Also, as they are about to find out, they are being followed by their Japanese rivals, who begin to grow bolder themselves, now, as they are so near their prize.
They find the Omega Book, but the book is without real beginning or end. It is real, and made evidently of precious metals, made to be paper thin. Mystery urges Indy not to look up his own name, warning him that the trap of the book is to look up your own name - because then it will tell you that you never got out of that chamber alive. Soon, we find out the truth of this assertion when the arrogant head of the Japanese team demands to know his own fate. But the rest of the Japanese hold the team prisoner, and intend to kill them, essentially.
The power of the Staff, which only Faye can truly utilize, manages to save the day for them. They get out of the secret chamber, and decide to bury it. Indy tells Sallah that the world just is not ready yet for the power of the Omega Book, and it will be found in due time, sometime in the future.
We see Indy return back to the familiar surroundings of Princeton University, right here in New Jersey, where he takes down a jar that seems initially to be filled with liquid and nothing else, but out of which he pulls out....tah-dah!...a Crystal Skull! No, not the Crystal Skull of the later adventure, and the subject of the most recent movie in 2008. But a Crystal Skull nonetheless.
It has cost him someone he loves, already, and so he decides that he needs to go back to British Honduras to return the skull to it's rightful home.
This becomes an adventure itself, as he is confronted by an enormous Anaconda snake intent on eating him. He manages to dodge it, almost by dumb luck as by anything else, and finds a smaller corridor that, luckily, the snake is too big to fit into. He travels until he finds this strange mist, which he is afraid to approach. But not wanting to go back to confront the snake, he then has to take his chances with the mist, and he finds himself transported through time, back to the days of a very ancient civilization about to witness sacrificial rituals that Indy watches, almost as if he were the ghost.
Next, we see a hesitant Indiana Jones reluctantly approaching, and finally meeting, with a famous professor that we can only assume to be Albert Einstein. He asks about the possibility of time travel, and is initially disappointed by the professor's (presumably Einstein) response. But the answers, the professor assures Jones, are within him already, and he does not need anyone else to define his own sanity. Jones nods, understanding that, in fact, he knew this answer already.
The book ends with a rather impressive short essay all about magic. It is a short piece, yet it goes into some detail about all the different kinds of magic, as well as a bit about recent magic. The essay also delves into the specifics of those historical and legendary elements of this story, including the Staff of Moses, which the author, Max McCoy, explains is actually the Staff of Aaron, and it's mysterious powers, as well as the apparent lapse in knowledge about where it came to rest. There is a brief description not about the Omega Book, which the author admits was a product of his own imagination, but about the concept of Omega itself, and finally, about the Sphinx and it's history.
The essay could be passed over by fans just wanting to read an Indiana Jones adventure novel, or it could even be read by itself, as a nice little essay that is tightly packed with all of the history and legends just mentioned. It references books for further exploration by the reader. I would recommend reading it along with the book, as they seem to be good companion pieces for one another.
"Any suffiiciently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Peyton Manning Manages to Erase Remaining Doubts
What a wild weekend in the NFL this one was! Just when you thought you had seen everything, you get a weekend like this! And the best was saved for last.
But it did not start off that way. So, it seemed a sleepy enough game. A snoozer, really. The halftime score showed the San Diego Chargers, the home team, up 24-0, over their division rival Denver Broncos. Victory was all but certain, and San Diego would then earn a two game cushion atop the AFC West.
I fell asleep, then got up and got ready for work, taking it for granted that the Chargers would win. I wondered what was wrong with the Broncos, and Manning, and began to wonder if, truly, his best days were indeed fully behind him. Maybe he was one of those sad athletes that just don't seem to know when it's time to hang up the cleats and call it a career, like Michael Jordan when he played with Washington.
But when I got to work, I saw the ending moment of the Monday Night Football game, and looked at the score instinctively. Denver Broncos 35, San Diego Chargers 24.
My jaw dropped.
What a comeback! Incredible! This guy just seems superhuman at times. Both he and his brother seem to be capable of simply bouncing back after a very bad start in a game, and then putting on a clinic the rest of the way, en route to some memorable victory. Eli did it a few weeks ago against the Tampa Bay Bucs, a game I was actually at. But tonight, it was Peyton, and he had an incredible performance.
Funny, because the last time Peyton did something like this on Monday Night Football, it was against those same Tampa Bay Bucs. Only he was wearing a different uniform: the horseshoe of the Indianapolis Colts, his former team of over a decade.
But this one probably surpassed even that. The Broncos pulled off what, to my understanding, was tied for the greatest comeback victory for an away team in NFL history, and the greatest in Monday Night Football history. Also, they became the first team ever to be down by so many points, and then to pull off a double digit win.
Also, it was the 37th Manning's 4th quarter comeback of his career, which is a record. He completed 24 of 30 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns, but was most impressive, obviously, during that incredible second half. With the Manning and the Broncos defense playing top notch, they were able to climb out of the 24-0 halftime deficit with 35 unanswered points in the second half.
Suddenly, they were unstoppable.
A lot of credit has to go to the Broncos defense, which was one of the elites going into the season, and which was really incredible today.
John Elway, who was instrumental in orchestrating th Peyton Manning deal, was celebrating on the sidelines tonight in San Diego. Let him celebrate, and let his quarterback celebrate. They both were taking a chance, and at least tonight, that chance paid great dividends!
But it did not start off that way. So, it seemed a sleepy enough game. A snoozer, really. The halftime score showed the San Diego Chargers, the home team, up 24-0, over their division rival Denver Broncos. Victory was all but certain, and San Diego would then earn a two game cushion atop the AFC West.
I fell asleep, then got up and got ready for work, taking it for granted that the Chargers would win. I wondered what was wrong with the Broncos, and Manning, and began to wonder if, truly, his best days were indeed fully behind him. Maybe he was one of those sad athletes that just don't seem to know when it's time to hang up the cleats and call it a career, like Michael Jordan when he played with Washington.
But when I got to work, I saw the ending moment of the Monday Night Football game, and looked at the score instinctively. Denver Broncos 35, San Diego Chargers 24.
My jaw dropped.
What a comeback! Incredible! This guy just seems superhuman at times. Both he and his brother seem to be capable of simply bouncing back after a very bad start in a game, and then putting on a clinic the rest of the way, en route to some memorable victory. Eli did it a few weeks ago against the Tampa Bay Bucs, a game I was actually at. But tonight, it was Peyton, and he had an incredible performance.
Funny, because the last time Peyton did something like this on Monday Night Football, it was against those same Tampa Bay Bucs. Only he was wearing a different uniform: the horseshoe of the Indianapolis Colts, his former team of over a decade.
But this one probably surpassed even that. The Broncos pulled off what, to my understanding, was tied for the greatest comeback victory for an away team in NFL history, and the greatest in Monday Night Football history. Also, they became the first team ever to be down by so many points, and then to pull off a double digit win.
Also, it was the 37th Manning's 4th quarter comeback of his career, which is a record. He completed 24 of 30 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns, but was most impressive, obviously, during that incredible second half. With the Manning and the Broncos defense playing top notch, they were able to climb out of the 24-0 halftime deficit with 35 unanswered points in the second half.
Suddenly, they were unstoppable.
A lot of credit has to go to the Broncos defense, which was one of the elites going into the season, and which was really incredible today.
John Elway, who was instrumental in orchestrating th Peyton Manning deal, was celebrating on the sidelines tonight in San Diego. Let him celebrate, and let his quarterback celebrate. They both were taking a chance, and at least tonight, that chance paid great dividends!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Just Wanted to Mention...
After yesterday's entry about how cold it was on Saturday morning during my early morning hike, it warmed up nicely the rest of the day, and stayed warm. Yesterday was an Indian Summer day, with warm temperatures more reminiscent of the summertime.
I do not generally mind the cold weather, and in fact, often like it (at least until right around the holidays, during which time it adds a certain charm, I find).
However, I will admit that the warmer temperatures were very pleasant, and made for a nicer hike.
Also, I work on the weekends, many hours, so my freedom is not always there. Yet where I work, there is a park, owned by the company, that is really quite pleasant. It is situated on a bluff that overlooks the hills to the west, and i have watched many a sunset from here. There is a wide expanse of lawn, and a pond with a fountain in the middle.
Guess who was reading for well over an hour, soaking in the beautiful weather, and then, on top of it, took his lunch break outside, and got even more reading time in?
Just don't tell me bosses what I get paid to do!
Update on Tuesday, the 16th
I wanted to mention, when I originally had the idea to write this addition, some of the things to be thankful for. You see, Sunday, the 14th, was a good day by many measures. I got a decent amount of rest, yet still managed to do some decent writing, editing, reading, and hiking. Also, I got to enjoy the outdoors quite a bit on a day truly graced with glorious, ideal weather, and in a beautiful setting. Work went well, and did everything that was required, and then some.
So, when there are reasons to be appreciative, it seems like a good idea to make mention of it, and stay positive.
The one complaint? I did not get to spend any time with Basia, and barely saw my son, Sebastien (but at least I got to see him for a few minutes).
Otherwise, it was about as productive a day as I've had in quite a while.
I do not generally mind the cold weather, and in fact, often like it (at least until right around the holidays, during which time it adds a certain charm, I find).
However, I will admit that the warmer temperatures were very pleasant, and made for a nicer hike.
Also, I work on the weekends, many hours, so my freedom is not always there. Yet where I work, there is a park, owned by the company, that is really quite pleasant. It is situated on a bluff that overlooks the hills to the west, and i have watched many a sunset from here. There is a wide expanse of lawn, and a pond with a fountain in the middle.
Guess who was reading for well over an hour, soaking in the beautiful weather, and then, on top of it, took his lunch break outside, and got even more reading time in?
Just don't tell me bosses what I get paid to do!
Update on Tuesday, the 16th
I wanted to mention, when I originally had the idea to write this addition, some of the things to be thankful for. You see, Sunday, the 14th, was a good day by many measures. I got a decent amount of rest, yet still managed to do some decent writing, editing, reading, and hiking. Also, I got to enjoy the outdoors quite a bit on a day truly graced with glorious, ideal weather, and in a beautiful setting. Work went well, and did everything that was required, and then some.
So, when there are reasons to be appreciative, it seems like a good idea to make mention of it, and stay positive.
The one complaint? I did not get to spend any time with Basia, and barely saw my son, Sebastien (but at least I got to see him for a few minutes).
Otherwise, it was about as productive a day as I've had in quite a while.
Around the Bend Weekly Update - October 15, 2012
So, let's see what going on right about now:
Around the World:
- More turmoil in the Middle East - in what seems to be coming closer and closer to an out and out war, Turkey is now banning Syria from it's air space.
- In Scotland, progress is being made towards the referendum on independence, as Scottish leader Alex Salmond meets with British Prime Minister David Cameron. It looks like the three centuries old union with England is on the verge of being dissolved, now.
- 22 people that were leaving their mosques were slaughtered in a village (Dogo Dawa) in Nigeria.
- There was a peace deal with Muslim rebels in the Philippines that will perhaps be a step towards setting up an autonomous region.
- Cambodia's former king, Norodom Sihanouk, died in Beijing. He was 89 years old.
RIP, Arlen Specter
He was a longtime moderate Republican senator of three decades, and often was outspoken.
Specter was best known for maintaining an independent streak within the party that hardly tolerated deviation. He had fights, often quite public, with prominent leaders within the GOP. He was best known as a Republican for all of those years, yet it should be noted that he started off his political career as a Democrat and, at the very end, he ended it by rejoining them.
Here is an article about various reactions from prominent politicians on the death of Specter:
http://news.yahoo.com/reaction-death-ex-sen-arlen-specter-pa-191825835.html
Politics
Bill Clinton is now going to go in big time in these final weeks of the election campaign, rallying in support of incumbent President Barack Obama.
Right now, following Obama's disastrous performance in the first debate, and with the second debate looming (on Tuesday), Barack Obama has quickly went from seeming like he was about to wrap up the election, to seemingly being in a tight race, with his entire Presidency, and legacy, on the line.
The last time he was in such an unsure place was just before the Democratic Convention, and guess who made a remarkable speech that defined the prior four years and created a defining narrative, better than President Obama had managed to do during that entire four years, and really helped the President out by giving him a decent bounce in the polls? That's right: Bill Clinton. Of course.
Clinton will continue to pound the case for four more years of Obama as President, and he could very well help, like he did at the Democratic National Convention a few weeks ago.
"He's got a way of communicating complex ideas in plain ways that no one else has," says Greg Haas, who ran Clinton's campaign in Ohio in 1992, "...He's in a class by himself."
Well, now that Obama finds himself in trouble again, he is turning to this old, not exactly political ally, but fellow Democrat nonetheless ex-President. Clinton will be on the campaign trail, making the case to give Obama four more years in office.
I wonder if Obama will try to find out if Clinton could legally replace him in the next debate? He certainly had a very strong ability to communicate effectively, and perhaps he can at least give Obama some tutorials to prepare him for the next debate on Tuesday.
Obama himself has mused on this very idea, joking that he should appoint the former President "secretary of explaining stuff."
Clinton's specialty is politics, and perhaps it will do him good to get back to a more active and prominent role. He just seems to thrive under those conditions, and he very well may wind up helping Obama yet again. It likely won't hurt Obama's chances, in any case.
http://news.yahoo.com/bill-clintons-back-campaign-game-big-time-143643283--election.html
Sports
The big game yesterday was the showdown in San Fran. My favorite team, the New York Giants (4-2), had knocked off the San Fransisco 49ers (4-2)in the NFC Championship Game last season, but many people felt that they had gotten lucky, that it was some kind of a fluke. The 49ers were talking revenge for most of the week, and the general consensus was that the 49ers, who had beaten the Jets (on the road), and the Bills in the previous two weekends by a combined 79-3, were going to rattle the Giants and exact a measure of revenge, en route to further establishing themselves as the best team in the league, and the favorites to at least represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
The general consensus is that the 49ers are the most physically punishing team in the league, and nobody but nobody can come into their house and run successfully against them. I even had a coworker who believed that Coach Harbaugh just might have deliberately had his team lose to the Vikings in order to avoid the pressures of an undefeated season, citing how the new England Patriots caved to the pressure a few years ago. Lose on purpose to avoid that pressure. In week 3. Right.
But indeed, many seemed to think that the 49ers were just that good, that they already belonged in the conversation as the greatest teams in NFL history.
Yes, they are good. Undeniably so. But that good? You can tell before mid-season? Really?
But the Giants came in and tore the 49ers apart, at least on this Sunday. What about the conventional wisdom that you don't even bother trying to run on the 49ers? The Giants ran the ball, and stuffed it down the 49ers throats. The secondary is supposed to be liability on an otherwise solid defense, but they picked Smith off three times. The Giants dominated, through and through, and the end result was a 26-3 spanking that shocked the NFL.
But why? The Giants are the defending champions, after all. Sure, they have been inconsistent so far this season, and have had their share of problems. But today, at least, the Giants reminded us why they won the Super Bowl last years, and twice in the last five seasons, as they responded like champions.
Otherwise, this was a strange weekend in football, with tons of upsets. The Giants game might not qualify as a huge upset, but nobody expected the Giants to win the way that they won it. But the Packers (3-3) finally began to look like the Packers of the previous three or so seasons, playing their most solid game of the season last night to hand the previously undefeated Texans (5-1) their first loss - in Houston! - by scoring a whopping six touchdowns against Houston's vaunted defense, en route to a 42-24 thrashing. So, the two most recent Super Bowl champions, respectively, took down the two teams that, arguably, had looked like the two most dominant teams in the league up to this point. Some people already had made predictions of a Super Bowl match up between San Fransisco and Houston. But the Packers and Giants, maybe, have something to say about that. And they each have recent Super Bowl experience, something that, for now, those two other teams are lacking.
Atlanta, the only other team still retaining an undefeated record entering this weekend, managed to remain undefeated, but only by surviving a real squeaker against Oakland at home. The Cardinals (4-2), who until last weekend remained undefeated, now have lost two in a row, and look more and more like the same old Cardinals that we have always known. But another team in the NFC West might just be for real: the Seattle Seahawks. They held off the Patriots (3-3) yesterday, who look far from the powerhouse team we all expected them to be. Another traditional AFC powerhouse, the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-3), also continue to struggle, as they lost to Tennessee on the road, and have yet to win on the road this season. Finally, let's congratulate the Cleveland Browns (1-5), who had been the league's last remaining winless team, on winning their first game yesterday! That first win can be the trickiest, as pressure mounts when it begins to take such a long time. Now, the Browns have that monkey off their back, they can probably focus on trying to make some of the improvements that they had been focusing on winning some games, as their new owner aims to build a winner in the city by the lake.
In baseball, Detroit managed to take the first two games against the Yankees in the Bronx, and the series now shifts to Detroit. The Yankees will be without their star, Derek Jeter, for the rest of these playoffs. It looks pretty grim at the moment for the Bronx Bombers. I don't particularly like them, but feel badly about Jeter. You have to like Detroit's chances of getting back to the World Series, and I'll be pulling for them if they do. In the National League, the resilient defending champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, managed to best the San Fransisco Giants in the first game of that series. Both teams are recent World Series champs (combined, they won the last two series), so it should be an interesting series.
Otherwise, in tennis, Roger Federer managed to reach his 300th overall week atop the rankings on the men's side - easily a record. I don't know whether he has a shot at hanging onto the top spot until the end of this year, which would tie him with Sampras's record of six years overall atop the rankings (although Sampras did manage to achieve that feat in six consecutive years). I know that I have really expressed amazement on this blog at times regarding Federer, but this guy just continues to amaze me! He just holds himself with such a measure of dignity and class, which is a refreshing change in sports. His list of accomplishments are really unbelievable and daunting, surely, to competitors and opponents. Congrats, as always, to the Fed!
Around the World:
- More turmoil in the Middle East - in what seems to be coming closer and closer to an out and out war, Turkey is now banning Syria from it's air space.
- In Scotland, progress is being made towards the referendum on independence, as Scottish leader Alex Salmond meets with British Prime Minister David Cameron. It looks like the three centuries old union with England is on the verge of being dissolved, now.
- 22 people that were leaving their mosques were slaughtered in a village (Dogo Dawa) in Nigeria.
- There was a peace deal with Muslim rebels in the Philippines that will perhaps be a step towards setting up an autonomous region.
- Cambodia's former king, Norodom Sihanouk, died in Beijing. He was 89 years old.
RIP, Arlen Specter
He was a longtime moderate Republican senator of three decades, and often was outspoken.
Specter was best known for maintaining an independent streak within the party that hardly tolerated deviation. He had fights, often quite public, with prominent leaders within the GOP. He was best known as a Republican for all of those years, yet it should be noted that he started off his political career as a Democrat and, at the very end, he ended it by rejoining them.
Here is an article about various reactions from prominent politicians on the death of Specter:
http://news.yahoo.com/reaction-death-ex-sen-arlen-specter-pa-191825835.html
Politics
Bill Clinton is now going to go in big time in these final weeks of the election campaign, rallying in support of incumbent President Barack Obama.
Right now, following Obama's disastrous performance in the first debate, and with the second debate looming (on Tuesday), Barack Obama has quickly went from seeming like he was about to wrap up the election, to seemingly being in a tight race, with his entire Presidency, and legacy, on the line.
The last time he was in such an unsure place was just before the Democratic Convention, and guess who made a remarkable speech that defined the prior four years and created a defining narrative, better than President Obama had managed to do during that entire four years, and really helped the President out by giving him a decent bounce in the polls? That's right: Bill Clinton. Of course.
Clinton will continue to pound the case for four more years of Obama as President, and he could very well help, like he did at the Democratic National Convention a few weeks ago.
"He's got a way of communicating complex ideas in plain ways that no one else has," says Greg Haas, who ran Clinton's campaign in Ohio in 1992, "...He's in a class by himself."
Well, now that Obama finds himself in trouble again, he is turning to this old, not exactly political ally, but fellow Democrat nonetheless ex-President. Clinton will be on the campaign trail, making the case to give Obama four more years in office.
I wonder if Obama will try to find out if Clinton could legally replace him in the next debate? He certainly had a very strong ability to communicate effectively, and perhaps he can at least give Obama some tutorials to prepare him for the next debate on Tuesday.
Obama himself has mused on this very idea, joking that he should appoint the former President "secretary of explaining stuff."
Clinton's specialty is politics, and perhaps it will do him good to get back to a more active and prominent role. He just seems to thrive under those conditions, and he very well may wind up helping Obama yet again. It likely won't hurt Obama's chances, in any case.
http://news.yahoo.com/bill-clintons-back-campaign-game-big-time-143643283--election.html
Sports
The big game yesterday was the showdown in San Fran. My favorite team, the New York Giants (4-2), had knocked off the San Fransisco 49ers (4-2)in the NFC Championship Game last season, but many people felt that they had gotten lucky, that it was some kind of a fluke. The 49ers were talking revenge for most of the week, and the general consensus was that the 49ers, who had beaten the Jets (on the road), and the Bills in the previous two weekends by a combined 79-3, were going to rattle the Giants and exact a measure of revenge, en route to further establishing themselves as the best team in the league, and the favorites to at least represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
The general consensus is that the 49ers are the most physically punishing team in the league, and nobody but nobody can come into their house and run successfully against them. I even had a coworker who believed that Coach Harbaugh just might have deliberately had his team lose to the Vikings in order to avoid the pressures of an undefeated season, citing how the new England Patriots caved to the pressure a few years ago. Lose on purpose to avoid that pressure. In week 3. Right.
But indeed, many seemed to think that the 49ers were just that good, that they already belonged in the conversation as the greatest teams in NFL history.
Yes, they are good. Undeniably so. But that good? You can tell before mid-season? Really?
But the Giants came in and tore the 49ers apart, at least on this Sunday. What about the conventional wisdom that you don't even bother trying to run on the 49ers? The Giants ran the ball, and stuffed it down the 49ers throats. The secondary is supposed to be liability on an otherwise solid defense, but they picked Smith off three times. The Giants dominated, through and through, and the end result was a 26-3 spanking that shocked the NFL.
But why? The Giants are the defending champions, after all. Sure, they have been inconsistent so far this season, and have had their share of problems. But today, at least, the Giants reminded us why they won the Super Bowl last years, and twice in the last five seasons, as they responded like champions.
Otherwise, this was a strange weekend in football, with tons of upsets. The Giants game might not qualify as a huge upset, but nobody expected the Giants to win the way that they won it. But the Packers (3-3) finally began to look like the Packers of the previous three or so seasons, playing their most solid game of the season last night to hand the previously undefeated Texans (5-1) their first loss - in Houston! - by scoring a whopping six touchdowns against Houston's vaunted defense, en route to a 42-24 thrashing. So, the two most recent Super Bowl champions, respectively, took down the two teams that, arguably, had looked like the two most dominant teams in the league up to this point. Some people already had made predictions of a Super Bowl match up between San Fransisco and Houston. But the Packers and Giants, maybe, have something to say about that. And they each have recent Super Bowl experience, something that, for now, those two other teams are lacking.
Atlanta, the only other team still retaining an undefeated record entering this weekend, managed to remain undefeated, but only by surviving a real squeaker against Oakland at home. The Cardinals (4-2), who until last weekend remained undefeated, now have lost two in a row, and look more and more like the same old Cardinals that we have always known. But another team in the NFC West might just be for real: the Seattle Seahawks. They held off the Patriots (3-3) yesterday, who look far from the powerhouse team we all expected them to be. Another traditional AFC powerhouse, the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-3), also continue to struggle, as they lost to Tennessee on the road, and have yet to win on the road this season. Finally, let's congratulate the Cleveland Browns (1-5), who had been the league's last remaining winless team, on winning their first game yesterday! That first win can be the trickiest, as pressure mounts when it begins to take such a long time. Now, the Browns have that monkey off their back, they can probably focus on trying to make some of the improvements that they had been focusing on winning some games, as their new owner aims to build a winner in the city by the lake.
In baseball, Detroit managed to take the first two games against the Yankees in the Bronx, and the series now shifts to Detroit. The Yankees will be without their star, Derek Jeter, for the rest of these playoffs. It looks pretty grim at the moment for the Bronx Bombers. I don't particularly like them, but feel badly about Jeter. You have to like Detroit's chances of getting back to the World Series, and I'll be pulling for them if they do. In the National League, the resilient defending champions, the St. Louis Cardinals, managed to best the San Fransisco Giants in the first game of that series. Both teams are recent World Series champs (combined, they won the last two series), so it should be an interesting series.
Otherwise, in tennis, Roger Federer managed to reach his 300th overall week atop the rankings on the men's side - easily a record. I don't know whether he has a shot at hanging onto the top spot until the end of this year, which would tie him with Sampras's record of six years overall atop the rankings (although Sampras did manage to achieve that feat in six consecutive years). I know that I have really expressed amazement on this blog at times regarding Federer, but this guy just continues to amaze me! He just holds himself with such a measure of dignity and class, which is a refreshing change in sports. His list of accomplishments are really unbelievable and daunting, surely, to competitors and opponents. Congrats, as always, to the Fed!
Sunday, October 14, 2012
The Turbulence of the Fall
I went for a walk this morning, and I got to say, it was freaking cold. There have been other mornings where it was a bit cool, even chilly. Not this morning. Nope, this morning was just plain, out and out cold!
This is not unusual. After all, it's October, and not August, right? But what makes this weird is that when i went hiking a week ago, it actually did feel like summer. If you did not know any better, you might have thought it was August, and not yet October.
It is unusual that the differences were quite that extreme, but that is how it works during the transitional phase of the season. One day, you think it's a continuation of summer (or winter, if it is early spring), and then the next, it's entirely different, and you can feel the approach of winter. It can be downright eerie from time to time.
Up until this morning, I was still hiking with shorts and a t-shirt, with my one concession on particularly chilly days being to add a light, short sleeve shirt along for the hike. Today, however, I wore long pants and a full button down shirt. Normally, I hesitate to wear too much clothes, since my body temperature tends to rise while hiking. But today, that really did not matter. At no point was I excessively warm, and only at one point did I really even begin to feel warm (and it went away in a hurry). Considering that you are exerting a strong degree of energy and building up your body temperature, that is saying something.
It's still early yet, and we could see the temperatures spike up and down. There is still that turbulence of the changing of a season, and more Indian Summer days are still possible.
Yet, usually, once we get our first real freeze, or at least reach freezing temperatures, as much of New Jersey received last night, that tends to be it for days that you can mistake for summer. So, I'm going to guess that lat weekend's brilliantly warm days are a thing of the past for this calendar year, and that we won't see anything like those temperatures again until we are on the other side of the approaching winter.
Of course, I have been wrong before.
Still, there is a charm to the hike. The day before, when you could feel the temperatures were about to plummet (or maybe I was influenced by the knowledge of the upcoming overnight freezing temperatures), there were actual insects to be seen. Not many, but more than one. Enough to know that it was no fluke.
But this morning? Barely anything was stirring in those woods. A couple of birds flew away from me, from the sounds of my footsteps approaching. One strand from a spider web, but with no apparent spider attached. But that was it. It was eerily silent, a prelude of things to come. On my walk, I could detect the slight evidence of the scent of the freshly fallen leaves. It was a little bit like spa or syrup, a smell that I associate with the autumn, but which I rarely smell as clearly and powerfully as yesterday, during that hike. It certainly will not last for very much longer.
Soon, it will be winter. But not yet. I am trying not to mentally rush the seasons right now, and to appreciate these hikes on their own. Whether it feels like an extension of the recently departed summer, like last weekend did, or whether it feels more like a foretaste of the upcoming winter, like this one did, each hike tends to bring a little something new, to say nothing of peace of mind. I look forward to my little daily sojourns every day now.
This is not unusual. After all, it's October, and not August, right? But what makes this weird is that when i went hiking a week ago, it actually did feel like summer. If you did not know any better, you might have thought it was August, and not yet October.
It is unusual that the differences were quite that extreme, but that is how it works during the transitional phase of the season. One day, you think it's a continuation of summer (or winter, if it is early spring), and then the next, it's entirely different, and you can feel the approach of winter. It can be downright eerie from time to time.
Up until this morning, I was still hiking with shorts and a t-shirt, with my one concession on particularly chilly days being to add a light, short sleeve shirt along for the hike. Today, however, I wore long pants and a full button down shirt. Normally, I hesitate to wear too much clothes, since my body temperature tends to rise while hiking. But today, that really did not matter. At no point was I excessively warm, and only at one point did I really even begin to feel warm (and it went away in a hurry). Considering that you are exerting a strong degree of energy and building up your body temperature, that is saying something.
It's still early yet, and we could see the temperatures spike up and down. There is still that turbulence of the changing of a season, and more Indian Summer days are still possible.
Yet, usually, once we get our first real freeze, or at least reach freezing temperatures, as much of New Jersey received last night, that tends to be it for days that you can mistake for summer. So, I'm going to guess that lat weekend's brilliantly warm days are a thing of the past for this calendar year, and that we won't see anything like those temperatures again until we are on the other side of the approaching winter.
Of course, I have been wrong before.
Still, there is a charm to the hike. The day before, when you could feel the temperatures were about to plummet (or maybe I was influenced by the knowledge of the upcoming overnight freezing temperatures), there were actual insects to be seen. Not many, but more than one. Enough to know that it was no fluke.
But this morning? Barely anything was stirring in those woods. A couple of birds flew away from me, from the sounds of my footsteps approaching. One strand from a spider web, but with no apparent spider attached. But that was it. It was eerily silent, a prelude of things to come. On my walk, I could detect the slight evidence of the scent of the freshly fallen leaves. It was a little bit like spa or syrup, a smell that I associate with the autumn, but which I rarely smell as clearly and powerfully as yesterday, during that hike. It certainly will not last for very much longer.
Soon, it will be winter. But not yet. I am trying not to mentally rush the seasons right now, and to appreciate these hikes on their own. Whether it feels like an extension of the recently departed summer, like last weekend did, or whether it feels more like a foretaste of the upcoming winter, like this one did, each hike tends to bring a little something new, to say nothing of peace of mind. I look forward to my little daily sojourns every day now.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Biden & Ryan Have At It In Kentucky
So, what to think of the Vice Presidential debates?
Usually, tradition has it that this debate does not really matter all that much, in the larger scheme of things.
However, given what by almost all accounts was Obama's clear defeat in last week's debate, Biden was in a tough position, and needed to stop the bleeding a bit. The Romney campaign had some momentum after digging itself out of a hole with what seems like a strong debate performance (although, to my understanding, one riddled with lies), and Biden needed to put that to a halt.
In effect, he did. He did everything that he really needed to do, and was able to more or less get the main points across. He needed to be what a Vice President often is for a President – the attack dog.
Ryan and Biden presented a strong contrast. This was the widest age gap between two Vice Presidential candidates in a debate in history, and that is perhaps saying something.
I saw one funny thing on Facebook, as Bill Maher claimed that he needed to make a call to emergency services, because an old man was beating a child on his television. That was pretty funny.
In truth, Ryan probably came across the way that he probably wanted to. He got his points across, and if Romney does not win this election, then Ryan will likely remain a strong candidate for higher office in the future. I don't know that it can be said that Ryan won this debate or not, but he was good enough, I think, that he will likely remain a strong contender in the future, and will continue to rise in Republican ranks. I heard him referred to as a "rock star" among Republicans earlier in the evening, on NPR's assessment of the debates.
Not sure that such a description fits, but we surely will hear from and about him in the future.
For now, however, I think that this was, more or less, Biden's day. He did not win this debate as clearly as Romney won last week's debate, most likely. Yet, he seemed to clearly energize the Democratic base in a similar way that Romney's performance last week (to say nothing of Obama's performance) energized the Republican base and seemed to give Romney some much needed momentum, and dug him out of trouble.
In effect, I think that is what Biden managed to do, to the extent possible, last night. As the seasoned veteran of the two men debating, Biden drew on his wealth of experience to essentially dictate the tempo of the debate. He was able to say all the things that Obama should have said last week. He was aggressive, without being obnoxious or rude. Other than his smiling early on in the debate, which was apparently a source of consternation to some, Biden was able to score numerous points and, in essence, managed to utilize his superior experience effectively against his younger opponent. This seemed particularly effective when Ryan mentioned the success of bipartisan efforts during the Reagan days, and Biden interrupted, saying that he was in Washington back then, and knew the specifics of how the cooperation worked, explaining them to a suddenly silent Ryan.
For his part, Ryan essentially repeated certain sticking points, if you will. He wanted to get the word out, again and again, that by his and Romney's estimation, Obama's Presidency has been a failure. To that end, he repeated the themes of what he considered failures, and was able to drill his points home. Ryan was able to come up with the most humorous point, saying that Biden would surely agree that his words did not always come out the right way. Biden laughed along with those assembled, and he retorted that he did at least always mean what he says, and remained true to whatever it, as well.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen just how much, or how little, this debate will sway voters that remain undecided at this point. I have heard interviews with people at least claiming to be undecided voters, and many seemed quite convinced that Obama would not be the right choice following last week's debate, where the President seemed hesitant and withdrawn. Perhaps this debate will not likely get people to shift their opinions, one way or the other, in droves. Yet, Biden seemed to make a strong case in defending the four Obama years just passed, and making the case for four more years of an Obama Presidency. His victory, if such it was, was not likely by as wide a margin as Romney's victory last week, and will also not likely offset that defeat. But it certainly was a good first step, and one that Obama and his supporters had better hope he follows up on for next week's debate.
In effect, I think that is what Biden managed to do, to the extent possible, last night. As the seasoned veteran of the two men debating, Biden drew on his wealth of experience to essentially dictate the tempo of the debate. He was able to say all the things that Obama should have said last week. He was aggressive, without being obnoxious or rude. Other than his smiling early on in the debate, which was apparently a source of consternation to some, Biden was able to score numerous points and, in essence, managed to utilize his superior experience effectively against his younger opponent. This seemed particularly effective when Ryan mentioned the success of bipartisan efforts during the Reagan days, and Biden interrupted, saying that he was in Washington back then, and knew the specifics of how the cooperation worked, explaining them to a suddenly silent Ryan.
For his part, Ryan essentially repeated certain sticking points, if you will. He wanted to get the word out, again and again, that by his and Romney's estimation, Obama's Presidency has been a failure. To that end, he repeated the themes of what he considered failures, and was able to drill his points home. Ryan was able to come up with the most humorous point, saying that Biden would surely agree that his words did not always come out the right way. Biden laughed along with those assembled, and he retorted that he did at least always mean what he says, and remained true to whatever it, as well.
Ultimately, it remains to be seen just how much, or how little, this debate will sway voters that remain undecided at this point. I have heard interviews with people at least claiming to be undecided voters, and many seemed quite convinced that Obama would not be the right choice following last week's debate, where the President seemed hesitant and withdrawn. Perhaps this debate will not likely get people to shift their opinions, one way or the other, in droves. Yet, Biden seemed to make a strong case in defending the four Obama years just passed, and making the case for four more years of an Obama Presidency. His victory, if such it was, was not likely by as wide a margin as Romney's victory last week, and will also not likely offset that defeat. But it certainly was a good first step, and one that Obama and his supporters had better hope he follows up on for next week's debate.
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