I have to say that I was disappointed in Gwen Ifill. I do like her so much as the host of her weekly political magazine, but in this circumstance she seemed so attached to her program of questions that she failed to follow through with anything like persistence. In particular, she too often tolerated the complete avoidance of her questions in favor of obviously prepared pieces of stump speech and sound bites. She should, in my opinion, have taken the time to insist that her question be directly addressed, and to have pointed out when it was not. The problem with the "debate" was that it was never really a debate, but rather a platform for political propaganda.
I reread some of my comments from yesterday's entry, and found that I was not far off-base in my expectation that Palin would be projecting a lot of "masculine" energy. While she returned repeatedly, at least in her rhetoric, to that "hockey mom" role that has proved so successful, the pit bull in lipstick image fit her last night's performance a lot more accurately. Unfortunately--or fortunately, depending on your view--her bark lacked bite. For substance, Biden came off so far superior that there was really no contest.
(Interestingly, in this context, my friend Carly just emailed me this horoscope for Palin:
As for Sarah Palin [...], her chart data seems pretty definitive and despite being a Uranian-ruled Aquarian, she has not only the Sun -- and this is crucial -- she also has Mars and Saturn all conjunct each other in that sign. This is indeed a maverick chart, but of a very ambitious, assertive, repressive, tough-minded, hard-headed sort, and very conservative too in a knee-jerk kind of way, while also being admirably disciplined, disciplining and intransigently stubborn. There is a very masculine spirit denoted with her powerful Mars. It is also a very self-protective chart. Children figure hugely in her chart and can be a problematic factor and also a large and humbling learning curve for her. Aquarius can be ruthless, detached and unwavering in its revolutionary convictions, whether left or right. She has a Libra ascendant, which is attractive and Venusian, but indicates an iron fist in a velvet glove. With Venus and Jupiter in Aries, there is also great confidence and a very "don’t mess with me" ambience denoted. Neptune in her second house of money squares the conjunction natally, giving a populist glamour and also indicating much lack of clarity over financial issues. Currently, Neptune has moved to directly conjunct her three conjoined Aquarian planets in her chart (a once every 165 year phenomenon), bringing extra glamour, fantasy and a desire for heroics. It is in fact the seeming "fairy tale." However, some inevitable disillusionments are part of the outcome. It also brings a strong likelihood of revelations, probably about finances, coming out of the woodwork, thick and fast. All is certainly not as it seems. This is not typically a chart of a national leader, but of a person not to be crossed and certainly wishing to make a stance and her mark, but in reality this power looks as if it belongs in a more parochial context.
Well, yes! Thanks, Carly.)
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8 comments:
Your observations about each candidates performance mirrors our last night, as the Bums and I watched together. Palin was a wind-up Barbie doll pitching the talking points of the McCain campaign. Biden presented as sincere, smart, 'everyman,' respectful and full of heart. I was very pleased with his performance -- he can say some really stupid things sometimes, but he was collected and focused. I'm hearing the polls are showing an even split between opinion on who won, however.
I wrote about the debate today, too. Hopefully, lots of people did.
I agree that Joe Biden did better. Sarah Palin is totally out of her element.
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Thanks, Tara. Would love to have been there with you... And thanks for you note on Male & Female
Glad I checked in on your site, Chani. We need to send Palin back to her "element." It's called Alaska.
Yeah I thought the same. Obama looked like the seasoned yet vigorous and wise compliment to Obama's energy and vision.
I kept picturing Obama and Biden meeting every day in the Oval office to hammer out the day. It was so easy to picture that image and it really pumps me up to pushing harder to win this thing!!! WE NEED IT!!!
She looked like a deer caught in the head lights. And I kept thinking that she was reading off a grocery list in a hurried tone, which betrays nervousness. I was also annoyed with the run on sentences.
And how she would want to continue with the Cheney expansion of power in the V.P. position.
We thought Joe Biden did quite an admirable job under the circumstances. The attack mode that Palin was in seemed forced and strangely defensive, when no defense was necessary. I don't think she adequately acquitted herself of the charges that she is shallow, uninformed and completely out her league. She did, however, not add any new charges to the litany of her vapid superficiality. Well, except maybe that she would like to add more powers to the vice presidency. That ought to shake you to the core.
She scared me senseless even before I read your friend Carly's astrological chart on her.
Wow.
I also thought that Biden was dignified, well-informed, and in fact, my husband noticed that most of my responses to her attacks, stated aloud, were then uttered by Biden, which made me feel more solidarity with him than I did before.
re: Leigh Oswald's reading of Palin.
http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/horoscope/horoscope.asp
Oswald is in London. I think she nailed Sarah Palin, using astrology, from thousands of miles away and probably not with the exposure to her that we've had to endure.
And hopefully, nearly everyone else will see the the intractable bitch in Palin too. But American consumers wear blinders, because they don't want to see the mirror of their own absurd lives, their racism, their own ignorance and greed, and, as Oswald points out, their fear of uncertainty and insecurity (which might take away all their material goods)
"He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted." Nietzsche
This corresponds to Lao Tsu (in a Germanic, manipulative way). But Palin is not even that, not even humble to become honored. She's been bred to attack. She's not innocent nature like Carly or George.
"That which is empty, becomes full." has to do with modesty and being modest, the effects of modesty.
"Lowliness is a quality of the earth: this is the very reason why it appears in this hexagram as exalted, by being placed above the mountain. This shows how modesty functions in lowly, simple people: they are lifted up by it."
And iChing says repeatedly to stay on the side of the lowly. Christ stayed on the side of the lowly.
"It is the law of fate to undermine what is full and to prosper the modest. And men also hate fullness and love the modest. The destinies of men are subject to immutable laws that must fulfill themselves. But man has it in his power to shape his fate, according as his behavior exposes him to the influence of benevolent or of destructive forces. When a man holds a high position and is nevertheless modest, he shines with the light of wisdom; if he is in a lowly position and is modest, he cannot be passed by. Thus the superior man can carry out his work to the end without boasting of what he has achieved."
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes."
Churchill
Good one. anyone can have an insight. Also very iChing, which says every person can contribute something. And in the hands of a master, every material (or person, idea) is useful.
But Palin would be a fool in charge. And as Churchill noted, they are only right sometimes. Let's see if folks hate the immodesty in her, and McCain or McNasty or whoever that guy is.
P: Ralph Nadar was right about the Volkswagon and he's right about the 'volks'. As he says, we have a two party dictatorship, with a few good people who are being ignored.
McNasty has his chest thrown out and is lying and bluffing his way through. Ob One, is a poker playing gambler who has a certain drive to see his opponents lose. And the people are once again trapped and forced to swallow the lesser of two evils instead of good government setting the example and directing the spirit body in a divine manner. It's all leading to more spiralling ruin.
We will live the rest of our lives watching a once kind of OK, nation fail. But it was never a great nation in the sense of what man should be doing.
The downfall of America is not that big a deal and what will grow out of it, probably won't be enlightenment. It will probably be.....insurance companies running our lives.
Man the sacred lifeboats!!
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